Sweet Unbinding: Sugarcane Cultivation and the Demise of Foot-Binding

Arbeitspapier

This study investigates the sudden disappearance of foot-binding, a costly custom practiced for centuries in China and Taiwan prior to its demise. We estimate the numbers of women who unbound their feet in response to the rapid growth of the sugarcane cultivation in Taiwan in the early 20th century, growth which boosted the demand for female labor relative to male labor. Cross-township variations based upon multiple history datasets indicate that cane cultivation had a strong and robust effect on unbinding. The IV estimations utilizing cane railroads – lines built exclusively for cane transportation – support a causal interpretation of the estimated effect. This finding implies that a change in gender-specific labor productivity can help eliminate costly norms against women, and it also provides additional support for the argument that foot-binding was incentivized by economic motives. We also present evidence lending credit for the conventional hypothesis of foot-binding as a form of marriage competition.

Angaben zum Objekt

• Sprache: Englisch

Verweise und Beziehungen

• Erschienen in: Series: IZA Discussion Papers ; No. 14076

Klassifikation und Themen

• Klassifikation: Wirtschaft ; Economics of Gender; Non-labor Discrimination ; Economic History: Labor and Consumers, Demography, Education, Health, Welfare, Income, Wealth, Religion, and Philanthropy: Asia including Middle East ; Economic Sociology; Economic Anthropology; Language; Social and Economic Stratification
• Thema: foot-binding ; social norms ; gender roles ; sugarcane

Beteiligte, Orts- und Zeitangaben

• Ereignis: Geistige Schöpfung
• (wer): Cheng, Nora ; Fan, Elliott ; Wu, Tsong-Min
• Ereignis: Veröffentlichung
• (wer): Institute of Labor Economics (IZA)
• (wo): Bonn
• (wann): 2021

Weitere Informationen

• Handle: http://hdl.handle.net/10419/232828
• Letzte Aktualisierung: 10.03.2025, 11:44 MEZ