Using Intersectionality to Explore Social Inequalities amongst Dagongmei in China

Abstract

Young rural women who migrate to China’s large cities for work (Dagongmei) occupy a liminal position in space and time that is conditioned by a particularly gendered form of mobility and relationship to place(s). As migrants, they live away from their homes but are not fully incorporated into urban society, and anticipate eventual return. As unmarried women, they are poised between childhood and adulthood. Their unique position creates vulnerability and gives rise to feelings of ambivalence. This article is a reading of Collins’s concept of intersectionality, the relationship between oppression and resistance, and the politics of empowerment.