Explore Rural Female Elders’ Old-Age-Provision Plight and Solutions

Abstract

By the Participatory-Need-Assessing and in-depth interviews we began to investigate the current living situation of the rural female elders at five sampled villages scattered in three of the counties or cities in Henan - a province located in Central China with a large rural population. We found a very strange and contradictory phenomenon: “Strong Son- preference” for “Raising-Son-for-Old-Age-Nurturing” VS the “Having-Son-But-Having-No-Old-Age-Provision” Plight. After many participatory discussions with the villagers, we realize that the roots lie in the patriarchic principles, which still directing the rural families. The first is the “patrilineal family succession”, or to carry on the line of the family by following the father-to-son principle; the second is the “son staying in, daughter moving out” marital residency convention, which constraints a married woman being the member of her husband’ familiy but not her native family; the third is the sex-based labor division principle of “men running without, woman within.” These lend to two vicious cycles: “Raising-Son-for-Old-Age-Nurturing” but the “Having-Son-But-Having-No-Old-Age-Provision”, the conflicts for centuries between the daughter-in-law and the mother-in-law. As one feminist action research, we are exploring to break through the patriarchal institution and promote a diversified old-age-provision model, including 1) the family-based old-ageprovision such as the son and daughter respectively or united providing their parents, the parents providing themselves; 2) the community-based old-ageprovision; 3) the government-based old-age-provision.