Gender and Family in Contemporary China.pdf

Gender and Family in Contemporary China Yu Xie University of Michigan Population Studies Center Research Report 13-808 October 2013 Gender and Family in Contemporary China 2 ABSTRACT Both gender relations and family structures have undergone tremendous changes since the founding of the People’s Republic of China in 1949. This article reviews the recent literature on gender and family in contemporary China, focusing on social changes. As a whole, research has shown both radical departures from, as well as a continuation of, traditional practices concerning gender relations and the family. Examples of departures include women’s significant improvement in socioeconomic status relative to that of men, rises in premarital cohabitation and divorce, and elderly no longer depending on sons for old-age support. Examples of continued traditions include wife’s primary housework role, social hypergamy, multi-generational coresidence, and substantial son-preference. In recent years, rapid economic development and the associated high consumption aspirations have exerted economic pressures on young persons entering marriage. Gender and Family in Contemporary China 3 Traditional Chinese Family and Gender Roles Family, a group of individuals connected by either marriage or blood, is the most elementary social, economic, and residential collective unit in most human societies. While family as a social institution is universal, its manifestation and significance vary both across societies and over time. Ample evidence indicates that the traditional Chinese family, in its ideal form, is different from the “modern family” that evolved from Western Europe. One distinct feature