University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill Graduate School
Doi
Abstract
This study examines the relationship between parental migration and children’s time use within the setting of rural China. Through drawing on two large survey datasets and distinguishing between various forms of migration (father-only migration, mother-only migration, and the migration of both parents), I find that having a migrant parent is associated with more domestic work time among left-behind children, particularly for teenage girls with migrant mothers. When mothers are absent, adolescent daughters tend to step into a parenting role, take on additional domestic responsibilities and household tasks that are normally performed by the mothers. As a result, the gender gap in domestic labor increases and the traditional gendered division of labor becomes reinforced among left-behind children. Overall, this paper sheds light on the gendered implications of parental migration, especially maternal migration.Master of Art
