Education and Gender Egalitarianism: The Case of China
Author(s): Xiaoling Shu
Source: Sociology of Education , Oct., 2004, Vol. 77, No. 4 (Oct., 2004), pp. 311-336
Published by: American Sociological Association
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Education and Gender Egalitarianism:
The Case of China
Xiaoling Shu
University of California, Davis
This study examined Chinese attitudes toward women's careers, marriage rights, sex
dom, and the importance of having sons using a 1991 national sample of individuals
munity-level data and through a series of nested multilevel models. Education influ
der attitudes in multiple ways at both the micro- and macrolevels. Better-educated
hold more egalitarian gender attitudes, and this positive effect of individual educat
er for women than for men, indicating a strong empowerment effect for women.
gender attitudes trickle down through education, as individuals in communities wit
cation are socialized toward more egalitarian attitudes. Community education h
effect toward the egalitarian direction on the attitude toward the importance of ha
than on the attitude toward women's marriage rights, indicating that change in the
tude occurred earlier and has now spread via education. These findings show th
is a vehicle of socialization that is used by both the domestic power elite (the
Party) and the Western culture.
This article examines the effect of educaChina is an important and interesting case
for evaluating
the relationship between edution on gender attitudes in China
by
cation and gender egalitarianism. First, few
reviewing spatial variations in egalitarisocieties
an gender attitudes among the Chinese
pop-in history have prescribed a lower
status
for women than traditional Confucian
ulation and analyzing education as an
important mechanism of influence. There has been
China. In all stages of life, women were sub-
ordinate to men-obeying fathers when
little systematic study of gender attitudes in
young, husbands when married, and adult
China, and the few existing studies have been
based on personal impressions and interviewssons when widowed. Most women had no
access to schooling and lacked economic
with individuals from small nonrepresentative
roles outside the home. Once married,
samples (Honig and Hershatter 1988; Wolf
women were not allowed to divorce or
1985). Studies that have been based on
remarry (Stacey 1983; Tao and Min 1994;
national samples have generally focused on
gender inequalities in education, the laborWolf 1985). Elite ideals encouraged suicide
market, and the division of household labor
an honorable response to a violation of
(Entwisle and Henderson 2000; Entwisle et al.
chastity. Female foot binding was wide
1995; Hannum and Xie 1994; Matthews and
practiced. This pattern of male domination
extended well into the first half of the 20th
Nee 2000; Parish and Busse 2000; Parish and
Farrer 2000; Shu and Bian 2002, 2003; Zhou,
century, and some of these patriarchal beliefs
Moen, and Tuma 1998). Little is known about
and practices continued into the 1980s
the ideologies that buttress the Chinese sys(Honig and Hershatter 1988; Stacey 1983;
tem of gender social stratification.
Wolf 1985).
Sociology of Education 2004, Vol. 77 (October): 311-336 311
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312
Shu
Second,
gender attitudes are part of a modernization
the process
dete
that encompasses a systematic
microlevel in advanced industrialized societies
change in basic values (Bell 1973; Inglehart
1990, 1997; Inglehart and Norris 2003;
(Fan and Marini 2000; Mason, Czajka, and
Arber 1976; Mason and Lu 1988; Thornton,Inkeles and Smith 1974), but extensive eviAlwin, and Camburn 1983; Thornton and
dence indicates that economic development
Freedman 1979), little is known about the per se has no direct influence on change in
development of gender attitudes in a fast- gender norms. First, at certain stages of ecodeveloping country like China or about the nomic development, societal gender attimechanisms by which micro- and macrolevel tudes may move in an egalitarian direction,
social forces influence these attitudes.
while at other stages, they may move in the
In this article, I address these gaps in knowl- opposite direction.1 Second, economic develedge by analyzing educational influences on opment often improves the position of some
egalitarian gender attitudes in China at both women but causes a decline for others, and
the micro- and macrolevels, identifying societal this polarizing effect is more likely to occur
influences that produce change in gender atti- with increasing economic inequality (Boserup
tudes at the macrolevel via their effects on indi- 1980, 1990). Third, the impact of developvidual attitudes at the microlevel. I start by ment on women also depends on various facreviewing major theories and empirical work on tors, such as age and education. Young and
the relationships among education, women's educated women are more likely to benefit
status, and gender norms and then examine from industrial employment, while the status
historical evidence of these relationships in the of older and poorly educated women may
diminish in both work and family situations.
