The Impact Of Foreign Investment Liberalization On Professional Women’s Economic Independence

China’s globalization process accelerated since its accession to WTO in 2001.As an important dimension of globalization,foreign direct investment(FDI)plays a crucial role in promoting technological progress,industrial structure upgrade and economic development of a host country.However,despite the prominence of FDI in China,the understanding of foreign investment liberalization’s influence on Chinese labor market remains limited.Especially,how FDI affect the economic independence of female workers in the host country is still unexplored in the literature.For developing countries with great inward FDI,this topic is important because women are usually more equally treated in FIEs than in domestic firms,implying an important link between FDI and women’s economic status.Using Chinese Urban Household Survey data from 1997 to 2008,this paper examines the impact of inward foreign direct investment on women’s wages and economic status in their household.Our empirical identification exploits the substantial relaxation of foreign investment immediately after China’s accession to WTO in 2002 as a quasi-natural experiment.I also investigate the heterogenous effects of foreign investment liberalization on female wages from several dimensions.Lastly,I further explore the underlying mechanism driving up female wages.Our difference-in-difference estimation results show that female workers in sectors with larger degree of FDI liberalization experienced larger increase in their wages in the post 2002 period in terms of both income level and income share in household.Further analyses suggest that the above effects are more pronounced in industrial sectors that experienced larger FDI relaxation,in inland provinces with lower FDI intensity,for non-foreign owned enterprises and in industries that employed less female workers before FDI liberalization.Besides,I find that experiencing foreign investment liberalization both facilitates promotion of female employees in their career ladders and increases the skill premium of female employees,which are two important channels through which women enhance economic independence.For China,a developing country with great foreign direct investment inflows,investigating the impact of FDI liberalization on women’s wages and economic status in household has important practical significance for promoting social harmonious progress and sustainable economic development.