it saves a lot and life would be easier if we sent our children back. but growing up left-behind … I can’t see them repeating my tragedy. I hope they can live a better life so that our family can move forward… my own health and sexual desire? … You can’t have your cake and eat it too…
While married migrant platform workers faced growing pressure to provide for the family, their younger, single counterparts aspired to save adequately to set up their own families. In the post-reform era when gender imbalance in the population is swelling, to get married for male migrant workers is a complex and demanding project. Bride price and wedding ceremony aside, they are expected to provide housing for the new family (Lin, 2013). More recent studies show this standard is rising quickly (Choi & Peng, 2016). As Xiaoliang, a 27-year-old food courier from Wanzhou, Chongqing explained,
my will-be father-in-law asked me to buy a new flat in Wanzhou… he expected me to earn more and work for myself, which means to start my own business… this, for them, means a young man is youchuxi (having one’s own career)… only when you youchuxi are you good husband material who can give his daughter a good life… I think this is reasonable… it is my responsibility as men to do so… this is why I worked so hard nowadays…
For Xiaoliang, working in the low-end manufacturing or service will never make one youchuxi. Food delivery, on the other hand, can help him achieve the goal because he could earn more to save enough so as to start his own business back in his hometown.
It is interesting to note that some of the interviewees further link gender to freedom and flexibility when explaining why they sticked to digital platforms. While they are fully aware of the exploitation and control by the platforms—many lamented the degradation of platform work, and told me that they were ready to take actions against the platform to restore the flexibility in the early phase of their development, the riders and drivers I interviewed still preferred platform work over jobs in manufacturing, construction or service sectors. This is because platforms still allows them more freedom and flexibility, mainly the freedom from inhuman and arbitrary insults and punishment from the management, and the flexibility to control over the time, place and length of their own work. These basic freedoms and flexibilities had long absent from their work experience, and having these make them feel more like a real man and give them a sense of dignity restored and under control. For Liyan, this is an important reason why he still stayed with food delivery platforms, despite the mounting risks and dwindling income.
8 MIGRATION, PRECARITY AND SOLIDARITY AMONG
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