published_or_final_version / Asian Studies / Master / Master of Arts

by Jean K.M. Hung. / Thesis (M.Phil.)--Chinese University of Hong Kong, 1993. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 111-119). / ACKNOWLEDGMENTS --- p.i / ABSTRACT --- p.ii / Chapter I --- INTRODUCTION --- p.1 / Chapter II --- METHODOLOGY --- p.7 / Chapter III --- BACKGROUNDS OF THE CASES --- p.10 / Chapter IV --- MOTHERS AND YOUNG DAUGHTERS --- p.23 / Nurturing baby girls --- p.23 / Caring for young daughters --- p.27 / Grandma -- mother's substitute --- p.31 / Attachment of the young daughter to the mother --- p.34 / Are boys superior to girls? --- p.36 / Summary --- p.37 / Chapter V --- MOTHERS AND THEIR ADOLESCENT DAUGHTERS --- p.39 / Socialization of daughters and the expectations between mothers and daughters --- p.39 / Mother's image in the eyes of the daugther --- p.45 / Mother's influence and mother's love --- p.47 / Daughter as mother's assistant --- p.52 / Communication between mother and daughter --- p.54 / Summary --- p.56 / Chapter VI --- MOTHERS AND THEIR MARRIED DAUGHTERS / Mother and her daughter's choice of mate --- p.58 / Financial support of natal family by adult daughter --- p.64 / Mother's role when her daughter becomes a mother --- p.67 / Mother's position in her married daughter's family --- p.69 / Daughter's position in her natal family and the kinship network --- p.72 / Mutual attachment and commitment --- p.74 / Care of sick and aged mother --- p.78 / Marriage gifts and the inheritance of family property --- p.81 / Summary / Chapter VII --- MOTHER-DAUGHTER RELATIONS IN A FAMILY CRISIS --- p.85 / The cases of political crisis --- p.85 / The cases of relationship crisis --- p.90 / Summary --- p.96 / Chapter VIII --- CONCLUSION --- p.98 / Relationships and culture --- p.98 / "Cultural transmission, cultural transformation and the mother-daughter link" --- p.101 / Mother-daughter solidarity and family associateship --- p.104 / ANNEX: Study ones own culture --- p.108 / REFERENCES --- p.111 / (In English) --- p.111 / (In Chinese) --- p.117

Since few studies have explicitly focused on the impact of China's one-child-family policy on Chinese women, this thesis is designed to explore this aspect. The implication of the policy for both urban and rural women is studied, particularly its influence on women's fertility behavior, labor roles, and on social, health and family status. The focus of the study is to explore the changes of women's lives associated with the one-child-family policy, and advantages and disadvantages, even contradictions the policy has brought to women's lives.

published_or_final_version / abstract / toc / Chinese / Doctoral / Doctor of Philosophy

In the 1970s, international development planners began to recognize women's important roles in their communities. A variety of approaches to include women have since evolved, and their merits are debated. They have been described in the literature as "welfare," "Women-in-Development" (WID), and "Gender and Development" (GAD). The welfare approach focuses on basic needs while strengthening women's homemaker and reproductive roles. The WID approach is based on increasing women's incomes as a means toward empowerment. The Gender and Development (GAD) addresses systemic gender discrimination. There is need for research in development planning. Development programs track results during the project, but seldom look at long term impacts and sustainability. This thesis reports the results of research on a 1991 WID efficiency approach, women's income generation project in Shaanxi Province, China, by examining the impact seven years later. My methodology involved interviews with twenty-one women project participants, eight husbands, village leaders and informal lunch-hour focus group discussions with villagers. The project involved transition from grain to orchards. The orchards dramatically increased women's incomes and improved the quality of village life. The women took full control of orchard management, pushing men out of the orchards saying that they were "incapable" of the monotonous orchard tasks. Most husbands found off-farm jobs, diversifying household incomes. Women gained marketing skills, self-confidence, and financial independence, but remained vulnerable as primary producers to income fluctuations. Most women stayed outside village politics, and traditional gender role socialization was maintained. The project fulfilled women's needs and interests, however, long term results for women are mixed. The Shaanxi field project was one of sixty-six field projects under the Canada- China Women-in-Development Project (1990-1995) implemented in partnership by the Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA) and the All-China Women's Federation. The project had two components: poverty reduction and institutional strengthening of the Women's Federation. I was the Canadian co-manager of the Canada-China WID Project, and have since completed more than thirty contracts (fifteen projects) plus a two-year contract as co-manager of the Canada-China Women's Law Project (one year of which was full-time in China). My research is intended to assist and improve my future work in the development field, and to inform those interested in women's development program planning and gender equality policy. Good planning was key to the strength of the Canada-China WID Project. Partners shared a common goal. CIDA's efficiency approach supported the Women's Federation policy to bring women into production as a means of achieving equality. Participatory planning and decision-making involved Federation project officers across China. Delegation in management and clear, commonly set guidelines increased partners' involvement and accountability. Power in planning gradually, and tacitly, transferred to the Women's Federation as they assumed ownership and responsibility for results. Strong donor/recipient partnership and participatory planning processes strengthen potential for sustainable results. Suggestions to improve women's development planning include: increasing gender awareness, strengthening women's interest and capacity in political participation, developing risk mitigation strategies to lessen income insecurity, blending WID/GAD projects, and further research on project impacts.

