Women Power in Family Matters from Perspective of Intersectionality Theory

The gender imbalance in family power under traditional patriarchy has long existed. Existing research mostly focuses on the lack of status among rural or low-income women. However, little is understood about the little and big ways in which the educated women in cities in China exert power in the family. Based on Intersectionality Theory, this study adopts the method of autobiographical case study to investigate the power practice of highly educated urban professional women. Four core family domains were examined: marital residence choice, bride price and dowry negotiation, household and childcare division of labor, and fertility decision-making. This case study illustrates how the interaction between education, occupation, urban background, and gender can shape family power dynamics for a highly educated urban professional woman in contemporary China. Their power practices are neither traditional one-way gender domination nor confrontational empowerment by marginalized groups, but rather characterized by equal negotiation, flexible adaptation, and autonomous leadership. This emerging form of female empowerment, rooted in daily negotiation and strategic compromise, provides a new dimension for understanding the evolution of gender relations in contemporary China.