Top news reporter Su Ziqing, text, He Yushuai, picture
On April 28, 2024, at half past four in the morning, Zhang Jie (pseudonym) came to the Zhengzhou labor market as usual, waiting for the vehicle of the recruiter.
Crowded among male-dominated migrant workers, female migrant workers are relatively rare and special. They are mothers and wives, and they are also involved in the construction of the city.
With mud, moving bricks, filling soil, and cleaning, the average working time is 9 hours, as a pure manual laborer, Zhang Jie maintains enthusiasm, saying that he is full of strength when he works. In the dead of night, she often misses her children and elderly parents who are studying in her hometown, and occasionally rushes home without a project to quickly change roles to help her parents plow the land and accompany their children to study. "For the sake of my children and family, even if my life is broken up, I will never give up easily, and my life will gradually get better. Zhang Jie's eyes were slightly red, and she said firmly.
Labor market: early morning buses
On April 28, at 4:30 a.m., Zhang Jie was already standing in the labor market, and together with the crowd of male migrant workers, they rushed up to the bus as the recruiting bus passed by, shouting "Boss, I want a few" and "I can do any job" in an attempt to get the attention of the recruiters. Once the time is past 7 o'clock, it means that there is no work to be done today.
According to the 2022 Migrant Worker Monitoring Survey Report of the National Bureau of Statistics, the total number of migrant workers in the country is 295.62 million, of which 63.4% are men and 36.6% are women. "Often, we have about 10 people in a car, or there are no women, or only one or two of us." Zhang Jie said.
Zhang Jie said that becoming a female gig worker is the result of life, she is from Kaifeng Qi County, at the age of 12 she began to drift life, from Zhengzhou to Shenzhen, Wuxi, Zhenjiang, Xi'an, after graduating from primary school, she tried all kinds of manual work, entered the factory, did sewing, and also ran the business.
In the end, however, she chose to rent a house near the Zhengzhou labor market and become a female migrant worker, "because gig work gives me more freedom of time, a shorter work cycle, and I can go home at any time when my children need me." ”
In the labour market, women need to work harder to prove themselves when looking for a job. 38-year-old Zhang Jie knows this very well, so she will work harder when she works. "As long as I have been to the construction site, the boss will praise me, I am very efficient and energetic, sometimes I do not leave the construction site for 3 days in order to complete the work, I am still full of strength. ”
Zhang Jie's hands were covered with thick calluses, and there were shallow marks near her calves because of the high socks on the construction site, and there were some bruises. She smiled and pointed to the marks on her legs and said, "This is proof of my hard work, I am no worse than anyone else." ”
Construction site: Sweat in the dust
Because of her family, Zhang Jie believes that she has been stubborn than others since she was a child. "I just don't admit defeat, so I always feel that as long as I support myself, I can live a good life. Therefore, she is not in the eyes of the unexpected world, chatting and laughing with other workers on the construction site, and working with mud, moving bricks, filling soil, and cleaning, she does not fall behind.
The average working time on the construction site is 8 or 9 hours, and from 7 a.m., they are all on the front line of urban construction, regardless of the scorching sun or the bitter cold wind. Most gig workers choose to settle on a daily basis to avoid wage arrears, while female gig workers earn about 15% less than men, ranging from 180 to 200 yuan per day.
In addition to renting a house for 11,800 yuan a year and utilities, Zhang Jie and her husband, who also works odd jobs in Zhongmu, also bear the living expenses of their parents in their hometown and the tuition fees of their children. In order to save money, she brings her own boxed lunch or eats instant noodles for three meals. She is more worried about going to the toilet than about eating, "There are only men's toilets on the construction site, so every time you go to the toilet, you have to avoid people or simply not go to the toilet." ”
"Happily, the workers on the construction site are actually quite friendly, and everyone is not living a good life, so they will take care of each other. Zhang Jie said.
Every time she arrives at the construction site, Zhang Jie will deliberately pull a slow lady into the car together. In the labor market, the reporter met this Ms. Wang Caiyun (pseudonym), she is slightly fat, speaks slowly, and her words are a little unclear, Zhang Jie told reporters, "She is very good at work, but she can't express it, so as long as there is a job, I always take her, she is my good partner." When Zhang Jie spoke, Wang Caiyun looked at her with a smile.
Homecoming: Guarding and Wandering
At half past six in the evening, Zhang Jie followed the car back to the labor market and immediately returned home. She has to go home to answer the children's calls, "Every day they call me, the children always can't stop crying, they can't live without their mother." Speaking of this, Zhang Jie's eyes were slightly red. "I know that my children have become left-behind children since they were three years old, and knowledge is the best opportunity to change their fate, so I always advise them to study hard and suffer from our generation. ”
Maybe I can go home once a month, maybe I can't go back for half a year. Reading for children is the biggest motivation for Zhang Jie's work.
In addition to young children, elderly parents are another concern in Zhang Jie's heart. "In one month, the wheat harvest season is too busy, so my husband and I have to go back to my hometown to harvest. Fortunately, the process of agricultural modernization is very fast, and it used to take 20 days to harvest wheat, but now it takes half the time. ”
But Zhang Jie still feels lucky, "At least I still have the physical strength, and there are many middle-aged and elderly women in their 50s in the labor market, who have to do odd jobs in order to make a living, but they are at the very edge of the market and can only do some cleaning jobs." ”
According to the 2022 Migrant Worker Monitoring Survey Report, the average age of migrant workers is 42.3 years old, an increase of 0.6 years from 2021. Zhang Jie said that most factories now only recruit employees under the age of 36, so many older women need to subsidize their families, and most of them wander around and choose to become gig workers.
In Zhang Jie's view, as a female migrant worker, her life is divided into several parts, each of which she cannot be absent from. However, every female migrant worker around her has her own story, and she is reluctant to inquire because they have their own difficulties, and if they can help each other, they will try to lend a helping hand.
At 11 o'clock at night, Zhang Jie, who hung up the phone, slowly fell asleep, and 3 hours of deep sleep was the best rest for her.
The morning in April was still a little cool, the alarm clock rang at 3:30 a.m., the sun had not yet risen, the labor market was gradually lively, and the cries of breakfast stalls were endless, and Zhang Jie and other female workers were crowded in the crowd.
They knocked on the window of the recruitment bus and asked loudly, "Hello, do you need a female worker?"