Vulnerability of Livelihood Capital and Its Structural Causes: Evidence From Rural Left-Behind Women in China

The spatial restructuring of rural households and the outflow of labor in China have placed left-behind women in situations of livelihood vulnerability. The sustainable livelihood framework provides a critical theoretical tool for examining issues of poverty governance and sustainable development. Building on this framework, and integrating structural poverty theory with feminist economics, this study conducts an in-depth analysis of the characteristics and underlying causes of livelihood capital vulnerability among rural left-behind women in Zhangjiajie, Hunan Province. The findings indicate that all five categories of livelihood capital demonstrate significant fragility, manifested in weak natural endowments, fractured social networks, limited human capital, constrained access to financial resources, and imbalances in physical capital allocation. Such vulnerability does not arise from individual choices or contingent factors but rather constitutes a structural outcome shaped by limited livelihood resources, fragmented household structures, exclusionary gender norms, and gender-biased policy arrangements. This situation underscores a central fact that women’s accumulation of livelihood capital has long been embedded within institutionalized inequalities, where both the starting point and the developmental trajectory are constrained by structural barriers. Addressing the livelihood vulnerability of rural left-behind women therefore requires tackling the gendered roots of these constraints and advancing coordinated capital building alongside institutional reform.