Migrant Workers in China
Social justice issues embrace the aspect of people receiving sanctions based on the nature and ways of action performance. Nonetheless, social justice stands for the idea that all people not only just deserve but also should have access to the same resources and rights. Unemployment, poverty, drug abuse, sexual abuse, and economic deprivation form the major social problems that are associated with the justice systems of most countries on the planet. One can support social justice movements in their countries and communities through educating themselves based on social justice and its importance, working in own beliefs and habit and taking effective and just actions in the community. Centering my argument on the migrant workers in China, they are being faced with a series of issues. By 2017, over 277 million migrant’s workers were existing in China (CITE). From a social perspective, migrant workers in China do not have equal rights in having same job opportunities, in having similar wages, in providing education for their children in urban cities, and in obtaining healthcare services as urban citizens.
The main objective of the social justice education and the system is to promote equality in the society by ensuring that all people are treated equally with no reference to gender, age, color, or religion. Helping people attain their needs is their main function. Presence equitable society comprising of psychologically and physically safe members is among the main results of adhering to social justice issues. China is among the most populated countries in the world. Immigrants working in the country are greatly affected by the great economic depression that the country is going through. Few natural resources and employment opportunities have greatly affected both the immigrants and other Chinese resident’s relationships. Migrants in Chinese cities are less happy as compared to the people dwelling in the countryside. The main factor that triggers people into migrating is the belief that moving away brings new blessings and continues to open the doors for our success.
Migrant workers face discrimination, which is based on gender while men are well paid and women are poorly paid. According to Lin and Morley (2013) women are paid 75.4 percentage of what men are paid. This shows that women are still undervalued despite delivering quality services; no one seems to care about low wages paid to women and the fact that they also have families to take care of. Despite China trying to battle for gender equality in the employment sector, women still face gender inequality. Most migrant women workers do not have allowances or insurance policies that can cater for their families. This ideology has affected most people in the country such that many fathers become angry when they hear that a girl child has been born, although they have to take care of her. It is not because the child is a girl, but because the father understands the world that the girl is going to grow in will not accept her fully; there is still gender inequality in China. The child will grow and after some time she will be seeking for job in the country, whereby she will understand the different perceptions of gender. Gender inequality is a concept that concedes men and women are not equal in different approaches. It has been a crucial concept in international research. Very many migrant workers in China have left low paying farm work to go and work in industries. Men are considered as a priority in employment instead of considering both genders equally. The aspect of globalization has raised many issues concerning gender inequality, especially among women. Pressure and inconsistencies between the growth of economy and trade and method and goals of policies that promote foreign investment reveal discrimination of migrant workers in treatment mostly in those sectors or departments that are dominated by women.
According to China Power Project, gender gap is widening in the country even though gender equality remains their goal. The conditions of attaining gender equality are worsening. From the world’s ranking in terms of gender equality for the last five years, China is slipping down instead of narrowing the gap like other nations. Five years ago, it was 57th unlike now it is 103rd (“Do women in China face greater inequality than women elsewhere? | China Power Project,” n.d.). In some regions of China, gender inequality is deliberate; jobs are available for male candidates only. Migrant workers travel from rural to urban regions to try their luck so that they can provide for their families. They arrive just to find out that male workers are the most needed while women can still do the job.
There is no equal participation of migrant workers in the economy and political parts. China is developing rapidly both economically and politically by using migrant workers to attain their global aim and participate in world markets. Increased globalization requires increased migrant workers (Chen et al., 2013). It should find a way of changing gender inequality to gender equality. Male individuals dominate the political party. Female representatives are few and are not treated equally as the men. According to a study conducted by Youqin Huang, migrant women are in many cases sexually exploited as well as paid less compared to how much the men get paid (Youqin, 2001). Many barriers exist for women migrant workers. Women workers earn three-quarters for each dollar that a man earns. The diverse tradition and culture were the basis of gender inequality as men were considered the providers while the role of women was in the kitchen. Both men and women contribute to the economy of the country but still, gender discrimination is observable.
Human rights should be advocated equally to all migrant workers to avoid the issue of gender inequality in the workplace. The main goal of working is to achieve the goals and increase the productivity of both goods and services. All these can be achieved if gender inequality is eliminated in China. Gender inequality on migrant workers is not only viable in the industrial development of China but also the policies of the government and justice department. The same policies contribute to the issue of gender inequality instead of eradicating it from the country
Minority ethnic migrant workers encounter lots of prejudice as majority ethnic groups are favored. According to Han service sector leads in ethnic inequality as the employers favor employees that they term as familiar making migrants from minority ethnic groups be discriminated against and termed as threatening (Han, 2009). This leaves the migrants from minority ethnic groups with no choice but to look for jobs in their ethnically themed restaurants. Minority ethnics groups always olds few job opportunities compared to majority ethnic groups whom due to large numbers own the majority of shops, this means that migrants from minority ethnic groups will remain jobless as their community can only accommodate a few of them. Despite china trying to balance ethnic groups, this gap still exists when it comes to employment, as majority of China’s unemployed persons are from minority ethnic groups. Minority ethnic migrants also face sexual abuse and sexual harassment from both the bosses and fellow employees. Some bosses sexually harass their employees of different ethnic groups by giving them harsh terms of employment; many migrants are sexually abused as the bosses demand to have sex with them in exchange with jobs or to retain them as employees. Also, migrants from minority ethnic groups earn less even when they hold same position as of those of other ethnic groups; this clearly shows that the minority are discriminated against the majority ethnic groups. Many migrants from ethnic groups have been suffering and it is high time the government of China looks for solutions to ensure that migrants from minority ethnic groups receive equal treatment as their counterparts.
