Reproductive Health and Gender Awareness in Shenzhen’s Migrant Population
This report documents and analyzes the vulnerabilities of Shenzhen’s migrant worker population with regards to HIV/STI, reproductive health and gender equality before providing a series of recommendations on how to move forward with programs to address the primary needs of migrant workers.
Migrant workers in Shenzhen are characterized by low education levels, endure poor working conditions and have low social status. More than 70 percent of migrant workers in Shenzhen are only educated to junior middle school and many do not receive even that level of education. They typically work in tedious, physically demanding and low-income jobs in low-tech and labour-intensive industries such as hospitality, housekeeping, textile manufacturing and construction. Their social status is much lower than the local residents . Generally, they lack the power to negotiate with employers and influence any decision making both at the enterprise and government level.
In order to better understand the vulnerabilities faced by migrant workers in Shenzhen, the International Labour Office for China and Mongolia (ILO) and the Shenzhen Family Planning Association (FPA) conducted a survey on HIV/STI, reproductive health, and gender among 3,029 migrant workers from ten companies in January 2011. This was complemented by a series of in-depth individual interviews held with 27 young migrant workers in February 2011.
In order to better understand the vulnerabilities faced by migrant workers in Shenzhen, the International Labour Office for China and Mongolia (ILO) and the Shenzhen Family Planning Association (FPA) conducted a survey on HIV/STI, reproductive health, and gender among 3,029 migrant workers from ten companies in January 2011. This was complemented by a series of in-depth individual interviews held with 27 young migrant workers in February 2011.