SOCIO-ECONOMIC STATUS OF WOMEN WITH DISABILITIES IN AN URBAN COMMUNITY IN CHINA

ABSTRACT

A study was carried out in 1995 on 200 disabled women working in various welfare factories and 119 women with disability registered in Taoranting Jiedao, a residential subdistrict of Xuanwu district, an inner city district of the Beijing municipality. The results of the study were compared with the findings from a similar study carried out in 1990. The types of disability of the women, their marital status, employment status, education and characteristics of spouses were analysed. The findings suggest that women with disabilities in China have improved their status in many ways in the period between 1990 to 1995. However, much more has to be done to integrate them into the main-stream of society.

INTRODUCTION

Xuanwu district, one of the four inner city districts of Beijing municipality, covers an area of 16.5 square kilometres, and has a population of 550,000. With its socio-economic development placed at the mid-level among its counterparts, the district is representative of the other inner city districts of Beijing. In 1989, after the establishment of disabled persons' federation, the programmes for people with disabilities were integrated into the social development of the district.

Taoranting Jiedao, one of the eight sub-districts of the area with 40 residential neighbourhood committees and 66,000 population, has 621 people with various disabilities, accounting for 0.94% of the local population. Business and services are the major sources of income for the district. In recent years rapid progress has been made in the work for people with disabilities in Jiedao. So far one community based rehabilitation service, one service for children with mental retardation, two welfare factories, one employment service and one vocational training service which has facilitated employment for 72% of disabled people, have been established in Jiedao. One special school has also been set up, enrolling 70% of the children with disabilities. Sports and cultural activities are conducted every year, to encourage the participation of disabled people in social activities. Besides this, urban sites have been renovated to make the roads and buildings accessible.

A survey was carried out in 1990 to identify the situation of women with disabilities in Jiedao. Following this survey, with the reforms and opening up, many changes have taken place in the status of women in urban communities. These changes have also affected the women with disabilities and hence a second survey was conducted in 1995 to identify the socio-economic status of women in urban communities five years after the first survey.

METHOD

The present survey was conducted in Jiedao district, to gain a better knowledge of the situation of the women with disabilities in this district. It was conducted in two phases. During the first phase, 119 disabled women between the age of 15 to 54 years who were registered in Taoranting Jiedao, during the nation wide sample survey to identify the disabled persons in 1987, were interviewed. In the second phase, questionnaires were distributed to 200 disabled women working in the welfare factories or engaged in self-employment in the district and their answers were obtained. The response rate was hundred percent. The responses to the interviews and the questionnaires were compared to the findings of 1990 to identify the differences during these five years.

RESULTS

Table 1: Types of disability in the sample of interviewed women.

*The percentages of different kinds of disability found in the sample do not represent the pattern of prevalence in China.


Table 2 : Level of education of the interviewed women.

Table 3 : Marital status of the interviewed women.

Table 4 : Age difference between the spouses

Table 5 : Level of education of the husbands

Table 6 : Pattern of disability of the husbands

Table 7 : Employment status of the husband

DISCUSSION

Education is closely related to disabled women's marriage, employment, vocation, income and social life. It is an important factor determining the disabled women's socio-economic status in China. Table 2 shows the rate of increase in literacy of the disabled women. Due to the rapid development in education in urban areas, education of women above junior school has increased from 53.57% in 1990 to 63.03% in 1995. Some school aged disabled children receive compulsory education in ordinary schools. A majority of the deaf children study in schools specially set up for them until secondary education. In the past few years many disabled women have been undergoing adult education and vocational training to improve their status.

Marriage has an impact on the life of the disabled women and also reflects their socio-economic status. Table 3 shows higher marital status and less divorces in 1995 when compared with 1990. A survey of 87 married couples showed that 73.56% of them got married to their partners after introductions by friends or relatives, as compared to 69.12% in 1990. The remaining 26.44% had met on their own before the marriage. Arranged marriages were not reported in 1995, in comparison to a few such marriages in 1990.The higher marriage rate reflects the numerous opportunities the disabled women now have, with regard to the social life in the community. In addition the increase in numbers of disabled women who are married is the result of the improved quality of their life. The comparatively lower divorce rate in 1995 suggests that the family lives of disabled women have become more stable. According to the survey,173 women out of the 200 (86.5%) surveyed have a 'happy marriage' and 176 (88%) have a satisfactory sexual life. In this survey, 49% of the disabled women stated their preference to marry a non-disabled man or a person with mild disability, making it substantially more than the 30.05% who stated the same preference in 1990. This finding may reflect the improved self confidence and social position of disabled women in the community. More women with disability now consider various aspects such as the economic status of the man, his education, profession, and the location of his permanent residence, before they decide on marriage. Only about one-third of them consider marriage as a form of financial support to themselves. However negative public opinions, misunderstandings of the spouses and frequent interventions from the family of origin, continue to negatively influence the marriages of women with disabilities in China.

Table 4 shows that the number of couples with less than 5 years difference between them decreased, while those with 5 to 10 years difference between them and those where the wives were older than their husbands increased.

Table 5 shows that the husbands had improved their level of education to some extent. The survey of 1995 also shows that the disabled wives were almost as educated as their husbands. The percentage of disabled wives educated above the junior middle school was 63.03, while 67.97 percent of the husbands had received education above this level.

The findings in table 6 suggest that there are more able bodied men who got married to disabled women in 1995 than was the case in 1990. This positive change in marriages of disabled women could be due to a change in the attitude of men towards them or due to the currently practised preferential policies that benefit disabled people. For instance, in some places when a man gets married to a disabled woman, he gets a permanent urban residence after some years.

Table 7 shows that less number of husbands in 1995 were farmers compared to 1990.
Wages are the main source of income for the urban residents of China, and hence they also reflect the socio-economic status of women with disabilities in the urban communities. Of the 119 disabled women surveyed in Taoranting Jiedao, 82 (68.91%) were employed in 1995, compared to 77 (68.75%) in 1990. These figures show that there has not been much change in the employment status of women with disabilities between 1990 and 1995.

CONCLUSION

The socialistic market economy has empowered the country. The state has adopted a series of measures to strengthen employment potential of people with disabilities through implementing a quota scheme of employment, setting up welfare enterprises, co-operatives, private businesses and other similar productive activities. Of late Taoranting Jiedao has been conducting vocational training courses for people with disabilities, in accounting, tailoring, statistics and English language. A medical insurance and a pension system are also in the process of being implemented.

In the five years between 1990 to 1995 there has been considerable improvement in the situation of women with disabilities in China. However, they continue to be on the lower end of the scale with regard to their poor education and employment status. Prejudice and discrimination against them exists even today. The author suggests that proper implementation of the laws of the People's Republic of China on protection of disabled persons, rights and interests of women, better birth and health care for the mother and child, will help improve the status of women with disabilities. Besides these efforts, all possible conditions should be created to improve the quality of life, education, health and social integration of the women with disabilities in urban China. Special attention should be paid to those who have profound disabilities and who are very poor.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
This paper is an adaptation from a presentation with the same title, made at the 4th World Women Congress, Beijing, 1995.

ASIA PACIFIC DISABILITY REHABILITATION JOURNAL (VOL.9, NO.2, 1998)
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