Gender Differences in Pursuing Graduate Education among China’s Recent College Graduates: Incentives and Resources

• In Event: 4367 - Section on Asia and Asian America Roundtables
  In Refereed Roundtable 100min: 11. Sociology of Education

Abstract

Women’s advantages in college education as a global phenomenon have been recognized by researchers in recent years, while less is known about what the advantages women obtain can mean in their later life stages. By looking at gender differences in graduate education application and attendance, this study provides evidence of gendered post-college pathways among China’s recent college graduates who are experiencing the reversal of gender gap in higher education. Drawing data from Beijing College Students Panel Survey (BCSPS, N=4746), this study examines how incentives (in the form of gender attitudes and anticipated family formation) and resources (in the form of academic performance and family resources) impact the decisions to pursue graduate education. Logistic regressions show that gender attitudes shape female students’ willingness to apply for graduate schools through anticipated family formation, while show no effects for male students. Better academic performance helps female students to be more likely to attend graduate schools, and family resources show larger effects for female students in whether to attend graduate schools. These results indicate that young female and male college students in post-reform China face different constraints and opportunities when making early career decisions in young adulthood.

Author

• Man Yao, The Ohio State University