IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/tefoso/v166y2021ics0040162521000366.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Does ICT change household decision-making power of the left-behind women? A Case from China

Author

Listed:
  • Zheng, Xuyuan
  • Lu, Haiyang

Abstract

With labor migration, patriarchal families in rural China are changing. Furthermore, informatization is altering family, social, and cultural norms and accessibility to relative resources. Gender differences in information technology, however, may precipitate a digital divide and aggravate gender power gaps in families. Rural families in which males migrate to cities for employment, leaving female spouses behind, are common in China. The influence of informatization on the distance in family power structure between male and female members await further exploration. Employing resource and cultural norm theories and the propensity score matching (PSM) method, this study analyzed effects of male spouse migration and ICT (information and communication technology) use on ‘left-behind’ women's household decision-making power. The results showed that having migrant husbands increased household decision-making power of left-behind women and enhanced gender equality in families. Left-behind women's cellular phone use bolstered their household decision-making power, while using computers had no apparent effect. Left-behind women may lack skills to operate computers except for entertainment and socializing. Thus, they do not reap human capital advantages from using them.

Suggested Citation

  • Zheng, Xuyuan & Lu, Haiyang, 2021. "Does ICT change household decision-making power of the left-behind women? A Case from China," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 166(C).
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:tefoso:v:166:y:2021:i:c:s0040162521000366
    DOI: 10.1016/j.techfore.2021.120604
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0040162521000366
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.techfore.2021.120604?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Aker, Jenny C. & Ksoll, Christopher, 2016. "Can mobile phones improve agricultural outcomes? Evidence from a randomized experiment in Niger," Food Policy, Elsevier, vol. 60(C), pages 44-51.
    2. Balwant Singh Mehta & Nidhi Mehta, 2014. "ICT and Socio-Economic Empowerment of Rural Women: Case of Mobile Phone in India," Knowledge Horizons - Economics, Faculty of Finance, Banking and Accountancy Bucharest,"Dimitrie Cantemir" Christian University Bucharest, vol. 6(4), pages 103-112, December.
    3. Sekabira, Haruna & Qaim, Matin, 2017. "Can Mobile Phones Improve Gender Equality and Nutrition? Panel Data Evidence from Farm Households in Uganda," GlobalFood Discussion Papers 256215, Georg-August-Universitaet Goettingen, GlobalFood, Department of Agricultural Economics and Rural Development.
    4. Sraboni, Esha & Quisumbing, Agnes R. & Ahmed, Akhter, 2021. "Women's empowerment in agriculture: What role for food security in Bangladesh?," IFPRI book chapters, in: Securing food for all in Bangladesh, chapter 14, pages 483-548, International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI).
    5. Sanne Lise Blauw & Philip Hans Franses, 2011. "The Impact of Mobile Telephone Use on Economic Development of Households in Uganda," Tinbergen Institute Discussion Papers 11-152/4, Tinbergen Institute.
    6. Sekabira, Haruna & Qaim, Matin, 2017. "Can mobile phones improve gender equality and nutrition? Panel data evidence from farm households in Uganda," Food Policy, Elsevier, vol. 73(C), pages 95-103.
    7. Lixing Li & Xiaoyu Wu, 2011. "Gender of Children, Bargaining Power, and Intrahousehold Resource Allocation in China," Journal of Human Resources, University of Wisconsin Press, vol. 46(2), pages 295-316.
    8. Behrman, Jere R., 1993. "Intrahousehold distribution and the family," Handbook of Population and Family Economics, in: M. R. Rosenzweig & Stark, O. (ed.), Handbook of Population and Family Economics, edition 1, volume 1, chapter 4, pages 125-187, Elsevier.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Mengshuai Zhu & Chen Shen & Yajun Tian & Jianzhai Wu & Yueying Mu, 2022. "Factors Affecting Smallholder Farmers’ Marketing Channel Choice in China with Multivariate Logit Model," Agriculture, MDPI, vol. 12(9), pages 1-11, September.
    2. Zeng, Miao & Du, Jiang & Zhu, Xiaoyu & Deng, Xin, 2023. "Does internet use drive rural household savings? Evidence from 7825 farmer households in rural China," Finance Research Letters, Elsevier, vol. 57(C).
    3. Zhang, Qian & Webster, Natasha A. & Han, Shengnan & Ayele, Workneh Yilma, 2023. "Contextualizing the rural in digital studies: A computational literature review of rural-digital relations," Technology in Society, Elsevier, vol. 75(C).
    4. Long Yang & Haiyang Lu & Sangui Wang & Meng Li, 2021. "Mobile Internet Use and Multidimensional Poverty: Evidence from A Household Survey in Rural China," Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, Springer, vol. 158(3), pages 1065-1086, December.
    5. Nawab Khan & Ram L. Ray & Hazem S. Kassem & Farhat Ullah Khan & Muhammad Ihtisham & Shemei Zhang, 2022. "Does the Adoption of Mobile Internet Technology Promote Wheat Productivity? Evidence from Rural Farmers," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(13), pages 1-15, June.
    6. Zou, Ran & Yang, Jun & Feng, Chao, 2023. "Does informatization alleviate energy poverty? A global perspective," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 126(C).

