There are several diverse types of employment discrimination in China’s labour market. Two of the most significant are differentials in employment opportunity and differentials in earnings by gender and household registration system (hukou). Thus, female migrant workers are doubly disadvantaged as victims of discrimination against both rural people and women. This thesis uses mixed research methods (both quantitative and qualitative approaches) to explore four questions related to this dual disadvantage: First, in the public sphere, are those with higher socioeconomic status (i.e., urbanites in China) willing to allow equal opportunities and rights for female migrant workers? Second, in the labour market, is there any evidence to demonstrate that gender and household registration system interact to shape female migrant workers’ employment opportunities and earnings? Third, still in the labour market, if a significant interaction is found between hukou and gender, the female migrant worker group will be compared to the members of three other groups: male migrant workers, urban males, and urban females. The following question will then be investigated: Do female migrant workers experience double (additive assumptions), less than double or more than double (intersectional assumptions) jeopardy in employment discrimination (opportunities and earnings) in 2003 and in 2006? Last, what are the trends in employment discrimination against this group over time? In an exploration of these four questions, this thesis offers theoretical, methodological and practical contributions to an understanding of female migrant workers’ experiences in urban China. It is found that Chinese urbanites indeed do not want to share social goods, attributes and services with female migrant workers. This hostility and intolerance in the public sphere have affected female migrant workers’ access to employment opportunities and earnings. In most cases, they have suffered more than double jeopardy with respect to employment opportunities and earnings. The trends in these two types of employment discrimination are mixed. Employment discrimination against these female migrant workers both in public sphere and in the labour market not only points to the social exclusion based on ascribed features (i.e., hukou and gender), but also reveals the nature of China’s transitional economies that involve both institutional and socio-cultural barriers to social equality.

Magister Philosophiae - MPhil / African female migrants make up a large portion of the population in general and in South Africa in particular. This includes both the documented and the undocumented female migrants. Nonetheless, they are confronted with a housing challenge in the countries of destination. This study seeks to examine the types of housing, the methods of housing acquisition, and the size of housing that African female migrants have access to. This study used secondary data of the 2001 and 2011 Population Censuses, gathered from the (Statistics South Africa (Stats SA) database to look into African female migration and housing acquisition in South Africa. The study used the Chi-square test statistic to measure the relationship between the variables of interest.

This thesis explores globalization’s effects on female migrant domestic workers in Latin America by examining the socioeconomic and political status of Paraguayan and Peruvian domestic workers in Argentina. Through this research, I answer several key questions. First, how does globalization shape neoliberal markets that enforce the exploitative structures of domestic labor? Second, how is gender inequality present in governmental and social discrimination? Third, do the costs of transnational care labor outweigh the benefits? The former two questions are answered by the rising demand for care labor and resulting global care chains that fuel greater cross-border migration and statelessness of female migrants. Additionally, cultural and familial pressures magnify the sexual division of labor and maintain domestic labor’s low social status. Using a gender analysis, I address the last question by concluding that gender inequalities through governmental and social discrimination, plus emotional-familial burdens, outweigh domestic labor’s short-sighted financial prospects and autonomy provided by globalization.

MA (Sociology) / Department of Sociology / The study aimed to explore on the oral narratives of selected female migrants in South Africa. It was a case study of Thohoyandou in the Limpopo Province. Female migrants are faced with integration challenges such as political and socio-economic challenges. The study focused on reflecting on stories of selected female migrants who reside in Thohoyandou. The study was qualitative in nature and utilised a qualitative exploratory research design because it was aimed at exploring perceptions on oral narratives of selected female migrants. The researcher made use of non-probability sampling in the form of purposive sampling method and snowball. Data was collected through semi-structured interviews. Data was then sorted, coded, organised and indexed in a manner that made it easier for the researcher to interpret, analyse and present in content analysis. Text was summarised by checking key themes, phrases or passages that were used in a more detailed analysis. The process was guided by the original aim of the study. Findings of the study postulated that most female migrants came for economic reasons and discrimination is perceived to be an important barrier to integration. Other significant integration barriers include linguistic, educational, and institutional factors. Internal factors (social, cultural, and religious norms, immigrants' own opinions about themselves, lack of motivation and intergenerational mobility) are also serious barriers to integration.

