Female Chinese Migrants’ Family Strategies: Changes of Strategies with the Time Progress

By using data from narrative interviews with 19 married female migrant workers from rural areas to work in urban areas, this paper explores how female migrant workers and their family members coped with problems caused by the absence of them and how family strategies changed during the time course of their migration. The main findings can be summarized as follows: （1） all of them migrated mainly for their families’poverty, but the reality is changing during the time course of their migration. The specific gravity of the investment in education for their children had become increasingly high to all of them, （2） because of the critical role like housework and child-rearing they play in the family, after they are separated from the family for extended periods, the family has to adapt accordingly, （3） migration has brought on many financial benefits. These remittances mainly go into feeding and educating children who are still in education regardless of gender because in some cases they expect their children could have a good future through education, and they believe that these children will gratitude them and pay back to provide supports at their old age. The social status of their families could also be enhanced in this process