Gendered impacts and implications of health sector reform in the context of multiple transitions in Urban China

We will begin by briefly outlining trends concerning the position of women within the workforce. Significant gains were made since the founding of the People’s Republic of China in gender equality in the workforce, through legislation to protect women from discrimination and propaganda campaigns promoting women’s role in production.1 However, some areas of production retained a high degree of gender segregation and those enterprises which employed predominantly women, such as collectives, offered lower pay and benefits (All China Women’s Federation, 1991; Druschel, 1999). In addition, it has been argued that the nature of the work unit (gonzuo danwei), which was the basic building block of urban Chinese society under communism, played a significant part in gender equality gains after 1949. This was because it took a great degree of responsibility for areas of workers’ lives designated by Western capitalism as part of the reproductive sphere, such as child care, housing and health care, thus enabling women’s participation in the labour force on more equal terms with men (Stockman, 1994).