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Luc Jacolin & Joseph Keneck Massil & Alphonse Noah, 2021. "Informal sector and mobile financial services in emerging and developing countries: Does financial innovation matter?," The World Economy, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 44(9), pages 2703-2737, September.
    2. Martin C. Parlasca & Oliver Mußhoff & Matin Qaim, 2020. "Can mobile phones improve nutrition among pastoral communities? Panel data evidence from Northern Kenya," Agricultural Economics, International Association of Agricultural Economists, vol. 51(3), pages 475-488, May.
    3. Kabbiri, Ronald & Dora, Manoj & Kumar, Vikas & Elepu, Gabriel & Gellynck, Xavier, 2018. "Mobile phone adoption in agri-food sector: Are farmers in Sub-Saharan Africa connected?," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 131(C), pages 253-261.
    4. Evans, Olaniyi, 2018. "Digital Agriculture: Mobile Phones, Internet & Agricultural Development in Africa," MPRA Paper 90359, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    5. Campenhout, Bjorn Van, 2021. "ICTs to Address Information Inefficiencies in Food Supply Chains," 2021 Conference, August 17-31, 2021, Virtual 315054, International Association of Agricultural Economists.
    6. Peng Nie & Wanglin Ma & Alfonso Sousa-Poza, 2021. "The relationship between smartphone use and subjective well-being in rural China," Electronic Commerce Research, Springer, vol. 21(4), pages 983-1009, December.
    7. Ma, W. & Grafton, Q. & Renwick, A., 2018. "Gender and Income Effects of Smartphone Use: The Case of Rural China," 2018 Conference, July 28-August 2, 2018, Vancouver, British Columbia 277310, International Association of Agricultural Economists.
    8. Gershom Endelani Mwalupaso & Shangao Wang & Sanzidur Rahman & Essiagnon John-Philippe Alavo & Xu Tian, 2019. "Agricultural Informatization and Technical Efficiency in Maize Production in Zambia," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 11(8), pages 1-17, April.
    9. Parlasca, Martin C. & Mußhoff, Oliver & Qaim, Matin, 2018. "How mobile phones can improve nutrition among pastoral communities: Panel data evidence from Northern Kenya," GlobalFood Discussion Papers 274651, Georg-August-Universitaet Goettingen, GlobalFood, Department of Agricultural Economics and Rural Development.
    10. Pallavi Rajkhowa & Matin Qaim, 2022. "Mobile phones, off‐farm employment and household income in rural India," Journal of Agricultural Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 73(3), pages 789-805, September.
    11. Gershom Endelani Mwalupaso & Shangao Wang & Zhangxing Xu & Xu Tian, 2019. "Towards Auspicious Agricultural Informatization—Implication of Farmers’ Behavioral Intention Apropos of Mobile Phone Use in Agriculture," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 11(22), pages 1-21, November.
    12. Gershom Endelani Mwalupaso & Shangao Wang & Aseres Mamo Eshetie & Xu Tian, 2020. "Ameliorating Food and Nutrition Security in Farm Households: Does Informatization Matter?," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(2), pages 1-20, January.
    13. Bjorn Van Campenhout, 2022. "ICTs to address information inefficiencies in food supply chains," Agricultural Economics, International Association of Agricultural Economists, vol. 53(6), pages 968-975, November.
    14. Luc Jacolin & Massil Keneck & Alphonse Noah, 2019. "Informal Sector and Mobile Financial Services in Developing Countries: Does Financial Innovation Matter?," Working papers 721, Banque de France.
    15. Ni Zhuo & Baozhi Li & Qibiao Zhu & Chen Ji, 2023. "Smartphone‐based agricultural extension services and farm incomes: Evidence from Zhejiang Province in China," Review of Development Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 27(3), pages 1383-1402, August.
    16. Catherine Ragasa & Diston Mzungu & Kenan Kalagho & Cynthia Kazembe, 2022. "Role of interactive radio programming in advancing women’s and youth’s empowerment and dietary diversity: Mixed method evidence from Malawi," Food Security: The Science, Sociology and Economics of Food Production and Access to Food, Springer;The International Society for Plant Pathology, vol. 14(5), pages 1259-1277, October.
    17. Campenhout, Bjorn Van, 2021. "ICTs to Address Information Inefficiencies in Food Supply Chains," 2021 Conference, August 17-31, 2021, Virtual 313801, International Association of Agricultural Economists.
    18. Wanglin Ma & R. Quentin Grafton & Alan Renwick, 2020. "Smartphone use and income growth in rural China: empirical results and policy implications," Electronic Commerce Research, Springer, vol. 20(4), pages 713-736, December.
    19. Sikhulumile Sinyolo & Catherine Ndinda & Conrad Murendo & Sithembile A. Sinyolo & Mudzunga Neluheni, 2020. "Access to Information Technologies and Consumption of Fruits and Vegetables in South Africa: Evidence from Nationally Representative Data," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 17(13), pages 1-17, July.
    20. Ezinne M. Emeana & Liz Trenchard & Katharina Dehnen-Schmutz, 2020. "The Revolution of Mobile Phone-Enabled Services for Agricultural Development (m-Agri Services) in Africa: The Challenges for Sustainability," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(2), pages 1-27, January.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:eee:tefoso:v:166:y:2021:i:c:s0040162521000366. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Catherine Liu (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/journal/00401625 .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.