Left Behind to Farm? Women’s Labor Re-Allocation in Rural China

The transformation of work during
China s rapid economic development is associated with a
substantial but little noticed re-allocation of traditional
farm labor among women, with some doing much less and some
much more. This paper studies how the work, time allocation,
and health of non-migrant women are affected by the
out-migration of others in their household. The analysis
finds that the women left behind are doing more farm work
than would have otherwise been the case. There is also
evidence that this is a persistent effect, and not just
temporary re-allocation. For some types of women (notably
older women), the labor re-allocation response comes out of
their leisure.