Finally, as part of a long-standing value sysaccounts, I derive education as the most importem, some traditional gender norms are likely
tant harbinger of change toward egalitarian
to persist.2
gender attitudes. Finally, by estimating a series
Chinese context. From theories and historical
of multilevel models, I assess the influences of Sociological research on attitudes has
argued that education is the most likely hareducation-individual education, community
binger of changes in values (Bowles and
education, and the gender gap in community
1976; Dreeben 1968; Durkheim
education-on gender attitudes, analyzing Gintis
a
1923/1961;
Stember 1961). In traditional
sample of 18,066 individuals from 44 Chinese
counties and cities.
societies, family or kin informally educate suc-
With only cross-sectional data and no appro- ceeding generations, providing economic
priate historical-longitudinal data, my analysis skills and introducing appropriate social conwill not permit inferences about the temporal duct and values. Following industrialization,
causal process by which egalitarian gender atti- the formal educational system expands to
tudes have diffused in China. Instead, I com-bestow knowledge and skills that prepare
individuals for specific occupational tasks.
bine historical evidence with cross-sectional
Moreover, the formal educational system
data to examine mechanisms of the determinatransmits
a body of culture that is valued by
tion of Chinese egalitarian gender attitudes. It is
not my purpose to convert "spatial hetero- the elite of that society (Brint 1998).
geneity into homogeneous development" Education thus plays an increasingly significant role in socializing individuals to values
(Thornton 2001); rather, I believe that spatial
and orientations that the elite deems approheterogeneity is interesting in its own right.
priate for that society (jackman and Muha
1984).
Analyses of both historical and cross-secEDUCATION AND GENDER
tional data have demonstrated that education
ATTITUDES
is associated with gender attitudes in two
ways. First, higher levels of education have
Theories of social convergence and moderngiven rise to social and cultural change with
ization suggest that shifts toward egalitarian
regard to women's roles in industrialized soci-
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Education and Gender Egalitarianism 313
eties (Inglehart and Norriscentral
2003).
For
examrole
in consolidating
and reinforcing
ple, women's increased education
the societies (Judd 2002;
gender equalityin
in many
United States led to a resurgence
of
the 1989). Roles played
Yuval-Davis and
Anthias
women's movement in the late 1960s and
by education in determining values deserve
1970s, which, in turn, changed women's
careful specification.
aspirations and preparations for occupations,
I argue that individuals should be viewed
which then led to institutional changes
in
as forming
their gender attitudes through
women's status in society and within theconstant
fam- interaction with the social environ-
ily (Fan and Marini 2000; Shu and Marini
ment whereby individual- and community-
level education is indicative of the nature of
1998). Second, better-educated individuals
have more egalitarian gender attitudes. It
this
hasperson-environment interface. Thus, in
been found that education-particularly
colanalyzing
the process of value development,
lege education for women-has the strongest
we sociologists should shift our exclusive
effect on gender attitudes, resulting in
col-on individual education to emphasize
focus
lege-educated women having the mostthe
egalmultiple elements of value determination:
sources of socialization, the time line of value
itarian attitudes (Mason et al. 1976; Spitze
and Huber 1980; Thornton et al. 1983;
transition in different attitudes, and the
Thornton and Freedman 1979).
empowerment and socialization effects of
However, past research has shown that theeducation. To do so, we need to treat gender
attitudes as a multidimensional construct,
use of individual education in predicting attitudes has its limitations. First, although indianalyze the effects of both community and
vidual education shows the strongest associaindividual education, and compare differences in these educational effects at the
tion with attitudes among measures of individual characteristics, it usually explains only microa
and macro levels, by gender, and by
small amount of variance in attitudes (Fan
the dimensions of gender attitudes.
and Marini 2000; Jackman and Muha 1984; First, the source of socialization in gender
Mason et al. 1976; Mason and Lu 1988;
attitudes is the dominant culture, which
Thornton and Freedman 1979). Second, educould emerge out of the prevailing political
cation influences some types of attitudes
ideology, economic and political dominance,
more than others, since it is clearly relatedand/or
to
elite values. For the Chinese populaitems that measure attitudes toward individtion, there are two sources of influence on
ual rights but not to items that measure attigender attitudes: a domestic official culture
tudes toward equal rights for subordinatepromoted by the Chinese Communist Party
groups (Jackman and Muha 1984). Third, and, in more recent years, the Western culindividual education fails to explain why the
ture. As a result of these multiple influences
transition in some gender attitudes took place
that emphasize different aspects of gender
at an earlier time than it did in others. As early
equality, I see gender attitude as a multidias the late 1940s and 1950s in the United
mensional construct. The patterns of value
States, change was already taking place with
transition on these multiple dimensions are
respect to views on gender equality of opporexpected to vary.
tunity in the labor market (Spitze and HuberSecond, the content of socialization via
1980). However, it was not until the 1960s
education varies according to the values proand 1970s that change occurred in viewsmoted
on by the elite within a society's populathe division of labor within the home (Mason
tion during a specific historical period. At
times, this variation is manifested in the difand Bumpass 1975; Mason et al 1976; Spitze
and Huber 1980; Thornton and Freedman
ferential timing of value transitions. Change
1979). Last, although individuals with the
in gender attitudes tends to be uneven, with
most education-the educated elite-have
progress on some dimensions of gender attiplayed a substantial role in shaping the
poptudes
taking place at an earlier time than
ulation's value orientation, so have the
most on others, reflecting the order in
progress
powerful and most affluent segments
ofdifferent
a
which
dimensions of gender attisociety. For example, the state has played
a advanced by the elite. Because
tudes are
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314
Shu
these
inf
year of education, the increase
in earnings is
lation
th
larger for women than for men
(Bian, Logan,
and Shu 2000; Shu and Bian 2003). di
Education
cation,
thus empowers individuals, particularly
educatio
women, opening up new employment and
earnings opportunities, expanding individual
elite initiates changes. Smaller variation in
frames of reference, and changing the way
one dimension of gender attitudes by com-
attitudes thus reflect the order in which the
they view themselves in relation to the outside
munity education indicates that the transition
on this dimension started at an earlier time
world. The effect of individual education on
gender attitudes reflects such an influence.
and that an egalitarian attitude on this
dimension is widely diffused and more wide-
ly accepted.
