From “female farming” to “female labor”: how mobile internet use drives non-agricultural employment among rural women in China

Background Against the backdrop of the accelerated penetration of digital technologies into rural areas, the mobile internet as an empowering tool is playing an increasingly prominent role in reshaping the rural labor market and gendered divisions of labor. However, while extant studies predominantly treat the rural labor force as a whole, empirical research specifically investigating the impact of mobile internet usage on the nonagricultural employment of rural women remains scarce. Methods Based on data from the 2018 China Family Panel Studies, this study employs a Probit model to examine the impact of mobile internet usage on the nonagricultural employment of rural women. An instrumental variable approach is adopted to mitigate endogeneity issues, and a mediation effect model is utilized to investigate the transmission mechanisms of social capital and information channels. Results Mobile internet usage significantly increases the nonagricultural labor force participation rate of rural women, exhibiting a marginal effect of 9.3 percentage points. This promotive effect is more pronounced among older demographic cohorts, specifically those born in the 1960s, 1970s, and 1980s, as well as among women with lower educational attainment, namely middle school or below. Mechanistic analyses indicate that expanding social capital and broadening information channels constitute the key pathways through which the mobile internet exerts its influence. Conclusion The mobile internet provides an effective tool for rural women to overcome traditional employment barriers, particularly benefiting disadvantaged groups that yield higher marginal returns from digital technologies. The findings provide empirical evidence for formulating public policies aimed at empowering rural women by enhancing digital literacy and improving information infrastructure.