An intersectional analysis of social and environmental injustice experienced by migrant women workers in China : The case of Guiyu

The town of Guiyu, located in the Guangdong Province in China, has been highly polluted by the electronic and electric waste (e-waste) recycling industry since 1990s and is now experiencing rigorous environmental governance. Migrant women workers in Guiyu are particularly vulnerable towards the effects of local environmental pollution and degradation in both their working and living spaces. The serious environmental governance carried out by the central and local governments in recent years also has brought them more risks than benefits. In this project, I aim to use feminist theory of intersectionality to analyse the social and environmental injustice experienced by migrant women workers in Guiyu. I shall mainly explore three questions: how power relations within different systems of oppression intersect to produce and maintain the social and environmental injustice they are faced with, how the intersectional power relations facilitate or restrict the formation of their agency, and to what extent intersectional solidary and alliance can be achieved to make profound political changes. The feminist theory of intersectionality has been emphasised by many scholars to analyse the complex environmental injustice phenomena nowadays. Literature review shows that there are mainly three related themes in existing intersectional environmental justice studies: the formation of environmental injustice, the agentic orientation of vulnerable groups, and the political dynamics and possibilities. These three themes correspond well to the theoretical framework of power over, power to, and power with. However, I argue that a more textured and solid way of applying intersectionality to environmental justice studies should be embraced to capture more fully how power works intersectionally. Based on an in-depth critical ethnographic research at Guiyu, I shall supply a contextualised and textured analysis on these three themes, waving together theories from environmental justice, intersectionality, power, agency, coalitional politics, and global e-waste politics. Firstly, in terms of the production of social and environmental injustice, I argue that incorporating the multi-dimensional perspective of intersectionality is particularly important. It allows us to capture the multiple faces of power based on different social categories and have a fuller picture of the complicated ways in which they are intersected. Secondly, I argue that we should embrace a more complicated understanding of the “intersectional agency” as a result of persistent negotiations from the dominated with the intersected, multiple faces of power based on different social categories. The “intersectional agency” against social and environmental injustice among migrant women workers in Guiyu is more complicated and even internally tense instead of being an intact whole. Thirdly, I argue that it is critically important to avoid portraying intersectional solidarity among different activists and movements as an inevitable and automatic outcome of the intersected systems of oppression. The case of Guiyu shows that there are different types of obstacles and challenges to build intersectional politics on the ground. Overall, the analysis of migrant women workers at Guiyu helps not only expand our understanding and theorising of environmental justice, intersectionality, and power, but also open more possibilities, visions, and challenges for us to promote environmental and political changes.