Gender and Educational Access among Chinas Youth: Evidence from Recent Censuses and Surveys

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Gender and Educational Access among Chinas
Youth Evidence from Recent Censuses and Surveys

• Emily Hannum, University of Pennsylvania
• Jennifer Adams, Stanford University
• Meiyan Wang, Chinese Academy of Social Science

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Main sources for this presentation

• Hannum, Emily and Jennifer Adams. (2007)
  Choices, Hopes, and Expectations Does Gender
  Still Shape Access to Basic Education in Rural
  Northwest China? In Exclusion, Gender and
  Education Case Studies from the Developing
  World , edited by Maureen Lewis and Marlaine
  Lockheed. Washington D.C. Brookings.
• Hannum, Emily, Jere Behrman, Meiyan Wang, and
  Jihong Liu. (2007) Education in the Reform
  Era. Forthcoming in Chinas Great Economic
  Transformation, edited by Loren Brandt and Thomas
  Rawski, Cambridge University Press.
• Hannum, Emily, Meiyan Wang, and Jennifer Adams.
  (2007). Urban-Rural Disparities in Access to
  Primary and Secondary Education under Market
  Reforms. Manuscript prepared for One Country,
  Two Societies? Rural-Urban Inequality in
  Contemporary China, edited by Martin Whyte
  (manuscript).

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Enrollment and attainment among youth in China

• To what extent does girls educational
  disadvantage persist in China? How do gender gaps
  compare with (and relate to) other sources of
  educational inequality?
• What do large-scale surveys and the most recent
  census indicate about the nature of gender
  disparities? Sources Census (2000), CHNS (1989,
  1991,1993, 1997, 2000, 2004)
• Does gender shape educational persistence and the
  educational plans of rural children and their
  parents in one of Chinas poorest provinces?
  Sources GSCF (2000, 2004)

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Educational Change across Cohorts, 2000 China
Census
Source 2000 Census Micro Sample
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Educational Composition of the Population Ages
25-34 by Demographic Characteristics, 2000
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Gansu, Sample Counties Marked
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The Gansu Survey of Children and Families (GSCF)

• Waves in 2000 and 2004 (and 2007-8)
• Multi-stage cluster sample of 2000 rural children
  aged 9-12 in the year 2000 (oldest younger
  sibling in 2004)
• Linkable secondary samples of mothers, fathers,
  teachers, school administrators, and village
  heads (local health facility surveys in 2004)
• Census of primary school teachers and
  administrators in sample villages (JHS schools
  and teachers in 2004 and 2007)

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Design of the GSCF

• School classroom resources
• Economic resources infrastructure (finance,
  materials, facilities)
• Human capital (teacher principal
  characteristics)
• Social composition environment (socio-economic
  composition of peers in schools classrooms,
  social cohesion/disruptions)
• Academic environment (academic press, attitudes
  expectations of teachers regarding teaching
  learning the students abilities trajectories)

• Family resources
• Material resources (wealth, expenditures, home
  physical environment, food security)
• Human social capital (family educational
  attainment work patterns, family kinship
  structure networks, family interactions
  psychological profile)
• Home environment for learning (parents
  educational aspirations, attitudes practices,
  educational materials, time competition)

• Childrens outcomes
• Academic achievement
• Grade repetition attainment
• Engagement with the schooling process
• Psycho-social physical health

• Community resources
• Economic resources infrastructure (income
  levels sources, transportation infrastructure,
  availability of basic health, education social
  services, presence of rural enterprises)
• Socio-cultural composition environment
  (educational occupational composition of the
  population, cohesion, cultural facilities)

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Outcomes

• Enrollment status (2004)
• Own educational aspirations (among enrolled
  students, 2004)
• Mothers and fathers educational expectations
  (2004)

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Strategy for each outcome

• Main effects models to test for gender
  differences and identify factors conducive to
  better outcomes (staying enrolled, high
  aspirations, high parental expectations)
• Interaction models to test whether the effects of
  wealth, performance, teacher quality and
  classroom experiences differ for boys and girls.

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Main Findings, Rural Gansu Analysis

• The majority of children in rural Gansu who had
  entered schoolgirls and boys, wealthy and poor
  were still in school at ages 1316. Boys retained
  a modest enrollment advantage.
• Continued enrollment for all children was
  associated with higher socioeconomic status, math
  performance, and early high expectations of
  mothers and teachers.
• Boys and girls had similar educational
  aspirations.
• Parents had higher expectations for boys than for
  girls, but parents average expectations for both
  girls and boys were higher than the educational
  outcomes the system is likely to provide.
  Parents expectations varied more by wealth than
  by gender of the child.

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Percent Not Enrolled by Sex, GSCF, Ages 9-12 in
2000 and 13-16 in 2004
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13-16 Year-Olds Not Enrolled (2004) by Sex and
Wealth Quintile (2000)
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Main Points Compulsory Education

• A vast majority of urban and rural compulsory age
  boys and girls in China are now enrolled.
• 2000 Census the gender gap is vanishing in urban
  areas it is very modest in rural areas and among
  rural minorities. Rural minorities are at
  highest risk of non-enrollment.
• Among the few children who remain locked out of
  access to compulsory education, the vast majority
  are rural minority children and children in
  western regions are disproportionately
  represented and girls are slightly
  overrepresented.
• As the pool of children excluded from schooling
  narrows, the composition of this group is
  increasingly tilted toward children who face
  multiple barriers to education.

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Main Points Compulsory Education (contd)

• A vast majority of urban and rural compulsory age
  boys and girls in China are now enrolled.
• CHNS Gender gaps in enrollment and years of
  schooling were closing by the late 1990s.
• GSCF In one of Chinas poorest communities,
  girls disadvantage in enrollment is small. The
  educational expectations of girls themselves and
  of their parents are not a barrier to further
  advancement.

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Main points post-compulsory education

• At secondary ages.
• 2000 Census The gender gap in enrollment is
  nearly gone in urban areas, and quite modest in
  rural areas (whether for majority or minority
  populations).
• There are substantial urban-rural and
  majority-minority differences in enrollment
  rates.
• CHNS Girls disadvantage in enrollment and years
  of schooling disappeared over the 1990s. By
  2004, provisional findings suggest an advantage
  for girls.
• GSCF There is a high stated demand for
  post-compulsory education among girls, boys, and
  their parents, even in some of Chinas poorest
  rural communities.

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Conclusions

• To what extent does girls educational
  disadvantage persist in China? How do gender gaps
  compare with (and relate to) other sources of
  educational inequality?
• Nationally, gender gaps in access to basic and
  secondary education are small. Urban-rural gaps,
  ethnic gaps, and socio-economic gaps are more
  persistent problems.
• Small disadvantages for girls, added to
  disadvantages associated with rural residence and
  minority status, mean that rural minority girls
  remain highly vulnerable.
• Implications
• Targeting initiatives that focus on expanding
  access to the most vulnerable groups of children,
  not just girls, would address remaining pockets
  of gender-related disparity and address other
  serious inequalities in Chinese education.

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Sex Ratios in China by Age Group (Boys per 100
Girls)
Sources Calculated from UN Common Database and
China Statistics Yearbooks (Various Years)
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