Gender differences in rural education in China

ABSTRACT Promoting rural women’s education is a matter of great significance for gender equality in education and rural revitalization. Based on the 2015 Chinese General Social Survey (CGSS) data and by using a quantitative decomposition method for studying differences between two groups (Blinder–Oaxaca decomposition method), it is seen that characteristic difference, coefficient difference and interaction item account for 40.24, 75.22 and −15.46% for the total gender variation in education in rural China respectively. Further analysis, based on the difference decomposition, shows that income, marital status, health status and parents’ educational attainments, are important factors that lead to gender differences in rural education, while these and the income of parents have higher marginal effects on education of rural women than of rural men. Quantile decomposition reveals the heterogeneity both in factors and their effects and of characteristic-coefficient difference contributions for different quantiles. The discrimination in education of rural females is more obvious at the lower stages of education. Therefore, income growth, improved supply of post-compulsory education for rural women, the construction of appropriate social support systems, and the formation of an intergenerational transmission effect of education within the household should effectively promote their education.