Gender and Educational Inequality in China: University Destinations and Experiences

• In Event: 115 - Section on Asia and Asian America Refereed Roundtable Session and Business Meeting
  In Refereed Roundtable 60min: Table 02. Sociology of Education across Greater China

Abstract

With the provision of mass education in the 1980s and expansion of higher education in the 1990s, there has seen a narrowing gender gap in educational achievement in China. Yet, recent studies found that in the era of mass education, educational inequality has been increasingly expressed in the form of horizontal (e.g., institutional prestige and school experiences) rather than vertical stratification (e.g., years of schooling). Qualitative differentiation in education would arguably effectively maintain social inequality. Horizontal stratification of education in China has received little research attention until recently. Related research on gender inequality is even less. Thus the present paper examines gender differences in university destination and university experiences with a focus on university participation in extra-curricular activities and access to social capital. Analyses are based on a subsample of a panel study of high school students in urban Nanjing who were receiving higher education in China in 2013. Preliminary findings suggest minimal gender effect on the horizontal dimension of educational stratification among urban youth.

Authors

• Gina Lai, Hong Kong Baptist University

• Odalia Ho Wong, Hong Kong Baptist University