Fortress besieged: The female working poor in the evolution of Chinese social closure

Abstract

ABSTRACT China's political power has played a significant role in shaping gendered trends for the working poor, herein referred to as “in-work poverty” (IWP), which refers to people who work but whose incomes still fall below the official poverty threshold. By examining the historical development in China from pre-liberation days to the post-liberation period ending in the 1990s, this article examines how poverty has been gendered and how economic, social, and political processes of what are called “social closures” have led to this. Defined as processes of drawing boundaries, constructing identities, and building groups in order to monopolize scarce resources for one's own community, thereby excluding others from using them, the model of social closure (SC) in China has seen a transition. And, this illustrates how earlier norms of exclusion have changed, following its growing economic power, but continue to make a gendered impact on the working poor. I argue that economic conditions have determined the fate of the working poor with respect to their socioeconomic well-being. The evolution of SC reveals the limitations of employment-linked social insurance, the fragile and gradually loosening family protection network, a gendered institutional environment, and growing numbers of poor working women.