ABSTRACT
The return to family farming and the rapid development of off-farm opportunities in China since the late 1970s have had a major effect on rural households and their members in China. Men and women have played increasingly differentiated economic roles in their families and communities since these changes. At the same time that gender roles have changed, China has extended strong property rights to farm households. Has this strengthening of property rights affected men and women in the same ways? And how have changes in property rights and in economic roles interacted to affect women’s access to and control over land resources? Has the Chinese government addressed gender equality issues in these reforms, and if so, how effective have these measures been? What is the reality faced by women in accessing and controlling farmland and how is this affecting their welfare and that of their families?
