Presented by Dr Tamara Jacka, Senior Fellow in the Department of Political and Social Change, College of Asia and the Pacific, ANU. Her publications include Women's Work in Rural China. Concern has been growing recently in China about the well-being of children, women and the elderly 'left behind' on the farm when family members migrate out of the village in search of waged work.

This paper argues that while attention to the well-being of the left-behind is vital, there is an urgent need for a shift in focus from their vulnerability to their agency. The paper focuses on the agency of left-behind women between the ages of 50 and 80.