Three generations of changing gender patterns of schooling in China

Abstract

The rapid economic growth and rise in living standards in China and throughout much of Asia, is well documented. The changing economic conditions, including increases in the returns to schooling and employment opportunities for women, and increases in one-child families, have likely changed the incentives for parental investments in the education of children, and potentially differentially so for sons and daughters, and for families in rural and urban areas. In this paper, we use data spanning three generations of Chinese families to examine the evolution of educational attainment for boys and girls and the relative levels of schooling by gender. We also examine differences in trends across rural and urban areas. We find a substantial narrowing of the gender gap in schooling, so much so that girls now have more education on average than boys. In addition, policy initiatives had a larger effect in rural than urban areas.