Marginalisation in the name of empowerment: unpacking rural women’s standpoints on female empowerment in Chinese consumer culture

Abstract

Drawing upon Feminist Standpoint Theory and interviews with 25 rural women from Northwest China, this study explores the standpoints of marginalised rural women on the trendy notion of female empowerment in Chinese consumer culture. The finding reveals that Chinese rural women are no longer excluded from the consumer feminist joy associated primarily with their Western and urban counterparts. While commodified feminist concepts tend to imply liberal ideals, its rural manifestation does not appear to evoke feminist sentiments or knowingness of feminist consciousness among rural women, but rather to collude with local patriarchy. Due to structural inequalities at both global and local levels, the prevalence of ‘female empowerment’ subtly exacerbates bodily distinctions and social stratification among various groups of women through consumer markets and digital media, reflecting the marginalisation of working-class rural women in China.