This thesis examines how themes about migrant workers, especially women migrant workers are depicted in the two films The world, Shijie 世界 (2004), directed by Jia Zhangke 贾樟柯 and Angels wear white, Jianianhua 嘉年华 (2017), directed by Vivian Qu, also called Wen Yan 文言. In the background of the thesis the subjects hukou 户口, the system of household registration; the floating population, liudong renkou 流动人口, the people who are not living at the place where they are registered at, according to the hukou system and black hukou, heihu 黑户, the people who lack hukou altogether are discussed. The methods used in the thesis are a qualitative thematic analysis and semiotics. The theories that are the basis of the analysis are Laura Mulvey’s theory of the male gaze, Emirbayer and Mische’s concept of agency and Steven Lukes’s concept of power.    The themes that are explored in this thesis are work, accommodation, the ID card and the passport, the commodification of the female body and women who are sex workers, the female virginity, violence as well as symbols and role models. Both films show that a person’s status as a migrant worker who is lacking an ID card or as a migrant worker who has their hukou elsewhere determines the living conditions of the person in China. Angels Wear White depicts how being in possession of an ID card or not affects whether you get access to healthcare, work opportunities and your housing situation. In The World poor living conditions for the migrant workers are depicted. Both films show differences between the sexes, where women are treated as object of male desire and the female body becomes an object that can be bought by means of money or services. The female’s virginity before marriage is valued greatly, which affects the young women migrants’ experiences in the film.    Some symbols that appear in the film are the white dress, that symbolizes a female ideal, the ID card and the passport that are symbols of social as well as physical mobility in Chinese society, lastly the theme park is a symbol of the dreams and desires that are being shaped in contemporary China.   Keywords: “the floating population”, “hukou”, “female migrant workers”, “The World”, “Angels Wear White” / Den här uppsatsen undersöker vilka teman kring migrantarbetare, särskilt kvinnliga migrantarbetare skildras i the två filmerna The world, Shijie, 世界 (2004), regisserad av Jia Zhangke 贾樟柯och Angels wear white, Jianianhua嘉年华 (2017), regisserad av Vivian Qu också kallade Wen Yan 文言. I bakgrunden beskrivs bland annat hushållsregistreringssystemet hukou 户口; den flytande befolkningen liudong renkou 流动人口, de personer i Kina som inte bor på den plats som de är registrerade på enligt hukou-systemet samt heihu 黑户, svart hukou, de personer som helt saknar hukou.     Metoden för studien är en kvalitativ filmanalys som grundar sig på en tematisk analys och semiotiken. Teorier som används i analysen är Laura Mulveys teori om den manliga blicken, Emirbayer och Misches begrepp som beskriver agens samt Steven Lukes maktbegrepp.    De teman som behandlas i uppsatsen är jobb, boende, id-kortet och passet, kommodifiering av kroppen och kvinnor som säljer sex, den kvinnliga oskulden, våld samt symboler och förebilder. De båda filmerna skildrar hur en persons status som migrantarbetare utan hukou eller status som migrantarbetare med hukou på en annan plats påverkar personens levnadsvillkor i Kina. I Angels wear white skildras hur id-kortet eller avsaknaden av id-kortet påverkar möjligheten att uppsöka vård, möjligheterna till anställning och boende. Även i The world har migrantarbetarna erfarenheter av boenden som är undermåliga. I båda filmerna uppvisas skillnader mellan könen, där kvinnor blir objekt för manlig åtrå och där det finns exempel på när den kvinnans kropp och sexualitet blir en vara som kan köpas med pengar och tjänster. Kvinnans oskuld innan äktenskapet värderas högt, vilket påverkar de unga kvinnliga migrantarbetarnas erfarenheter i de två filmerna.     Flera symboler framträder i filmerna, den vita klänningen fungerar som en symbol för kvinnoideal, id-kortet såväl som passet fungerar som symboler för social och fysisk rörlighet i det kinesiska samhället och temaparken blir en symbol för de begär och drömmar som formas i Kinas samtid.