Women’s Entry into Self-employment in Urban China: The Role of Family in Creating Gendered Mobility Patterns

Qian Forrest Zhang and Zi Pan

World Development, 2012, vol. 40, issue 6, 1201-1212

Abstract: How did family characteristics affect women and men differently in self-employment participation in urban China? Analyses of national data show dual marriage penalties for women. Marketization made married women more vulnerable to lay-offs from state-sector jobs; their likelihood of being pushed into unskilled self-employment surpassed that of any other groups. The revitalized patriarchal family tradition favored men in family businesses and resulted in their higher rates of entering entrepreneurial self-employment. Married women who had the education to pursue entrepreneurial self-employment were constrained by family responsibilities to state-sector jobs for access to family services, and had much lower rates in entering self-employment.

Keywords: self-employment; family; job mobility; gender segregation; Asia; China (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2012
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (6)

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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:eee:wdevel:v:40:y:2012:i:6:p:1201-1212

DOI: 10.1016/j.worlddev.2011.11.004

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