Political participation, representation, and women's access to land in rural China

In China, rural women as a social group are
disproportionately disadvantaged economically, especially
in access to land. In rural China, land is collectively owned
by villages and contracted to villagers for use based on
allocation decisions made by village collective institutions
and processes. In such context, and given the plausible
mutually enhancing relationship between individuals' rights
to land and their political participation and representation,
a conceptual link between inequality in rural Chinese
women's access to land and their lack of political
participation and representation in these institutions and
processes, can be proposed. No previous studies have
systematically empirically tested this hypothesis, partly
because a unitary model of household resource allocation
remains dominant in China.


I propose a primarily qualitative study to examine the issue
empirically from a feminist economics perspective, paying
attention to the impacts of socio-cultural context. Interview
data will be collected from women and village officials in
three socio-economically distinct villages in Sichuan
Province, and will be analyzed thematically and
comparatively. Insights gained will be useful for promoting
female empowerment, gender equity, and the development
of a more inclusive local institutional environment in rural
societies in China and beyond.