Third, education influences gender attitudes through its dual effects-socialization
and empowerment. Education transmits the
values of a society's political culture, which
are partly derived from the values of the elite
segment of the population.3 Given access to
this elite culture, the better educated are able
to escape traditional beliefs. Students learn
new attitudes via didactic and social learning
processes, such as modeling and reinforcement. Thus, changed attitudes do not necessarily emerge from an individual's personality
or cognitive development, but from teachers,
textbooks, and other school experiences. In
other words, individuals learn attitudes in
school in the same way that they learn
HISTORICAL BACKGROUND
In this section, I first review historical changes
in education and other institutions that result-
ed in a change in women's status in Chinese
society and in the family. I then discuss historical change in gender ideologies in China.
Education and Women's Status in
China
The early 20th century saw the creation of
greater educational opportunities for both
sexes in urban China. The cultural influence
of the West raised awareness of the social sta-
tus of Chinese women, particularly among
physics, chemistry, or history (Bowles and
Gintis 1976). The better educated lead the
rest of the population in changing attitudes
because they are widely exposed to the elite
well-educated women. With the end of the
culture and have a greater sensitivity to "fash-
1991), urban women's school enrollment
started to increase and the gender gap in
ionable" ideas (Jackman and Muha 1984).
exclusively male system of imperial examina-
tions and the adoption of new models of
schooling from the West and Japan (Cleverley
This influence of socialization filters through years of schooling began to narrow. The illit-
the Chinese population through community- eracy rate for women who were born
level education because individuals in highly between 1910 and 1930 declined from 70
educated communities tend to have a greater percent to 50 percent (Lavely et al. 1990). For
awareness of the influences of the dominant
those who started school in 1918, the averculture through either direct educational
age number of years of schooling was 1 for
experience or indirect exposure via others in
women and 7 for men; this number jumped
the community.
to 7 years and 9.5 years, respectively, for
At the same time, education influencesthose who started school in 1949 (Whyte and
gender attitudes by improving individuals',
Parish 1984). The May Fourth movement
especially women's, material prospects. More
spread modern ideas, such as family reform
education provides individuals with betterand women's rights, which became popular
occupational opportunities and income in
with urban students, intellectuals, and young
both rural and urban China (Entwisle et al.
women workers (Johnson 1983). Educational
1995; Shu and Bian 2003; Walder 2002;
institutions established by both Westerners
Zhou, Tuma, and Moen 1997), and this beneand Chinese introduced concepts like political
freedom, individualism, self-reliance, and the
ficial effect has also been found to be larger for
women than for men-for each additional
Western treatment of women (Levy 1963).
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Education and Gender Egalitarianism 315
On the other hand, data
The from
CommunistChinese
Party valued schools as an
censuses indicate that more
than
percent
important
tool for 95
indoctrinating
young peo-
of rural women who were born between
ple to communist ideology and ethics. In
1910 and 1930 were illiterate (Lavely1950,
et al.the Department of Education instruct1990). The bulk of rural women's work
ed conmiddle schools and universities to prosisted of housework and child rearingmote
(Davin
a "revolutionary attitude toward life"
1975); women participated only minimally
among
in students and to devalue old feudal
remunerative farmwork and subsidiary
ideas
proand values. Both regular classes and
duction,4 and then only during the busy
seaextracurricular
activities included political
sons (Buck 1937; Davin 1975). Womeneducation
were
(China Education Yearbook 1984).
also handicapped by continuous pregnancies
In 1979, the Department of Education further
instructed schools at various levels to foster
(Buck 1937) and had limited economic
power.
great revolutionary expectations in young
When the Communists came to power in
people (China Education Yearbook 1984).
1949, China's educational system expanded
The educational system served as an appararapidly. Between 1949 and 1976, the number
tus for mobilizing women into the labor
of elementary schools tripled, and the numforce. Urban women's labor-force participaber of middle schools increased by more than
tion rates remained high even during their
36 fold; enrollment levels tripled in elemenreproductive years (Whyte and Parish 1984).
tary schools and increased 45 fold in middle In rural China, fundamental transformations
schools. Colleges almost doubled, and the
in social and economic structures also
number of college students grew by a factorchanged women's status, but the change was
of greater than 6 between 1949 and 1965,more modest. The expansion of the educa-
the year before the Cultural Revolution,
tional system reached rural China much later
which completely dismantled the system and
of at a slower pace than in the cities. The
higher education in China (Research Institutefemale illiteracy rate among those born in the
1991).5 The number of middle schools and
1960s remained as high as 20 percent, even
their students grew the fastest in rural China
though it declined from more than 90 per(China Education Yearbook 1984). In urban
cent for the older cohorts (Lavely et al. 1990).
