The rise of home-returning women's entrepreneurship in China's rural development: Producing the enterprising self through empowerment, cooperation, and networking

Abstract

The phenomenon of return migration is on the rise in China as more young rural women are returning to their home communities for entrepreneurship and small business development, reshaping power structures and social identities in rural areas. This study explores the strategies of rural women entrepreneurs (RWE) in inventing and transforming themselves through personal training, professional education, capacity building, gaining individual success, and building confidence. The study draws on data collected in Qiandongnan Miao and Dong Autonomous Prefecture, Guizhou Province, Southwestern China in June 2019 and August 2021. Specifically, the study examines how RWE strategically network with various resources, skills, knowledge, and social capital to negotiate multiple heterogeneous actors in terms of resistance, resilience, and adaptation. Additionally, the study showcases the crucial influence RWE have on maintaining family households, economic benefits, cultural inheritance, and community development.The study provides a case study to understand the life experience, capabilities, and network strategies of rural return migrant women in a fiercely competitive market and complex society, exploring the leadership of women entrepreneurs and the process of how they actively create social value and facilitate social change. This research enriches the scholarship of women's entrepreneurship in China, advancing broader debates including rural renaissance, women's competence, ability construction, gender equality, and social harnessing. It highlights how Chinese rural women use their political and social skills to network multiple actors, reflecting the dramatic social change and cultural shifts in China. The study's ethnographic findings suggest that new paths are needed for entrepreneurship to support these emerging social and economic changes in rural communities.