The China Labor force Dynamics Survey conducted in 29 Chinese provinces showed that many organization preferred young employees; the study showed that majority of Chinese organization constituted workers who were thirty years and below. (Zhan, 2015). Many organizations believe that young employees are productive, cheap, and also submissive compared to middle aged employees. Age discrimination affects many migrant workers as the middle-aged migrants are left jobless due to their age. Middle-aged migrant workers are people who have families and most probably left their families in the rural areas to come to cities to look for better jobs, this means that families of middle-aged workers perish in poverty as the migrants lack jobs. The Chinese government as well as its labor department should come up with solutions to ensure that migrant workers are not discriminated based on age, and that organizations employ the migrants based on their capability and qualifications rather than age. This will also help in poverty eradication in the country, as the migrants will have something to offer to their young families.
China has attracted many nationalities and this has led migrants moving from other countries to go and work in China. According to statistics in 2017, China had more than one million international migrants living in China. China has become a source and a destination country for immigrants from all over the world due to economic developments and industrialization as the country has lots of job opportunities hence increased migration. However, racial discrimination is affecting workers from other races as they find it hard to work in china. Many workers have been discriminated against due to their culture as china employers seem to favor Chinese migrants over migrants from other countries. Many migrant workers from neighboring countries and other countries as well are less considered when it comes to employment as some employers are even specific to their applicants that they want employees that are from within the country (Feng & Zuo, 1999). This leaves many migrants locked out as they cannot apply to jobs being specified to belong to Chinese. In addition, migrants from other countries face discrimination in work environments as they are oppressed, paid low, and even sexually harassed especially women. Migrant women from other countries find it hard to work in China as they are sexually harassed by male workers who demand to have sex with them to help them secure jobs.
Migrant workers with both physical and mental disabilities face discrimination in China; China is yet to put strategies to ensure that people with disabilities are well recognized when it comes to employment (Migrant Workers in China and Their Children. China Labour Bulletin (n.d). Statistics of a survey conducted by national surveys of the non-institutionalized population of China showed that most disabled migrant workers in China suffered from hearing and speech disabilities with majority of the disabled people aging between 18-44 years (Zheng et al, 2011). Many migrant workers remain unemployed as the employers discriminate them terming them as less capable. Employers are unwilling to create an accessible and open work environment for the disabled and this renders the disabled migrants jobless. The disabled migrant always find short term jobs as when they are employed they are always employed on contracts or short term basis and not long term basis, this has led to migrant disabled persons live in poverty. China has been trying to advance employment chances for disabled migrant’s workers. For example, China introduced the Regulations on the Employment of People with Disabilities in 2007, which required all enterprises to reserve at least 1.5 percent of their workforce positions for disabled workers. However, even the local government has ignored the regulation (Migrant Workers in China and Their Children. China Labour Bulletin (n.d). It worth noting that even if employers comply with this regulation, people with disability in the Chinese cities will remain jobless because they are many when compared to the 1.5 percent that has been reserved. The employers seem to ignore the presence of the disabled something that has led to joblessness among the disabled migrants. Proper rules and regulations need to be made if China wants to ensure that the disabled migrant are not discriminated and equal employment opportunities are offered to both migrants.
Lack of access to health care services is another issue that affects the Migrant workers in China; many migrant families earn low income and this makes it difficult to access expensive healthcare services. The cost of seeing a doctor in China’s commercialized healthcare system is very expensive and this limits low-income migrants the chance to see a doctor and receive health care services. Despite there being different types of medical covers in China, none of the covers effectively covers the migrant workers (Kam et al, 2011). For example, the basic medical insurance scheme for urban employees does not cover the migrant workers as only a few migrants are covered leaving the rest out of medical cover hence they have to pay for their medical services which are too expensive for them to obtain. There is also another medical insurance known as the urban basic medical insurance scheme, which covers the unemployed people in the urban centers, sadly this insurance cover does not cover the migrant workers. The government of the child should chip in and help its migrant workers to have access to quality healthcare just like the other citizens, for example, the government should come up with a migrant medical cover that covers all the migrant workers in all the Chinas cities. Through this, the health, as well as the lives of the migrant workers in China, would be improved.
Social justice advocate for equality for all human beings that is all people should be equal before the law, receive equal treatment as well as be subject to equal opportunities despite their sex, color, age, and ethnicity. However, people have been facing lots of discrimination in all areas of life employment being one of them. In employment sectors, a lot of discrimination is faced which leaves many people jobless just because they do not have the desired characteristics despite being qualified workers. Migrant workers in China are an example of a social issue at hand, as migrant workers face a lot of discrimination from employers. Migrant workers remain unemployed due to discrimination based on factors such as race, gender, disability, and ethnicity. Healthcare services are also a problem for migrant workers, as medical insurance covers do not cover migrant workers; the migrants also earn little income, which makes them unable to acquire very expensive medical services. The government of China should come up with proper rules and regulations on its migrant workers to ensure that migrant workers are not discriminated against but rather have equal opportunities as other workers.
References
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December 2019 from https://clb.org.hk/content/migrant-workers-and-their-children
Do Women in China Face Greater Inequality than Women Elsewhere? China Power Project (n.d). Retrieved on 6 December 2019 From https://chinapower.csis.org/china-gender-inequality/
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Lin, X. & Morley, G. (2013). “Gender Earnings Differences in China; Base Pay, Performance Pay, and Total Pay”. Contemporary Economic Policy.
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Zheng et al. (2011). Twenty-Year Trends in the Prevalence of Disability in China.