AT the beginning and end of each Spring Festival since the mid-1980s, the impressive scene of migrant workers pouring into the railway stations and bus stations of all big cities has been one of the top news images in the media. When recent pictures are compared with those from earlier periods, careful observers may notice an increase in the proportion of women¡¯s faces among the migrant travellers.

Due to the nation¡¯s rapid economic development, ever more labourers are migrating from the countryside into the cities, especially the major metropolises such as Shanghai, Beijing and Guangzhou. The number of women migrant workers from the countryside is increasing even more rapidly.

This fact is supported by two figures from the Shanghai Statistics Bureau. In 1997, women accounted for 37.1 per cent of all migrant workers in the city; by 2000, among the city¡¯s total migrant population of 3.81 million, 42.4 per cent were women workers, around 1.64 million.

These women workers can be found in every part of city: as sales staff in supermarkets, domestic workers, waitress in restaurants, workers in factories ?often taking the hard work that local residents refuse to do.

Opportunities

Driven by their dreams and financial ambitions, women workers leave their hometowns and are attracted to cities that are almost completely strange to them.

February 27 may be a milestone in the life of 22-year-old Li Si from Central China¡¯s Henan Province. On that day, the young woman started her work in Shanghai as a masseuse in the Jinyuan Leisure and Healthcare Company.

¡°I really wanted to experience China¡¯s most vigorous city, Shanghai, which has impressed me as the background to so many TV series ever since my childhood,?Li explained, adding that making money is not her only consideration.

Zhen Yaqing from Taizhou of East China¡¯s Jiangsu Province is very satisfied with her income ?1,500 yuan (US$ 180) a month. ¡°In the morning, I clean a few residential buildings and in the afternoon, I do house work for a few families. One can¡¯t easily make so much in my hometown,?said Zhen.

As for 22-year-old Du Xinhua, from Fuyang City of East China¡¯s Anhui Province, the decision to leave the countryside for the city has totally changed her life. She claims she never wants to return to the countryside.

Five years ago, when Du was only 17, her difficult financial situation, living in a rural family of seven children, forced her to quit her studies and leave.

¡°My primary purpose for working in the city is to make money and buy myself beautiful clothes,?she said.

In her first three years in Beijing, Du had been selling food mostly in major department stores. ¡°Each day, I worked at least 10 hours and sometimes was so tired I could hardly stand up straight and wanted to cry,?she said.

But the hard work paid off. With her own savings, Du opened a small store selling digital game equipment on downtown Huaihai Xilu after marrying a fellow migrant worker in Shanghai. By the end of last year they had also started another business ?a telephone bar, especially tailored to the needs of migrant workers living nearby.

Du is ambitious about her future. ¡°I will buy a car and an apartment just like other city dwellers one day. And I will surely have my son educated in the city and send him to study abroad in the future.?

For most migrant women workers, even if they are less committed to the city than Du, their years of experience in it will still influence their whole life.

¡°The city has better conditions than my hometown in terms of education, general environment and people¡¯s manners. And I will deliver this information to my daughter,?said Zhen.

Difficulties

All the women interviewed by the Shanghai Star agreed that women confront more difficulties than men in surviving in the city.

¡°It was really hard to persuade my parents to let me go because they were afraid for my safety in the big city,?echoed Li, who works from 2 pm to 2 am.

Moreover, migrant women workers are more afraid of the instability of work and residence, as well as loneliness, than migrant men.

¡°Finding a place to live is one of the most difficult things. Once I quarreled with my landlord and had to move out with all my luggage in the middle of the night. I felt extremely lonely and frightened that night, travelling all around the city trying to find a place to sleep,?Du said, recalling the experience as the most terrible of her life.

¡°Being away from their hometowns, unhealthy mental situations can become an obvious problem among women migrants, due to a lack of communication and mental support,?said Professor Xia Guomei at the Shanghai Academy of Social Sciences.

¡°Feeling lonely, with no true friends, feeling life is meaningless, these things are quite common in this group. This marks a trend towards developing depression and can lead to social problems.?

In a survey conducted by Xia among 405 unmarried migrant women who had aborted pregnancies, when asked the reason for living with boyfriends, ¡°security?was ranked 2.7 on a scale of 1 to 5, with 5 as the most important.

¡°This search for security, combined with insufficient sex education and a culture dominated by men, results in a high abortion rate among young migrant women. In 2000, the abortion rate among unmarried migrant women was 22.65 per cent, much higher than the norm and greatly injurious to the women¡¯s health, both mentally and physically,?said Xia.

Although she has lived in Shanghai for eight years, Zhen never feels herself part of the city. ¡°I am just here to make money, and I don¡¯t know any social organizations providing help for migrant workers like me,?she said.

Du said that it was impossible to live like a real Shanghainese. ¡°We are discriminated against by local residents, regardless of how much we earn or how long we have been here.?

Xia and other sociologists are calling for the establishment of a supportive mechanism for migrant women workers, proving them with technical training and education.

¡°Migrant women workers are making great contributions to the development of the city. The government should produce policies encouraging individuals, social associations and enterprises to extend their hands to this group,?said Xia.