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Presented by Fiona MacPhail Gender Equity Community of Practice Seminar, Asian Development Bank, Manila, June 17, 2011
Based upon a paper by Hongqin Chang, Xiao-yuan Dong and Fiona MacPhail, World Development, forthcoming
The views exressed in this aer are the views of the author and do not necessaril reflect the views or olicies of the AsianDev elopment Bank (ADB), or its Board of Governors, or the governments they represent. ADB does not guarantee the accuracy of thedata included in this paper and accepts no responsibility for any consequence of their use.The countries listed in this paper do notimply any view on ADB's part as to sovereignty or independent status or necessarily conform to ADB's terminology.
Research Question
What is the impact of migration on time use patterns of left-behind children and elderly in rural China, 1997-2006 ?
Contributions
Complements studies of well-being which have used other indicators of well-being Direct evidence of time use of elderly and children Three work categories off-farm, farm and domestic Adds to general literature on intra-household time allocation
CONCEPTUAL FRAMEWORK
Gendered division of labour female-inside/maleoutside dichotomy (anthropological, China, Yu & Chau 1997) Some evidence (limited) but children do work Intergenerational division of labour exists (time use data, China, Chen 2004, Zhang et al 2004) Impact of migration ?
i) split households (China, Fan & Wang 2008 ii) shifting boundary between inside and outside (China, Jacka 1997).
EMPIRICAL METHODOLOGY
Equation'1'
' it 2
' it 3
' it 4
Multivariate regression analysis of Time Use hours allocated to the separate categories
As function of
M=Migration number of household members migrated I= Set of Demographic variables - years of schooling, age Z=Set of Household variables composition of household, land area per adult, value of farm and non-farm equipment, unearned income V=Set of Economic Development variables proportion of village labour force engaged in agriculture, village income per capita, whether the village has access to electricity, paved roads and center-based childcare
Data
China Health and Nutrition Survey Nine provinces Data pooled over the years 1997, 2000, 2004, 2006 and cross-section across the country. Use a Tobit estimation technique and Instrumental Variable technique Sample size (# of observations for the average year)
Elderly sample (51 years and older) 3,333 and 3,231 observations, respectively, women and men per year Children (7 to 14 years) 1,579 and 1,742, respectively, girls and boys per year
Table 1: Summary statistics of migration for the sample villages, 1997 to 2006
Year Elderly people
Households with at least one member migrating (%) Number of household members migrating 2 (person) At least one parent migratin g (%)
Children
Father Number migrating of parents (%) migrating (person)
Elderly Women % change in work Participation rate Elderly Men % change in work Participation rate Girls
0.5 hours/day (23 %) 7% 0.2 hours/day (26 %) 7.5% 0.751hours/day (5.3 hours/week) 54%
Boys
--
0.239 hours/day
CONCLUSIONS
Migration of one household member increases the work time of left-behind children and elderly (both on farm and domestic work) Migration modifies the gender division of labour
Increased time on farm work in absolute and relative terms, indicative of changing boundary of inside work grandmothers working more
Implications
Implications for well-being unclear does the increased work time negatively affect girls (schooling, socialization?) and requires further investigation Other variables in the model also affect time use infrastructure electricity, paved roads has implications for policy Policies to enable households to migrate rather than individuals