Research on the Educational Gender Inequality and Affirmative Action in China

Abstract

Since the 1970s, driven by economic growth, a number of laws and regulations have been passed in China to guarantee women's right to equal access to education and advance gender equality in the field. Higher education attainment in China has dramatically increased during the last few decades. However, girls still cannot have the equal opportunity for education compare to the boys due to the traditional attitude of preference for sons and limited educational resources. The purpose of this paper is to discuss the reasons for educational inequality in China from historical and economic perspectives, and compare educational equality in different countries, as well as the affirmative action implemented in China so far. This paper emphasizes the impact of historical reasons and son preference on gender inequality in education by collecting and analyzing data. What is more, this paper also compares affirmative action between China and other countries in order to come up with a better solution to eliminate educational gender inequality. The results show that the educational gender gap in China differs significantly between urban and rural areas. Moreover, the legislation in China lacks specific punishment and supervisory agencies, which makes it difficult to protect womens rights.