Data from the 1982 Third Census show that
China, the female illiteracy rate dropped from
nearly 20 percent for those born in the 1930s
the overall illiteracy rate for rural China in
to less than 5 percent for those born in the
1982 remained as high as 35 percent, with
1960s, and more than 92 percent of the
the rates for those born in the 1950s ranging
women in this younger cohort obtained some
from 25 percent to 29 percent and for those
secondary education (Lavely et al 1990;born in the 1960s ranging from 11 percent to
Research Institute 1991).
To augment its political power, the
17 percent (Research Institute 1991).
The transition to a market economy, initi-
Communist Party consistently nursed the
ated in the late 1970s, has brought profound
development of the women's movement.
changes to the Chinese population. Since
The Party strongly promoted women's labor-1976, the growth in China's education was
force participation and equal marriage rights,
concentrated at the college level, with the
believing that women's limitations in these
number of colleges more than doubling and
areas were sources of gender inequality (Wolf
the enrollment of students more than tripling
1985). In 1950-a year after the Communist
by the end of the 1980s (Research Institute
Party officially came to power-the Trade1991). The open-door policy that was
Union Law mandated equal pay for equal
endorsed by the new leadership in the early
1980s initiated a wave of extensive cultural
work and provided paid maternity leave and
the right to nurse babies at work (Cleverley
exchange with foreign institutions of higher
1991). In the same year, the Marriage Law
learning, including short- and long-term
declared that husbands and wives enjoy
teaching assignments to foreign faculties,
equal status and have the same rights mutual
to
visits, exchange of students, research
property after divorce (Cleverley 1991).
and teaching collaborations, and donations
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316
of
Shu
accepted in urban China. Urban residents also
library
(Research
generally endorsed women's rights to
and sexual freedom
twodivorce, remarriage,
forei
within marriage. Asked whether "a widow is
college
e
allowed to remarry," 44 percent to 60 per-an
audio,
cent of the respondents in an urban sample
guages,
E
said yes (Wolf 1985). Other findings showed
among
c
ence in the 1980s started to make inroads
that urban husbands tended to participate
somewhat more than their rural counterparts
into Chinese universities. In particular,
Western ideas of sexual fulfillment and sexual
in domestic chores and that divorce tended
to be far more egalitarian in custody and
liberalism gained popularity among the eduproperty settlements in urban than in rural
cated elite, and a more relaxed attitude
toward pre- and extramarital sexuality began areas (Whyte and Parish 1984). Urbanites also
showed a decline in preference for sons
to diffuse among the Chinese population
(Andors 1983; Honig and Hershatter 1988);
(Farrer 2002; Parish and Farrer 2000).
according to interviews, because daughters
During the same period, the Chinese government's focus on women's issues shifted to
now had financial obligations to their parents
family planning policy as a measure of popu-both before and after marriage, mothers no
lation control. The 1985 Law of Succession
longer considered sons as important as they
once had. Parents could now live with either
gave women equal rights in the disposal of
sons or daughters, generally with pension
property, and more-liberal divorce regulations
enabled women to initiate the termination of
unhappy marriages (Cleverley 1991).
support from their work units (Wolf 1985). An
ethnographic study of young people in
Although there is evidence that the highlyShanghai, one of the most highly educated
educated segment of the Chinese populationand Westernized cities in China, found an
already had some exposure to Western cul- increasingly relaxed attitude toward sexual
ture, the Communist Party has remained the activities among young people, both male
most powerful apparatus of control in China. and female (Farrer 2002), signifying changing
attitudes toward women's sexuality.
Schools at all levels are under its direct and
indirect monitoring and control. The
Although rural China had also moved
Communist Party started to recruit members toward egalitarianism in women's marriage
among college students and graduates in the rights and sexual freedom, the change had
1980s (Bian, Shu, and Logan 2001).
Change in Gender Norms
Before 1949, Chinese women had markedly
been more modest. Asked whether widows or
divorcees should remarry, most rural people
thought that they should remarry only if they
had young children and no in-laws to support
them. If a widow's or divorcee's sons were
inferior status to that of men. Axioms, such as nearly old enough to support her, 64 percent
"men plough, women weave" and "men rule to 83 percent thought that she should not
outside, women rule inside," guided the sex- remarry (Wolf 1985). The preference for sons
ual division of labor. Women were expected remained strong in rural China, since income
and encouraged to guard their chastity, sacri- depended heavily on the number of farm
ficing their lives if necessary. Women could laborers, elderly parents depended on their
not remarry, while men were expected to sons' support, and daughters lived with their
remarry to fulfill their obligations. A popular husbands' families when they married.
saying stated, "Sons are cherished and
daughters are slighted" (Stacey 1983; Wolf
198s5).
