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Paper short abstract

This study reframes families as sites of relational (dis)advantages to explain persistent gendered care practices among China’s One-Child generation. It reveals how intergenerational assets enable women to redistribute caregiving, highlighting how familial dynamics shape care negotiations.

Paper long abstract

Are women from China's One-Child generation equal partners in care provision within their households? This study addresses gaps in the literature on gendered care practices by reframing families as sequential, interconnected sites of cumulative relational (dis)advantages that significantly shape care dynamics. Focusing on siblingless women born between 1980 and 1987, the study investigates how gendered care practices persist despite changing family structures. Drawing on 82 in-depth interviews, it reveals that families adapt, challenge, and reinterpret traditional patriarchal norms of caregiving based on their socioeconomic, cultural, and geographical (dis)advantages.

The findings reveal that women's socioeconomic, cultural, and financial positioning becomes relational upon transitioning into marriage and parenthood. When their positionality is inferior to that of their husbands and in-laws, women face significant barriers in negotiating an equal share of care responsibilities. This relational inferiority further reinforces their subordination, perpetuating traditional caregiving roles. Conversely, women who gained "negotiation power" through intergenerational transfers of assets—such as financial resources or hukou status superior to their husbands—were better able to resist unequal caregiving arrangements. However, these "gender egalitarians" did not seek equality in caregiving within marriage. Instead, they strategically leveraged their resources and kinship networks to outsource or redistribute caregiving responsibilities, enabling them to pursue career ambitions without fundamentally challenging the division of care.

By focusing on the relational dynamics of socioeconomic and cultural (dis)advantages of families, this study provides new insights into how gendered care practices are negotiated and sustained within the unique context of China's first One-Child generation.