Abstract

This qualitative research expands previous conceptualization and theorizing of the separation and interaction between the public and private spheres in post-reform urban China to rural migrant women working in urban middle-class women’s private family. Collecting data from a domestic service company and eleven rural nannies in Shanghai, we develop a theoretical framework of separated yet overlapped two spheres for rural women in the urban care service sector. We found that, for these rural nannies, the separation of the two spheres is elongated compared to urban working women. Geographically, their urban work place is far away from their village home. The scientific and intensive care they provided for the urban babies challenged their past mothering experiences, induced guilty toward their own children as an absent mother, and urged them to provide better care for their grandchildren in the future. Further, working in other’s family and developing bond with urban babies, the boundary between work and family became blurred and difficult to handle sometimes. We further discuss the intersectionality between gender, and other social dimensions.

摘要

这项定性研究将先前改革后城市中公共和私人领域之间的分离和互动的概念化和理论扩展到在城市中产阶级女性私人家庭中工作的农村移民妇女。我们从一家家庭服务公司和上海的11个农村保姆收集数据，我们为城市护理服务行业中的农村妇女建立了一个分离但又重叠的两个领域的理论框架。我们发现，对于这些农村保姆而言，与城市职业女性相比，这两个领域的间隔拉长了。从地理上看，他们的城市工作场所离他们的乡村住宅很远。他们为城市婴儿提供的科学和重症监护挑战了他们过去的母亲经历，对他们作为缺席母亲的孩子感到内,，并敦促他们将来为孙子提供更好的照顾。此外，在他人的家庭工作并与城市婴儿建立联系，工作与家庭之间的界限变得模糊，有时难以处理。我们将进一步讨论性别与其他社会维度之间的相互关系。