Substantial changes occurred in these gender norms after 1949. Personal interviews and
impressions indicated that women's employ-
ment outside the home became widely
HYPOTHESES OF THE STUDY
Education is expected to influence gender atti-
tudes at two levels: at the individual level,
through educational attainment, and at the
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Education and Gender Egalitarianism 317
community level, throughing
the
average
educayoung
people to new
values and attitudes
toward
It instructed
schools to
tion and gender gap in years
of women.
schooling
in the
city or county in which the
respondent
resides. revolutionary
"make
an effort to strengthen
Models in which only individual-level
variables
order and discipline,
bring up a new genera-
are included have been found to account for a
tion with socialist consciousness and help to
modest level of variance (.035-.105) in gender revolutionize the moral tone of our society"
attitudes (Mason et al. 1976; Thornton et al.
(Deng 1984:121). This form of instruction
1983; Thornton and Freedman 1979). The relies not only on teachers as agents of socialization, but on student leaders and schoolprocess of attitude determination should be
analyzed at both the individual- and communibased peer groups, such as the Young
ty levels, in that research based on multilevelPioneers and the Communist Youth Leagues
data has demonstrated that contextual influ(CYL),6 whose membership is "irrespective of
ences exert an important impact on individual
sex" (Price 1975). As part of its agenda to
behaviors in such areas as childbearing, health,
promote gender equality, the Communist
and crime (for a review, see Axinn and Yabiku
Party instructed schools to provide a setting
2001; Sampson, Morenoff, and Gannonfor girls and boys to internalize the principle
Rowley 2002).
of gender equality by confronting both sexes
with similar tasks and giving them similar
Micro- and Macrolevel Educational
treatment in both academic and extracurricu-
Effects
lar activities. Unlike their experience within
the household, where they are often exclud-
Individual Education There is extensive evi-
ed from certain activities, girls in schools find
dence that educated women are more likely
that they are expected to participate in activthan uneducated women to have liberal genities side by side with boys.
In addition, this socialization influence of
der attitudes in the United States (Fan and
education can exert a contextual influence on
Marini 2000; Mason et al. 1976; Mason and
Lu 1988; Thornton and Freedman 1979).
attitudes through psychological processes
Education influences gender attitudes byoperating within individuals' social networks.
improving individuals' material prospects. Social context consists of the effects of social
More education provides individuals withinteraction, the pattern of social relationships
better occupational opportunities and
that constrains interaction, and the content of
income in both rural and urban China
transactions among interacting individuals
(Entwisle et al. 1995; Shu and Bian 2003;
(Erbring and Young 1979). When interacting
Walder 2002; Zhou et al. 1997). By improv- with others in their networks, people tend to
ing individuals' material outlook, education receive information that is biased in the direc-
empowers them. I hypothesized that thetion
of their associates' beliefs and are reward-
higher an individual's education, the more egal- ed for adopting similar beliefs (Sprague 1982).
itarian the individual's gender attitudes.
Social contexts differ substantially between
Research has found that the beneficial effect high- and low-education communities.
of education on individual material prospects is Because education is positively associated with
larger for women than for men in China. For egalitarian gender attitudes, those who live in
each additional year of education, the amount high-education communities are more likely
of return in earnings is larger for women than to encounter ideas about gender equality and
for men (Bian et al. 2000; Shu and Bian 2003). thus are more likely to adopt similar attitudes
I also hypothesized that the positive effect of indi- through socialization, including the processes
vidual education on egalitarian gender attitudes is of social learning, social acceptance, and diflarger for women than for men.
ferential association (House 1987; Seeman
1981; Weil 1985). I hypothesized that gender
Community Education China's ruling elite, attitudes are more egalitarian in communities
the Communist Party, has long recognized with higher average education.7
the socializing effects of schools and has used
The content of socialization varies accord-
schools to promote gender equality, socializ- ing to the values promoted by the elite with-
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318
Shu
toward women's career and
in
athan on attitudes
socie
tion
mani
marriage rights.
tions
in
v
nity
Gender Gap inin
Community Education
t
Measured
as the difference betweenth
men's
ity
in
(Mason
e
and women's average education, a communiThornto
ty's gender gap in education can influence
changes
the gender attitudes of its residents, particutiming
larly those of women. When the educational
in
force
and
disparity between women
and men is large,
there
are fewer female role models for
via
comm
schools
younger women to emulate. Women ine
such
per
communities
storie
are also less likely to come into
ed
field
close contact with highly educated women
depicted
who could influence them through processes
marriage
of socialization. Women thus perceive few
revolution." It was not until the 1980s that
opportunities for themselves in both education and the labor market. Because of their
the Party tackled the traditional preference
for having boys and passed the Succession
limited opportunities outside the home,
women in these communities have little barLaw, which gives women rights in the disposal of property, to further its family planning
gaining power within the household and thus
policy. Schools taught students that girls are
perceive few rights for themselves within the
as good as boys and that women can fulfill
family. I hypothesized that the larger the genfamilial obligations as well as can young men.
