Social researchers in the provinces of Jiangxi and Guizhou are investigating the phenomenon of “l(fā)eft-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)