IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/sae/sagope/v12y2022i1p21582440221079820.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Rural Migrant Women’s Informal Learning of Life Skills in Social Networks in Urban China

Author

Listed:
  • Shujuan Luo
  • Vilma Seeberg

Abstract

Life skill programs have been widely provided for vulnerable women in Third World Countries but not for the deprived rural migrant women in China. This study explored the way these women informally learned life skills in urban China and their primary sources of learning, in hopes of providing insights into possible life skill programs targeting them. A basic interpretive qualitative research was conducted by interviewing seventeen migrant women in Northwest and Central China. Findings show that these women learned certain core life skills informally as they adjusted to the urban life. They regarded rural migrant social networks as the main source of learning. Yet, their aspirations to acquire better communication and occupational skills remained mostly unfulfilled and a few of them demanded extra emotional support. This study strongly suggests life skill programs provided for rural migrant women in China to enhance their capability for self-protection, empowerment and social integration.

Suggested Citation

  • Shujuan Luo & Vilma Seeberg, 2022. "Rural Migrant Women’s Informal Learning of Life Skills in Social Networks in Urban China," SAGE Open, , vol. 12(1), pages 21582440221, February.
    • Handle: RePEc:sae:sagope:v:12:y:2022:i:1:p:21582440221079820
    DOI: 10.1177/21582440221079820
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/21582440221079820
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1177/21582440221079820?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
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Démurger, Sylvie & Xu, Hui, 2011. "Return Migrants: The Rise of New Entrepreneurs in Rural China," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 39(10), pages 1847-1861.
    2. Céline Bonnefond & Fatma Mabrouk, 2019. "Subjective well-being in China: direct and indirect effects of rural-to-urban migrant status," Review of Social Economy, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 77(4), pages 442-468, October.
    3. Ling Zhang & Junfeng Jiang & Peigang Wang, 2021. "Social cohesion associated with health mediated by emotional experience and life satisfaction: Evidence from the internal migrants in China," Applied Research in Quality of Life, Springer;International Society for Quality-of-Life Studies, vol. 16(3), pages 1285-1303, June.
    4. Chen, Juan, 2011. "Internal migration and health: Re-examining the healthy migrant phenomenon in China," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 72(8), pages 1294-1301, April.
    5. Vilma Seeberg & Shujuan Luo, 2018. "Migrating to the City in North West China: Young Rural Women’s Empowerment," Journal of Human Development and Capabilities, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 19(3), pages 289-307, July.
    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. Ai-xiang Zheng, 2024. "Does learning ambidexterity affect the sense of urban integration among new-generation migrant workers in China? An empirical study based on career growth and environmental dynamism," Palgrave Communications, Palgrave Macmillan, vol. 11(1), pages 1-12, December.

    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. Sun, Nan & Yang, Fan, 2021. "Impacts of internal migration experience on health among middle-aged and older adults—Evidence from China," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 284(C).
    2. Meng, Xin & Xue, Sen, 2017. "Social Networks and Mental Health Problems: Evidence from Rural-to-Urban Migrants in China," IZA Discussion Papers 10481, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    3. Chen, Yuanyuan & Wang, Haining & Cheng, Zhiming & Smyth, Russell, 2023. "Education and Migrant Health in China," Economic Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 121(C).
    4. Mahé, Clothilde, 2016. "Skills and entrepreneurship: Are return migrants 'Jacks-of-all-trades'?," MERIT Working Papers 2016-071, United Nations University - Maastricht Economic and Social Research Institute on Innovation and Technology (MERIT).
    5. Bertoli, Simone & Marchetta, Francesca, 2015. "Bringing It All Back Home – Return Migration and Fertility Choices," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 65(C), pages 27-40.
    6. Ajzenman, Nicolás & Aksoy, Cevat Giray & Guriev, Sergei, 2022. "Exposure to transit migration: Public attitudes and entrepreneurship," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 158(C).
    7. Zhen, Wei & Qin, Quande & Miao, Lu, 2023. "The greenhouse gas rebound effect from increased energy efficiency across China's staple crops," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 173(C).
    8. Tiwari, Smriti, 2021. "Do macroeconomic fluctuations at destination matter in determining migrants’ return decisions?," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 148(C).
    9. El-Mallakh, Nelly & Wahba, Jackline, 2021. "Upward or downward: Occupational mobility and return migration," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 137(C).
    10. Xin Meng & Sen Xue, 2020. "Social networks and mental health outcomes: Chinese rural–urban migrant experience," Journal of Population Economics, Springer;European Society for Population Economics, vol. 33(1), pages 155-195, January.
    11. Akay, Alpaslan & Brausmann, Alexandra & Djajic, Slobodan & Kirdar, Murat Güray, 2018. "Purchasing-Power-Parity and the Saving Behavior of Temporary Migrants," IZA Discussion Papers 11679, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    12. Naudé, Wim & Siegel, Melissa & Marchand, Katrin, 2015. "Migration, Entrepreneurship and Development: A Critical Review," IZA Discussion Papers 9284, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    13. Liu, Xueyue & Zuo, Sharon Xuejing, 2023. "From equality to polarization: Changes in urban China’s gender earnings gap from 1988 to 2016," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 205(C), pages 303-337.
    14. Christian Chacua & Shreyas Gadgin Matha & Matte Hartog & Ricardo Hausmann & Muhammed A. Yildirim, 2024. "Innovation Policies Under Economic Complexity," Growth Lab Working Papers 234, Harvard's Growth Lab.
    15. Marchetta, Francesca, 2012. "Return Migration and the Survival of Entrepreneurial Activities in Egypt," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 40(10), pages 1999-2013.
    16. Haining Wang & Zhiming Cheng & Russell Smyth, 2015. "Does Consuming More Make You Happier? Evidence from Chinese Panel Data," Monash Economics Working Papers 29-15, Monash University, Department of Economics.
    17. Mezger Kveder, Cora Leonie & Flahaux, Marie-Laurence, 2013. "Returning to Dakar: A Mixed Methods Analysis of the Role of Migration Experience for Occupational Status," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 45(C), pages 223-238.
    18. repec:bof:bofitp:urn:nbn:fi:bof-201508181355 is not listed on IDEAS
    19. Jian Liu & Chao Zhang & Ruifa Hu & Xiaoke Zhu & Jinyang Cai, 2019. "Aging of Agricultural Labor Force and Technical Efficiency in Tea Production: Evidence from Meitan County, China," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 11(22), pages 1-16, November.
    20. Martijn Hendriks & Kai Ludwigs & Ruut Veenhoven, 2016. "Why are Locals Happier than Internal Migrants? The Role of Daily Life," Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, Springer, vol. 125(2), pages 481-508, January.
    21. Huang, Bin & Tani, Massimiliano & Zhu, Yu, 2021. "Does higher education make you more entrepreneurial? Causal evidence from China," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 135(C), pages 543-558.

    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:sae:sagope:v:12:y:2022:i:1:p:21582440221079820. 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: SAGE Publications (email available below). General contact details of provider: .

    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.