In the 1970s, international development planners began to recognize women's important roles in their communities. A variety of approaches to include women have since evolved, and their merits are debated. They have been described in the literature as "welfare," "Women-in-Development" (WID), and "Gender and Development" (GAD). The welfare approach focuses on basic needs while strengthening women's homemaker and reproductive roles. The WID approach is based on increasing women's incomes as a means toward empowerment. The Gender and Development (GAD) addresses systemic gender discrimination. There is need for research in development planning. Development programs track results during the project, but seldom look at long term impacts and sustainability. This thesis reports the results of research on a 1991 WID efficiency approach, women's income generation project in Shaanxi Province, China, by examining the impact seven years later. My methodology involved interviews with twenty-one women project participants, eight husbands, village leaders and informal lunch-hour focus group discussions with villagers. The project involved transition from grain to orchards. The orchards dramatically increased women's incomes and improved the quality of village life. The women took full control of orchard management, pushing men out of the orchards saying that they were "incapable" of the monotonous orchard tasks. Most husbands found off-farm jobs, diversifying household incomes. Women gained marketing skills, self-confidence, and financial independence, but remained vulnerable as primary producers to income fluctuations. Most women stayed outside village politics, and traditional gender role socialization was maintained. The project fulfilled women's needs and interests, however, long term results for women are mixed. The Shaanxi field project was one of sixty-six field projects under the Canada- China Women-in-Development Project (1990-1995) implemented in partnership by the Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA) and the All-China Women's Federation. The project had two components: poverty reduction and institutional strengthening of the Women's Federation. I was the Canadian co-manager of the Canada-China WID Project, and have since completed more than thirty contracts (fifteen projects) plus a two-year contract as co-manager of the Canada-China Women's Law Project (one year of which was full-time in China). My research is intended to assist and improve my future work in the development field, and to inform those interested in women's development program planning and gender equality policy. Good planning was key to the strength of the Canada-China WID Project. Partners shared a common goal. CIDA's efficiency approach supported the Women's Federation policy to bring women into production as a means of achieving equality. Participatory planning and decision-making involved Federation project officers across China. Delegation in management and clear, commonly set guidelines increased partners' involvement and accountability. Power in planning gradually, and tacitly, transferred to the Women's Federation as they assumed ownership and responsibility for results. Strong donor/recipient partnership and participatory planning processes strengthen potential for sustainable results. Suggestions to improve women's development planning include: increasing gender awareness, strengthening women's interest and capacity in political participation, developing risk mitigation strategies to lessen income insecurity, blending WID/GAD projects, and further research on project impacts. / Education, Faculty of / Educational Studies (EDST), Department of / Graduate

Lui Kin-wai. / Thesis (M.Phil.)--Chinese University of Hong Kong, 2000. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 158-171). / Abstracts in English and Chinese. / Chapter I. --- Abstract --- p.i / Chapter II. --- Acknowledgement --- p.iv / Chapter III. --- Contents --- p.v / Chapter / Chapter I. --- Introduction --- p.1 / Chapter II. --- Population Policy in PRC --- p.9 / A Historical Review 9; Overview of the Fertility Rate and Population / Growth under the Population Policy in the Chinese Mainland 19; Impacts / of the Population Policy on Gender Issue 22; Conclusion28 / Chapter III. --- Literature Review --- p.47 / International Experience 47; Studies of Gender Preference in the Chinese / Mainland 53; Conclusion62 / Chapter IV. --- Methodology and data --- p.67 / Theoretical framework: Gender Preference from the Economic Perspective / 67; Econometrics Models 75; Data95 / Chapter V. --- Estimated Results --- p.107 / Proxies for Gender Preference 107; Estimated Results of Model 1109; / Estimated Results of Model 2 116; Conclusion for the Estimated Results / Chapter VI. --- Conclusion --- p.132 / Appendix / Chapter 1. --- Definition of Indicators --- p.138 / Chapter 2. --- Multinomial Logit model --- p.141 / Chapter 3. --- Different Model Specifications --- p.144 / Different Model Specifications for Model 1 144; Different Model / Specifications for Model2 152 / Reference --- p.158

