In the Middle of Two Separated Yet Overlapped Spheres: Rural Nannies in Shanghai

Abstract

This qualitative research expands previous conceptualization and theorizing of the separation and interaction between the public and private spheres in post-reform urban China to rural migrant women working in urban middle-class women’s private family. Collecting data from a domestic service company and eleven rural nannies in Shanghai, we develop a theoretical framework of separated yet overlapped two spheres for rural women in the urban care service sector. We found that, for these rural nannies, the separation of the two spheres is elongated compared to urban working women. Geographically, their urban work place is far away from their village home. The scientific and intensive care they provided for the urban babies challenged their past mothering experiences, induced guilty toward their own children as an absent mother, and urged them to provide better care for their grandchildren in the future. Further, working in other’s family and developing bond with urban babies, the boundary between work and family became blurred and difficult to handle sometimes. We further discuss the intersectionality between gender, and other social dimensions.