打工嫂的乡城流动与家庭权力关系的变迁

Rural-Urban Migration of Married Working Women and the New Power Dynamics in Family Life

女性已成为我国乡城流动的重要力量,但以往对流动女性的研究要么集中于打工妹,要么把已婚女性当作以男性为主导的家庭流动的跟随者,忽视了独自流动的已婚女性(打工嫂)群体。本研究以独自流动的打工嫂为对象,了解单独流动带来的家庭权力关系变化。通过对20个单独到北京务工的打工嫂的访谈,本研究发现,一方面,外出打工确实给打工嫂的家庭权力带来诸多变化,具体表现为个人意识和性别意识的提升、自主权的增加、来自丈夫控制的减弱、对家庭资源控制力的增强,以及家务负担的暂时减轻;另一方面,外出打工并未增强打工嫂对丈夫的约束力,也未从根本上改变农村家庭的资源分配格局。总体而言,打工嫂与丈夫的家庭权力博弈更多地体现为一种“我得他未失”的非零和博弈:在一些非对抗性权力上,打工嫂的权力有较大增加;在对抗性权力上,打工嫂的权力是否改变取决于丈夫是否合作,当与丈夫直接抗争时,打工嫂的权力增加是微弱的。

Women have become an important part of rural-urban migration in China,but studies on female migrants have either focused on dagongmei,or wives who followtheir husbands to the city. Fewstudies have seen dagongsao,married female migrants,as independent migrant workers. Based on in-depth interviews with 20 dagongsao who have migrated to Beijing without the company of their family members,this study explores howindependent migration might bring about changes to dagongsao’s family dynamics. The results showthat migration has increased dagongsao’s self-confidence, gender awareness, personal autonomy, and their control over family money,as well as reduced domestic violence,and it has somehow relieved the wives from family chores. But it has not enhanced their control over husbands’ behaviors,or helped them gain a more favorable position in the distribution of family resources. In general,the game for family power between the migrant working wife and her husband is manifested in a non-zero-sum game of"I win,but he doesn’t lose": in non-rivalry aspects,her power has been greatly increased while in rivalry aspects,the power change depends on husband cooperation. When having to face direct confrontation with her husband,the migrant working wife enjoys little,if any,power intensification.