Care Economy, Gender and Inclusive Growth in Post-Reform China: How Does
Unpaid Care Work Affect Women’s Opportunities and Gender Equality?
Xiao-yuan Dong
University of Winnipeg
Yaohui Zhao
National School of Development, Peking University
This Abstract is Preliminary, Due to Family Needs of Dr. Dong. Please understand that
this summary will be changed in late March. (Panel Organizer)
The issue of ‘care’ and the ‘care economy’ has recently emerged as a subjectof extensive academic and policy debate. The term ‘care’ refers to the daily work ofproducing and maintaining human resources, and care work includes the daily activities
needed to keep people well-nourished, clothed and healthy, as well as the face-to-faceactivities associated with the care of infants, children, the sick, and the elderly (Razavi2007). The time and effort involved in the daily work of caring for oneself and others
are essential for the capabilities and well-being of individuals as well as the functioningof society and the economy (Carneiro and Heckman 2003; Folbre and Nelson 2000).
The term ‘care economy’ refers to the system that determines how care isdelivered, financed and regulated in a society. Care can be purchased from the market
and provided through the family and community or through civil society arrangements;
however, the State can influence how care needs are defined and how the needs are met
through regulations, taxes and subsidies or through direct delivery of care services orinaction (UNRISD 2010).
In most countries, care work is predominately undertaken by women at home on
an unpaid basis. However, unpaid care work remains unrecognized and undervalued.
Indeed, the issue of care largely remains off the policy agendas in most developing
countries, where care provision is commonly perceived as a natural duty of women anda private matter of families (Beneria, 2003).
China provides a unique context to study the dynamics of care and the careeconomy. The Chinese economy has undergone dramatic economic and socialtransformations since the onset of economic reform in the late 1970s. China’s economic

reform and opening up to the international market have engendered rapid income
growth and a large expansion of productive employment opportunities. While both
women and men have gained considerably from this rapid growth in absolute terms, theextent to which women can benefit equally to men from new economic opportunities
depends on how the issue of care is addressed. This is partly because associated with theremarkable rise in income and employment is the structural change that has transformed
the country from an agrarian economy to an increasingly industrialized and urbanizedeconomy. The process of industrialization and urbanization typically separates theworkplace from the home, making it more difficult for women to combine paid workwith caregiving responsibilities. Rural-to-urban labor migration is another major featureof China’s economic structural change. While labor migration is an important means toescape poverty for rural households, the flow of migration has left behind a large
population of young children and elderly people, intensifying the pressure on familycare providers, mostly mothers and grandmothers, in the rural sector. Moreover, rapid
income growth, compounded by the one-child policy, has resulted in a substantial
fertility decline and accelerated the population aging process, and these demographictrends have particular implications for care needs and provision.
This paper examines the transformation of the care economy in post-reform Chinaand its implications for women’s opportunities and gender equality. The paper
addresses five critical but understudied questions: How does the reform process reshape
the institutional arrangements of care for children and the elderly? How does thechanging care economy influence women’s choices between paid work and unpaid care
responsibilities as mothers and grandmothers? What are the implications of women’swork-family conflicts for the well-being of women and their families? How does thetension on the care economy affect people from socioeconomically disadvantaged
groups, such as ethnic minorities, rural residents, migrant women, and disabled elderly
people? To what extent does the design of social security policy influence the incentives
and supply of care provision? Answers to these questions will broaden the scope of ourunderstanding of the centrality of care for gender equality and inclusive growth indeveloping countries.