The Study Of Left-behind Women's Issues Under The Perspective Of Marxist Feminism

Marxist feminism is a component of the theoretical system of Marxism and a theoretical guide to women's issue. In early 20th century, Marxist feminism was introduced into China. Since that, under the leadership of Communist Party of China, who believes in Marxist feminism, Chinese women have made remarkable achievements in women's liberation movement. Since the early 1980s, China initiated its reform and opening-up policy. With the acceleration of industrialization and urbanization, left-behind women, who undertake physical and mental burden, face lots of problems. Their legitimate rights and interests are so vulnerable to be infringed that they are a vulnerable group in countryside and even in society.On the basis of existing literature, this dissertation proposes research hypothesis and divides the left-behind women into the first generation of left-behind women in rural areas and the second generation of left-behind women in rural areas. Then, on the basis of empirical invesitigation of the village A, Xingtai County, Hebei Province, the paper compares the differences between the first and the second generation of left-behind women in rural areas, and analyzes their similarities. According to the study, generally speaking, while left-behind women undertake heavier burden, they enhance ability of independence. But their vulnerable position in the public life has not been much changed. Left-behind women have free time but they do not use it fully and rationally, causing a huge waste of human resources. Seperation does not have general negative effect on the marriage of left-behind women. The difference between the first and the second generation of left-behind women in rural areas is that the former assume greater responsibility than the latter. Despite the meager income of tradtional agriculture, the first generation of left-behind women in rural areas still insist on farming and providing essential livelihood for families. The second generation of left-behind women in rural areas, who are not familiar with agricultural production, have a strong desire to work in the city, but because of the fertility and other factors they have to stay at home.The backwardness of the rural economy and rural society is the deep-seated reason that causes the arising of the issue of left-behind women. So the issue of left-behind women is not only a women issue, but also a social problem. It is an inevitable product when the society enters a certain stage and participation in social work is a prerequisite to solve it. The liberation of left-behind women is a natural measure to measure the general emancipation and a significant symbol of the civilization of China's social development.Under the perspective of Marxist feminism, in combination with the theory of co-ordination of urban and rural development and social management innovation, this dissertation proposes solutions to the issue of left-behind women: government should strengthen its dominant role and create an atmosphere of caring left-behind women; government should co-ordinate urban and rural development and help left-behind women get a job around the hometown; government should perfect the social security system in rural areas so as to resolve their worries; government should use free time to strength the training on rural women in order to improve their overall quality; government should enrich cultural and recreational life and improve left-behind women's life quality; government should innovate social management and speed up the public process of the second left-behind women in rural areas.