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ETHNICITY AND THE SOCIAL CONSTRUCTION OF GENDER IN THE CHINESE DIASPORA

State University of New York, Binghamton

This article analyzes the relationship between married women's waged labor and their position in the racial stratification order, comparing Chinese-Canadians in British Columbia and Chinese-Americans in California and Hawaii. It utilizes a theoretical perspective that sees gender as differentially constructed within ethnic groups and as reflecting the interaction of group heritage, historical experiences, and location in the stratification order. Both historical and current census data are examined. Chinese women had initially low rates of participation in the waged labor force. They first functioned as unpaid labor in family enterprises, entering the waged labor force only after the decline of the era of ethnic enterprise. This may initially have been a response to the limited earning capacity of Chinese males, but women remained there even after husbands' income improved. It would appear that the Chinese community initially possessed a set of norms comparable to the cult of domesticity, but their experiences in North America produced a normative transformation. They shifted from believing that "a married woman's place was in the home" to believing that "a married woman has an obligation to work and help support her family."

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