Contemporary Women's Migration in China and the Structural Characteristics of Women Migrants

Annotation :::: The paper focuses on the issue of women's migration in China, and draws upon fourth and fifth national census data to examine the structural characteristics of women migrants. Using methods of demographic analysis and documental study, the authors find that the women's migration has developed greatly in recent years as men have lost advantages in migration. In terms of geographical distribution, the women's migration proves to be extremely imbalanced, as most of women choose to go from villages to cities, and from impoverished mountain areas of mid-west China to the fast growing industrial zones in the Yangtze delta and the Pearl River delta. The number of women who seek jobs or engage in economic opportunities seems to match and surpass that of men. Also, as a result of prosperous border trade, a large number of women migrants have rushed to Yunnan province for jobs and business. Regarding the structural characteristics of the population of women, migrants are younger than non-migrants, and the ratio of migration of the unmarried women is much higher than that of the unmarried men. Additionally, the average educational level of migrants is higher than that of non-migrants, and migration of ethnic minorities has increased greatly in recent years.