THIS chapter has three main aims: to discuss the meaning of the term ‘domestic work’, the status of such work and the associations it has, in particular as ‘women's work’ belonging to an ‘inside’ sphere, and as something less than ‘real work’; then to discuss the implications for women's domestic work, and the meanings associated with it, of rural reforms and modernisation. It also examines the nature of the tasks undertaken as domestic work, the circumstances in which they are undertaken, the division of labour in domestic work, and the time spent by women in such work.

DEFINITIONS AND PERCEPTIONS

The notion that domestic work is in some way oppressive has been central to Chinese Marxist approaches to women's liberation. Yet for all the centrality of this idea there has been little rigorous discussion of why this is so. Furthermore, what exactly is meant by ‘domestic work’ is almost never spelt out. It is taken for granted that we all know what it is. I would argue, however, that one of the most important steps to take in order to understand the part domestic work plays in maintaining women's subordination is to recognise that definitions of domestic work are both arbitrary and constantly changing. In this chapter, therefore, we need to examine the particular ways in which certain tasks are defined as domestic work and the changing meanings associated with that term, as well as changes in the content of domestic work and the way it is organised.