der gap in education in a community, the more
From the 1980s, China had also been becomtraditional women's gender attitudes are.
ing more open, and Western ideas about
Cross-level Interactions Between Individual
equality in sexual relationships were starting
to make their way into Chinese urban elite
and Community Education It is likely that
society (Farrer 2002; Parish and Farrer 2000;
individual-level differentiation by microlevel
Rofel 1999).
education is weaker in highly educated communities. In other words, individual-level difUniversities, in particular, exposed young
people to Western notions of romance and
ferentiation in gender attitudes is likely to be
sexual fulfillment through either original
smaller in communities with high average
Western literature and films or translations or
education because egalitarian gender atti-
direct contact with faculty and students fromtudes are more widely spread. I hypothesized
Western countries. Highly educated womenthat the positive effect of individual education
and men were more accepting of sexual sat-on gender attitudes is smaller in communities
isfaction for both husbands and wives (Liuwith high average education.
1992). The changing attitudes toward
Women with higher levels of individual
women's sexual freedom and the importance education tend to have greater resources and
of having sons have been initiated more internal strengths to sustain their egalitarian
recently, so differentiation in these attitudes gender attitudes when they encounter a neg-
by community-level education is expected to ative social environment, such as large gender inequality in education. Because individual education opens up new opportunities for
ity in the workplace and women's marriage employment and earnings, expands individurights are more broadly diffused and more als' frames of reference, and changes the way
generally accepted, and there is less variabili- in which individuals view themselves in relaty in these attitudes. I thus hypothesized that tion to the outside world, highly educated
the effect of community-level education is women are expected either to have strong
greater on attitudes toward women's sexual resistance to or to be relatively insulated from
freedom and the importance of having sonsnegative community-level pressure on gender
be larger. Because of these historical processes, egalitarian attitudes toward gender equal-
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Education and Gender Egalitarianism 319
in cities andthat
within villages
counties, this
attitudes. I thus hypothesized
the in
negative effect of gender disparity
in
education
inabout
a
aggregation
provides
information
the
community on gender attitudes
iscommunities
smaller
for
more relevant
for
the respondents.
microlevel variables
were as folwomen with higher levels
ofThe
individual
educa-
tion.
lows:
Control Variables
Individual education: number of years of
schooling.
Birth cohort: age of the respondents in the
In evaluating these hypotheses, the analyses
survey year.
also controlled for the effects of macrolevel variWork status: For urban residents, I coded
ables-community economic development
those who were currently working as 1 and
and rural/urban community-and microlevel
those who were not working as 0. I coded rural
measures-birth cohort, Communist Party
residents as working (1) if they engaged in one
membership, work status, earnings, parentof the following as their primary activity: agrihood, ethnicity, and religion. I analyzedculture,
the
household husbandry, household
male and female samples separately to control
workshop, household crafts, individual busi-
for the gender effect. I briefly review the rationess, or employment in township enterprises.
nale for including these variables in the analysis
Annual earnings: For urban residents, annual
in the Appendix.
DATA AND MEASURES
earnings corresponded to their monthly earnings (including salary and bonus) multiplied by
12 plus any additional annual earnings; for rural
residents, I used their annual work earnings.
Ethnicity: I differentiated between the
largest nationality (Han) and non-Han nationI used data sets at two levels in this analysis.
The microlevel data set was based on a multialities, with members of ethnic minorities
coded 1 and Han coded 0. A little over 10
stage stratified sample.8 Two sets of four levpercent of the respondents were members of
14 ethnic minorities, with Hui accounting for
urban and rural samples, respectively. City,
els of communities were identified for the
8.8 percent; Korean, 1.6 percent; and Man,
street, neighborhood, and household were
1.1 percent. Because ethnic minorities tend
identified for urban China, and county, townto cluster in the same counties, with such low
ship, village, and household were identified
for rural China.9 In 1991, 9,033 married coupercentages, it was not possible to conduct a
comparison among these ethnic
ples (18,066 individuals) were surveyed indetailed
six
minorities after I controlled for the city-counprovinces, autonomous regions, and munici-
ty clustering effect. Thus, I grouped all
palities, including Shanghai, Shandong,
minorities into one category to contrast them
Guangdong, Shanxi, Jilin, and Ningxia
with the dominant Han ethnicity.
(Institute of Population Studies 1994:16-21).
Teams of one surveyor and one instructorReligion: I measured religion by three
dummy variables, indicating affiliation with
conducted household visits, interviewing husthe
bands and wives separately. This survey had
a three major religions in China: Islam,
(Protestant and Catholic), and
response rate of 100 percentlo (InstituteChristianity
of
Population Studies, 1994), which was Buddhism,
not
respectively, giving a value of 1 to
those with these affiliations and those with no
unusual for officially approved Chinese surveys in the early 1990s (Bian and Logan
religion (87.3 percent) and other religions a
1996). A code assigned to each respondent
value of 0 (.3 percent).
represented his or her residential location. Chinese
I
Communist Party membership: I
constructed all the individual-level variables
used a dummy variable with a value of 1 to
and three macrovariables from this data set
indicate Party membership and 0 otherwise.
