Research on Role Cognition and Employment Strategy of Rural Female Laborers in Sichuan, China

Abstract

Paying attention to role cognition and the employment strategies of female rural laborers has great significance for the improvement of the status of women and the rational transfer of labor forces. However, there are few studies of role cognition amongst the rural female labor workforce. There is even less research on the relationship between role cognition and employment transfer strategies. In this study, a survey of 425 female rural laborers in the Sichuan Province, China, was conducted to construct a role-based cognitive scale in order to measure the cognitive levels of subjective ability, self-role expectations and role conflicts. This paper divides employment strategy into four aspects: Actual workplaces, workplace preferences, actual industries, and industry preferences. An unorganized multi-classification logistic regression model was constructed in order to explore the relationship between the role cognition and employment strategy selections. The results indicated that there was a significant difference between employment expectations and realities. Rural females with more equal modern role cognition had a higher expectation of employment. Meanwhile, those who had a strong feeling of role conflicts, tended to work in other places and choose secondary and tertiary industries. However, in reality, most were unemployed. The conflict of roles clearly restricts employment options of the rural female workforce. This study enhances our understanding of the relationship between the perceptions of the Chinese female labor workforce and the employment strategies used. The findings can help to provide a reference for guiding employment policies and the flow of the female labor workforce.