In the past 30 years, China's economic reforms have forced many state-owned factories (SOEs) to collapse, and both men and women workers were dismissed. In urban Northeast China many laid-off women were able to find employment in the service industry and small-scale private businesses, while their husbands had difficulty finding a satisfactory job. As such, the wives became breadwinners of the families. Based on fieldwork data collected through face-to-face interviews, focus group interviews and participant observation, this study examines resultant spousal relationships in the aspects of family finance, domestic division of labor, power relations, and foundation of marriage, as the husband and wife swapped their economic roles at home. This study finds that when women control more economic capital than men in the nuclear family, domestic division of labor, power relations and affection between couples all tend to be more egalitarian. However, the concept of a male-breadwinner family and the gender segregation of space are still popular on material and social levels. Thus without corresponding changes on the ideological level regarding gender, patriarchy will remain dominant on the community and national levels. Analysis on spousal relationships shows that the economic, political and emotional aspects of marriage are interconnected and interactive, and they work together to decide how spousal relationships may be altered in times of rapid social transformation. In the era of market economy, family and marriage values are diversified, and marriage tends to be less stable. However, this study finds that the integrity of family and marriage has been kept in the laid-off workers' families even when spousal relationships face serious challenges caused by unemployment. The reason is that these laid-off workers have formed their gender identities during the socialist era which emphasized the integrity of family and marriage. In the market era, laid off workers have maintained these values and upheld the integrity of marriage and family as the fundamental standard for being a good man or good woman. In this process, spousal relationship becomes a mechanism of governance by making individuals gendered subjects. / Lu, Ming. / Thesis (M.Phil.)--Chinese University of Hong Kong, 2012. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 161-176). / Electronic reproduction. Hong Kong : Chinese University of Hong Kong, [2012] System requirements: Adobe Acrobat Reader. Available via World Wide Web. / Abstract --- p.i / Acknowledgements --- p.iii / Chapter Chapter 1 --- Introduction --- p.1 / Background --- p.1 / Literature review --- p.11 / Methodology --- p.25 / Structure of thesis --- p.28 / Chapter Chapter 2 --- Family & Marriage in China --- p.31 / The patricentric Chinese family as ideology and praxis --- p.31 / The family and marriage under state feminism --- p.39 / The family in Post-Mao China --- p.47 / Chapter Chapter 3 --- Dealing with Financial Crisis at Home --- p.56 / Xiagang as a gradual process --- p.56 / The genderedness of re-employment & wives as breadwinners --- p.69 / Besieged masculinity --- p.75 / Women’s success in small-scale private businesses --- p.79 / Chapter Chapter 4 --- Whose Work Is It? --- p.86 / State feminism vs. housework --- p.86 / Childcare: work and authority --- p.96 / The praxis of family authority --- p.100 / Chapter Chapter 5 --- Changing Foundation of marriage --- p.113 / Obliged freedom: Match-making and marriage in the 1970-80s --- p.114 / Marriage and unemployment --- p.122 / Companionship in marriage vs. obliged couples --- p.136 / Chapter Chapter 6 --- Conclusion --- p.144 / References Cited --- p.161

published_or_final_version / Comparative Asian Studies / Master / Master of Arts

This study is an analysis of images of Chinese women in five of Pearl S. Buck's novels: East Wind: West Wind, The Good Earth, The Mother, Pavilion of Women, and Peony. Buck's female characters, with their different degrees of individuality and typicality, form a realistic picture of Chinese women.In terms of thematic content, the study shows that all Buck's female characters use their limited power within the constraints of their society to achieve what they deserve, often employing different, covert ways, some manipulation, and even a little deception.The significance of this is that it reveals, in an artistic way, the social conditions under which Chinese women at Buck's times lived. Chinese women had been very much oppressed. In order to survive, they had to act in ways acceptable by their society. However, they had, just as their male counterparts, the desire to love, to be happy, to maintain dignity, and to be free. What is more important, they were intelligent, courageous, and capable of fighting to achieve their goals for themselves.Buck portrays her female characters both as typical of Chinese women in general and as strong individual figures, each facing different conflicts, in a variety of social, familial situations, with unique characteristics. In order for the Western readers to understand the cultural content in which the individuals function, Buck gives her Chinese characters enough typicality as a solid foundation for the Westerners to interpret their behaviors.It is not difficult for the reader to see how the Confucian doctrines and the social conditions concerning Chinese women are truthfully reflected in the novels herein analyzed. Therefore, different degrees of individualization of these characters result from differing themes of the novels in which they appear. / Department of English