(see Table Al for descriptive statistics for all Parenthood: I used a dummy variable with
the individual- and community-level explana- a value of 1 for those having at least one child
tory variables used in this analysis). Becauseand 0 otherwise.
surveys were clustered within neighborhoods The macrolevel variables were these:
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320
Shu
Average
position will depend on her son's" (1 = agree,
years
of
2 = disagree).
same
city
Gender
g
county.
theDIMENSIONS
aver
OF GENDER
between
ATTITUDES
Rural community: Regions designated as
rural or urban in the sampling procedure
were subject to separate sampling proce-
dures. I designated as rural communities in
which the respondents received rural survey
instruments in the interviews and designated
as urban communities in which the respondents received urban survey instruments in
the interviews.11
The remaining macrolevel data were from
the Provincial Yearbook Database, which contained county- and city-level variables for
1990 that were compiled from city and county statistical yearbooks.12 I measured economic development by the gross domestic
product (GDP) of a city or county13 divided
by the size of its population.
I used 10 items to measure the respondents' attitudes toward women's rights in the
family and society:
The 10 items measuring gender attitudes can
reduce to a smaller set of meaningful latent
constructs. After I analyzed the substantive
meanings of the measures, inspected the cor-
relations among these variables (which
ranged from .058 to .572, indicating multiple
dimensions among them), and estimated a
series of exploratory factor analytical models,14 I decided on four dimensions of gender
attitudes:15 women's careers, which taps into
attitudes toward women's outside employment and successful careers; women's marriage rights, which determines views toward
women's remarriage; women's sexual freedom,
which looks at attitudes toward women's sex-
ual freedom within marriage; and the importance of having sons, which represents social,
cultural, and economic preferences for having
sons.
Identification of these latent constructs
1. Attitude toward women's careers: "Wives'
career achievements should not exceed their
used confirmatory factor analysis described
husbands'" (1 = agree, 2 = no opinion, 3by
= the following equation:
disagree) and "Women are inferior to men in
career and in work" (1 = agree, 2 = disagree).
y = yrq+e (A1.0)
2. Attitude toward women's marriage rights:
"A woman has the freedom to remarry afterwhere y is a vector of observed
is a matrix of parameters link
her husband dies" (1 = disagree, 2 = agree),
constructs
ri to the observed i
"It is nothing to be ashamed of for a woman
e
is
a
vector
of
error
terms. The model
to divorce and remarry" (1 = disagree, 2 =
assumes that each indicator is a function of an
agree), and "It is nothing to be ashamed of to
latent construct 9 and an error
marry a divorced woman" (1 = disagree, 2underlying
=
term E that is independent of the latent
agree).
3. Attitude toward women's sexual freedom:
constructl6 (J6reskog and S6rbom 1988a,
"Do you think that a wife can reject her hus- 1993). Each of the 10 gender-attitude items
band's sexual demands" (1 = no, 2 = no opin-was treated as an indicator of only one underion, 3 = yes) and "Do you think that a wife lying latent construct-one dimension of
can express her sexual desires on her initia- gender attitude. I estimated the measuretive" (1 = no, 2 = no opinion, 3 = yes).
ment models for four subgroups, defined by
4. Attitude toward the importance of having gender and rural-urban community, and
sons: "If only one child is allowed, do you pre- determined that there is no basis for rejecting
fer a son or a daughter?" (1 = son, 2 = no dif- the hypothesis that parameters of the mea-
ference, 3 = daughter); "A woman will besurement models were equal across sub-
respected only after she gives birth to a son" groups.17 On the basis of these factor load-
(1 = agree, 2 = disagree); and "A mother's ings, I constructed composite scores of gen-
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Education and Gender Egalitarianism 321
der attitude on these four dimensions. The
Community-Level Variations in
final parameter estimates for the measureGender Attitudes
ment model and the composite scores of
To measure the extent of community influgender attitudes are presented in Table 1.
ences on gender attitudes, I estimated a basic
multilevel model with a microcomponent and
a
macrocomponent (Bryk and Raudenbush
ANALYSIS
2002; Goldstein 1987). The micro- and
macrolevel equations are as follows:
The analysis involved five steps. I begin by
describing the distribution of the four dimen-
sions as measured by the 10 gender-attitude
items. I then identify community-level variations in gender attitudes. Finally, I use a series
ATTITUDEij =- o + E (B1.0)
foj = coo + Y0o (B2.0)
where ATTITUDE. represents one dimension
of gender attitude for individual i in jth commicro-, macro-, and cross-level interaction
munity. The Pfos are microintercepts; too is the
influences of education on gender attitudes.
