How Gender Dynamics Shape Off‐farm Work in Upland Southwest China^☆

Abstract

Gendered demands for productive and reproductive labor differently affect men's and women's decisions about not only whether to undertake off-farm work, but where. With data from a survey of households in southwestern China, we examine the effects of individual, household, and community attributes on decisions to take local or distant off-farm work. Men's and women's off-farm work decisions respond differently to care and farmwork needs. For women, the primary trade-off is between distant offfarm work and none. For men, the primary trade-off is between distant and local off-farm work. Women in households with more working-age members are more likely to take distant off-farm work rather than stay on the farm. Increased education and household labor make men more likely to take distant relative to local off-farm work. Household land holdings also have differing effects: for women, increased cropland area reduces odds of migration, while for men it increases odds of local relative to distant off-farm work. By disaggregating off-farm work location, we uncover gendered patterns that binary approaches to off-farm work or migration obscure.☆ This research was conducted with support from the National Science Foundation, award number SMA-1415028. Fieldwork took place while the first author was affiliated with the Institute at Brown for Environment and Society, Brown University. Zhang Zhiming played an integral role in research implementation. We thank students and colleagues at Yunnan University who assisted with data collection and entry. Most of all, we are deeply grateful to residents in the study locales who shared their time with us and welcomed us into their communities. Lindy Williams graciously read drafts and suggested new approaches. We also thank members of the graduate program in Rural Sociology at