"Quality" control in China's reform era : investigating the suzhi discourse in women's work

Abstract

China's reform era has coincided with an emergence of a Chinese Communist Party-State ideological discourse concerning "population quality." Claims and accusations of 'low quality' are particularly targeted at rural migrant women who have been migrating to Chinese cities at an increasing rate. This investigation attempts to delineate to what extent this is a story of complete domination of the hearts and minds. To what extent do the women themselves internalize these claims of low 'quality?'The thesis has been built around fieldwork conducted in the Beijing household services sector. Known as an industry for perpetrating unjust labor conditions for women, this site proves to be an appropriate site to explore a discourse that attempts to justify these conditions with claims of women's low 'quality.' It will analyze various manifestations of the suzhi discourse on-the-ground, as experienced the household service agency, women's organizations, and the migrant women domestic workers themselves. Analysis of each of the players' relationship to the discourse is complex: there are instances of submission and resistance; defiance and internalization; and nuances and generalizations.