THE IMPACT OF GENDER ROLES ON THE LABOUR MARKET IN CHINA

Abstract

Unequal gender roles cause inefficiency of human capital in the labour market. A crucial dimension of gender inequality is the labour division between paid and unpaid work. Although other factors including education, workplace discrimination, etc. have also been proven to directly affect an individual's performance in the labour market, the labour division for an individual and within his or her household also shapes the macro labour market. Literature has established theories and evidence that when one type of work is more consuming (reflected in education requirement, work intensity, etc.) and productive (reflected in income, reputation, irreplaceability, etc.), the other type of work correspondingly reduces for an individual. Yet, the evidence of this thesis suggests this transformation of labour division does not always happen to women. Based on the previous literature, this thesis further explores the form of labour division between paid and unpaid work from the scope of gender norms. The labour division under stubborn domestic roles for women and equal economic demand for men and women leaves women with less flexibility in the labour market - meaning their vulnerable place is insensitive to the change of one single factor's improvement. The thesis complements the broader literature with a further understanding of the mechanism of the gendered labour market. The labour market of China is studied empirically in this thesis with the longitudinal data of China Family Panel Studies (CFPS). The combination of high economic growth and long-last traditional East-Asian culture shapes the gender norms of China in a contradictory way. The low female labour market participation is insensitive to the changes in the unpaid workload. The reason behind the insensitivity is the lower trade-off capacity between paid and unpaid work for women than for men. Women are trapped in the labour division with dual burdens because of inconsistent expectations before and after marriage. The mechanism discovered in this thesis explains the constrained productivity of the labour market in China through the inefficient allocation of human capital. The labour market is inefficient to allocate the labour forces due to unequal gender norms. The findings of this thesis provide one important perspective for the policymakers in the labour economics of China, that improving the productivity of the gendered labour market requires long-term and accumulated efforts in improving the market allocation efficiency regarding gender. The inefficient allocation towards the female labour force implies the human capital of women is undervalued, both in the formal labour market and in households. Women's input in both paid and unpaid work is not recognised and rewarded as that of men, thus the market is not reactive to the changes in women's labour performance. Therefore, long-term policy implementation in liberalisation and recognition of diversified and equal gender roles should be expected to improve the productivity of the labour market in addition to the fundamental gender policies in education and employment.

Date of Award	1 Aug 2023
Original language	English
Awarding Institution	The University of Manchester
Supervisor	Yin-Fang Zhang (Supervisor), David Lawson (Supervisor) & Lawrence Ado-Kofie (Supervisor)