Social researchers in the provinces of Jiangxi and
Guizhou are investigating the phenomenon of “left-behind wives” –
women left to manage farms and raise children in rural areas when
their husbands seek work in cities – according to China
Comment, a Communist
Party of China magazine, on November 10.
Over the past decade, millions of rural elderly,
women and children have been separated from sons, husbands and
fathers who head to cities in search of better wages. Wives are
often left with all the family responsibilities, while bearing huge
physical and psychological pressures.
“My husband is working in a factory in Guangdong
Province,” said 32-year-old Hu Cuiyun, who lives in Yangchang
Village, Ziyun Mao and Bouyei Autonomous County in the southwestern
province of Guizhou.
“He sends back 300 yuan (US$37) every month, which
is not enough for our daily expenses,” she said, “So I have to work
hard on our land. Sometimes I am so tired I have no strength to
make dinner for my kids.”
There are 2,420 villagers, 489 households, in
Yangchang and men from 200 families have left to find city
work.
Du Juyin is another left-behind wife in Macha
Village of Dingxi City in western China’s Gansu Province, one of
the poorest places in the country where many men have left
searching for better wages.
Her three children and 80-year-old parents remain
in the village with her. “I have to do all the farm work by myself:
plowing, planting, collecting and even transporting tomatoes to the
market. I am the pilot of the family now,” Du said.
Du said she had planted 0.5 hectares of farmland
this year and harvested 10,000 kilograms of tomatoes.
Thirty-eight-year-old Hu Dongzhen is a mother of
two kids and also lives in Yangchang in Guizhou.
“No matter how fatiguing the farm work and
housework is I will do it as well as I can,” she said. “However, I
just feel empty without my husband. I want to work in the city with
him, but I have to take care of the family. Now my husband works as
driver on a low income. I am deeply worried that he might meet
another woman there and abandon us.”
Many left-behind wives’ marriages encounter
problems. They often have no idea how much their husbands earn, and
some lose touch altogether. Their husbands’ loyalty is the prime
concern for many of them.
Some law experts advise that left-behind women
should try to keep in touch with their husbands as much as possible
and be clear about their incomes, as this will help them in
applying for financial compensation if they break up.
Personal safety is another concern for many women
left behind in rural areas.
Twenty-seven-year-old Luo Yaomei, whose husband
went to Guangzhou last year, said “I don’t like being in the house
alone, especially at night. Men from our village often disturb me,
and really scare me. I don’t know how to deal with this besides
crying.”
Another left-behind wife in Luo’s village, who
refused to give her name, said she was going to adopt a dog to
protect her from harassment.
“I will go nowhere, just stay at home if it is dark
outside,” she said.
(China.org.cn by Wu Nanlan November 20, 2005)