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1. The impacts of population
control on gender roles
and female education in
rural China
Natasha Robinson

2. China

3. Shanxi Province
•GDP well below average
•Large coal mining industry
•Large inequalities in wealth
Li Ping Zhen, XiYang
County
•240,000 people
•Surrounded by villages
•3 hours by bus to city
•Main crop is corn
•Special Communist history

13. One Child Policy
• Introduced in 1978
• Limits Han urban couples to one child
• Criticised for its effects on the female
population
– Female infanticide
– Female abandonment
– 117:100 Male:Female ratio (2000)

14. Considering that many families
now only have daughters, how
have traditional gender roles
been altered?

17. Education in China
• Strong Confucian respect for education
• Strong association between educational
achievement and social status
• Higher education is expensive
• Entrance to university is exceptionally
competitive
• First generation to attend university
• School day lasts from 7am-10pm

21. “If the students are not studying hard I often
tell them, “Look at your parents! They have a
poor life, their clothes are old, they do not eat
meat often. They save all this money in order
to pay for your education!””
-High School English Teacher

22. “The teachers give us a lot of work because
they want us to do well in the exams and have
a good life. If we get a good education then
we can get a good job and earn money to
support our parents. Our parents had little
education. Their lives are very hard.”
- High School Student

23. Count of Sequence
Row Labels Town Village Grand Total
F 62 48 110
FF 22 89 111
FFF 1 8 9
FFFFM 1 1
FFM 2 15 17
FFMM 1 1
FM 34 125 159
FMF 1 1
FMM 1 1
M 82 72 154
MF 19 68 87
MFF 3 3
MM 9 52 61
MMF 2 2
MMM 1 1
Grand Total 231 487 718

24. Supporting parents... Son’s role?
• Strong traditional male preference
– “Her name sounds like ‘Hero’ – so maybe her
parents really wanted a boy.”
– “Sons contribute more to the family”
• Daughters support parents, but it is primarily
the son’s duty (older generation)
– Daughters support husband’s parents
– E.g. Mama and Baba Zhang
• OCP and economic growth are changing family
dynamics...

27. Working Women
• Living costs are rising
– 400% rise in property prices in big cities over 4
years
– Meat prices rising
• Fewer children to financially support older
generation
• 3 month maternity leave
• Women, especially only daughters, take
greater responsibility for parents

29. “In China many people think that boys are
better than girls. My parents used to think
that, but then I was born and they love me
very much. They think that I am lively and
clever and can support them when they are
old... it is a lot of pressure on me.”
- Only daughter, 17 years old

30. “Before there was the One Child Policy in
1980s, people had many children and so they
could not support their children. I had three
brothers and no sisters but my parents could
not give us anything so we lived by ourselves.
Now people have one child and so they can
give that child more money and resources.”
- Song Bao Zhen, English Teacher

31. “If a family has only one child the child must
be educated whether a boy or a girl because
that child is the hope of the family.”
-Female English Teacher

32. THE END.