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

在中国，农村妇女作为一个社会群体在经济上处于不成比例的不利地位，特别是在获得土地方面。在中国农村，土地归村集体所有，并根据村集体机构和程序作出的分配决定承包给村民使用。在这种背景下，鉴于个人的土地权与其政治参与和代表权之间存在着不可分割的相互增强关系，可以提出中国农村妇女获得土地的不平等与她们在这些机构和进程中缺乏政治参与和代表权之间的概念联系。由于中国家庭资源配置的单一模式仍然占据主导地位，以往的研究没有对这一假设进行系统的实证检验，本文从女性主义经济学的视角，关注社会文化背景的影响，提出了一个主要的定性研究。访谈数据将收集自四川省三个社会经济状况不同的村庄的妇女和村官，并将进行主题和比较分析。所获得的见解将有助于促进女性赋权、性别平等，并在中国及其他地区的农村社会中发展更具包容性的地方制度环境。

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.