Political participation, representation, and women's access to land in rural China

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In China, rural women as a social group aredisproportionately disadvantaged economically, especiallyin access to land. In rural China, land is collectively ownedby villages and contracted to villagers for use based onallocation decisions made by village collective institutionsand processes. In such context, and given the plausiblemutually enhancing relationship between individuals' rightsto land and their political participation and representation,a conceptual link between inequality in rural Chinesewomen's access to land and their lack of politicalparticipation and representation in these institutions andprocesses, can be proposed. No previous studies havesystematically empirically tested this hypothesis, partlybecause a unitary model of household resource allocationremains dominant in China.I propose a primarily qualitative study to examine the issueempirically from a feminist economics perspective, payingattention to the impacts of socio-cultural context. Interviewdata will be collected from women and village officials inthree socio-economically distinct villages in SichuanProvince, and will be analyzed thematically andcomparatively. Insights gained will be useful for promotingfemale empowerment, gender equity, and the developmentof a more inclusive local institutional environment in ruralsocieties in China and beyond.