Family migration in China: A longitudinal analysis of couples' migration behaviour

This article addresses internal migration behaviour in the context of two-gender-couple households in contemporary China. Against the backdrop of increasing female education in a society where ideals in the gendered division of labour prevail, this study assesses the role of partners' education in regards to a couple's migration behaviour. Considering education to be a key resource in a couple's negotiations, we test hypotheses on gender symmetry and asymmetry of a partner's resources with regard to a couple's relocation. Additionally, we assess how the role of partners' resources varies across populations with rural and urban backgrounds, and acknowledge persistent barriers to migration due to household registration policies (Hukou) and the associated disadvantages faced by rural migrants and their children. For our analyses, we deploy longitudinal couple-dyadic data from the China Family Panel Studies (2010–2018) and estimate couples' inter-county moves using discrete-time event history models. Our results suggest that couple relocations are associated with higher levels of the male partner's education, and not with the female partner's education. We do not find that partners' gender ideology moderates these associations. The role of the male partner's education was found to be more relevant in couples' relocations for those with an agricultural household registration. Our research contributes importantly to debates on persistent gender inequality and urban–rural divides in China, and how these factors permeate migration behaviour.