Donne e migrazione: il caso delle baomu

As a result of the structural changes brought about by the economic reforms, an unprecedented scale of population movement has taken place in China over the last decades and, today, an increasing number of women are making up the migrant population in major cities and rapidly industrializing areas. The aim of this brief article is to explore female migration in contemporary China, by looking specifically at the baomu, that is the domestic workers employed by the families of the urban middle class. After providing a general introduction to the major issues of internal migration and its gender specific aspects, I will analyse the domestic labour market in the urban areas, which is dominated by women and girls from the countryside, and focus on the main social and cultural issues involved in the practice of domestic work in China today.