Women, Public Space, and Mutual Aid in Rural China
A Case Study in H Village
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 6138174 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Li Sun (0000-0002-9084-1318, Bielefeld University) |
| Year | 2012 |
| Volume | 28 |
| Issue | 3 |
| Pages | 75-75 |
| Publication date | 2012-01-01 |
| Open Access | Yes |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | Asian Women (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 1225-925X • E-ISSN: 2586-5714 |
| Publisher | XMLink (PUBLISHER) |
| DOI | 10.14431/aw.2012.09.28.3.75 |
| OpenAlex | W1811278390 |
| Language | EN |
| Citations received | 6 |
| References cited | 15 |
As rural Chinese women's social networks are restricted by traditional, patriarchal gender norms, and poor geography and infrastructure, there is little chance for these women to build new social contacts or even to maintain existing networks. Based on qualitative data collected through participant observation, focus groups, and interviews in H village, this research indicates that public spaces provide rural women a platform for the enhancement of social networks through frequent interaction with other participants. It is interesting to find that strengthened relations and established social networks formed in public spaces positively contribute to village women's daily lives, especially in the form of mutual aid when rural women need help during illness, need to borrow money for building a house, or need an extra hand to finish the harvest. Thus, through public spaces, rural women experience higher levels of mutual aid provided by the actors in their social networks, who can even replace the function of kinship to some extent by acting as a "functional alternative." For instance, during the agricultural busy period, friends from public spaces can help left-behind women with the paddy harvest, substituting for the out-migrating men who would have customarily performed this function
China · Economic growth · Economics · Focus group · Function (biology · Geography · Kinship · Mutual aid · Participant observation · Political science · Public space · Social relation · Social science · Social space · Socioeconomics · Sociology · China's Socioeconomic Reforms and Governance · Engineering · Gender Studies · Rural development and sustainability · Work-Family Balance Challenges
Asymmetric participation structures
Towards ordinary rural resilience
Intergenerational and gender differences in satisfaction of farmers with rural public space
Enhancing women’s empowerment to reduce household poverty in rural Western China
Disentangling the roles of online and offline social interactions in the relationship between built environment and adults' mental health
Maternity Insurance in China
Culture, risk factors and suicide in rural China
The structural transformation of the public sphere
Collective culture and urban public space
Locating the public in research and practice
USA's Destiny? Regulating Space and Creating Community in American Shopping Malls
Migrant workers in China
Variations on a Theme Park
From the Soil
Classical Liberalism Catches On in China
Information Technology, Public Space, and Collective Action in China
Street Culture
Mingling, observing, and lingering
Complexity, cultural pluralism and democracy
Shopping Malls, Consumer Culture and the Reshaping of Public Space in Egypt
| Citations per year | 0.55 |
|---|---|
| Citation span | 2015 - 2026 (12) |
| Highly cited | No |