“Enduring in Marginalization”: Deciphering Chinese Care Workers’ Health Narratives Through a Culture-Centered Approach

In China, care workers, mostly women, are as a distinct group with unique characteristics. These women experience prolonged marginalization and societal exclusion, ultimately rendering them vulnerable to health risks. This study adopts a culture-centered approach (CCA) to explore the health narratives of Chinese female care workers, examining the dialectical relationship between Chinese cultural customs, structural health determinants, and everyday agency of care workers' health. We demonstrate how structural limitations within the healthcare insurance system, alongside market and social exclusions in labor contexts, collectively constrain care workers' health and access to public health resources. Situated within these marginal structures, they adopt "enduring" as a practical response to adversity – bearing physical fatigue, suppressing emotional labor, and avoiding treatment in illness management. The research also parses out how enduring is rationalized, such as narratives of "improvement," "future orientation," and "maternal duty."