macro-intercept; and the Eijs are macro-error
terms, assumed to be normally distributed
Distribution of Egalitarian Gender
with a mean of zero and independent across
Attitudes
communities. In such a model, the intraclass
correlation coefficient that measures the proThe distribution of responses to the 10 items
portion of variance in the outcome between
measuring gender attitudes was highly skewed,
groups can be calculated by using
with the majority of respondents giving egaliof nested multilevel models to examine
tarian answers to 7 of the 10 items, as shownpin=
Var(oj)i
Table 1. Compared with their rural counter-Var(ei,)+Var(og0), which is also called the
parts, urban residents of both sexes are more
cluster effect of Level 2 units.
likely to have egalitarian attitudes and are less
Table 2 shows the proportions of variance
likely to agree that having sons is important. No
in gender attitudes among the 44 communisystematic difference exists between men and
ties of residence as measured by the intraclass
women in urban areas: Women are more egalcorrelation coefficients. These coefficients
itarian on four items, while men are more egalindicate substantial community-level variaitarian on two items; there is no gender differtions in all the dimensions. This communityence on the remaining four items. In rural combased variation is larger for women's attitudes
munities, women's attitudes tend to be less
than for men's on all four dimensions and
egalitarian than men's on all but one item, on
greater on some dimensions than on others.
which men and women are the same. Thus,
The attitude toward the importance of having
rural women have the most traditional gender
sons has the largest variation across commuattitudes among the four groups. On all three
nities for both sexes, indicating that this attiitems measuring attitude toward women's martude is the most unevenly distributed across
riage rights, 80 percent of the rural residents
communities. Position on women's marriage
and 90 percent of the urban residents are in the
rights has the smallest variation among commost egalitarian category, indicating a fairly
munities, for both men and women. On all
uniform distribution of this attitude among
four attitudes, there is a larger community
both men and women in both rural and urbaneffect on women's attitudes than on men's.
China. These results are summarized in the patThe largest gender gap in the community
effect is found in the attitude toward the
terns in the composite measures. Constructed
from factor loadings and standardized scores,
importance of having sons, which accounts
these four measures all have a mean of 0 and
a 28.9 percent of the variance in women's
for
standard deviation (SD) of 1 for the total samperspective, but only 20.1 percent of the
ple, but their mean and SD vary by both commen's. This finding indicates that the community of residence and gender.
munity environment explains a larger propor-
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Table 1. Percentage Giving the Most Nontraditional Response to Items Measuring Gender Attitudes, by
Gender, Factor Loadings for Gender Attitudes, and Mean and Standard Deviation of Composite Measures o
Urban Rural
Gender Attitudes Women Men Women Me
Women's Career a, b, c, d .26e .19 -.34
(.77) (.80) (1.14
Wives' career achievements should not exceed their husbands'. (Disagree) a, b, c 5
Women are inferior to men in career and in work. (Disagree) a, b, c, d 74.
Women's Marriage Rights a, b, c, d .13 .17 -.2
(.86) (.80) (1.20
A wife can remarry after her husband dies. (Agree) b, c, d 93.6
It is nothing to be ashamed for a woman to divorce and remarry. (Agree) b, c, d 9
It is nothing to be ashamed to marry a divorced woman. (Agree) b, c, d 89
Women's Sexual Freedom a, b, c, d .19 .32 -.4
(.84) (.78) (1.12
Wives can reject husbands' sexual demands. (Agree) a, b, d 62.3 6
Wives can express their sexual desires on their initiative. (Agree) a, b, c, d 75
Having Sons Not Important a, b, c, d .34 .29 -.5
(.65) (.67) (1.19
If only one child is allowed, do you prefer a son or a daughter? (Daughter)a, c, d
A woman will be respected only after she gives birth to a son. (Disagree) b, c, d 9
A mother's status depends on whether she has son(s). (Disagree) a, b, c, d 87
N
4,472
4,450
4,513
4,511
"
Gender
differences
among
urban
r
b
Gender
differences
among
rural
r
c
Rural-urban
differences
among
fe
d
Rural-urban
differences
among
e
Composite
measures
are
constructe
gender
attitudes,
and
FSik
is
the
factor
f
All
Model
and
parameters
.64,
Note:
are
statistically
Goodness-of-Fit
respectively,
Because
compare
the
means
Indices:
for
male
and
between
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the
signi
BIC
four
female
the
=
gen
sam
dependen
Education and Gender Egalitarianism 323
tion of the variance in women's attitudes
indicate the effect of being a member of that
toward having sons than in men's. Women,
group versus not being a member. The 3s are
as a subordinate group, are more vulnerable
microlevel coefficients, the interpretations of
to the environmental context, while men,
which are similar to those for a multiple
with more discretion, are less susceptible
to
regression.
structural influences.
I applied the microcomponent of the
model to each community on which I based
Influences on Gender Attitudes:
my analysis, but I expected the effects of the
microlevel variables to vary across communi-
A Multilevel Analysis
ties. In the macrocomponent of the model,
To analyze simultaneously the effects of indithe microlevel intercept (Poj) and microcoeffi-
vidual- and community-level influences
on for individual education (Pl1) are
cients
gender attitudes, I estimated a series of nestassumed to depend stochastically on
ed multilevel models: Model A uses all the
macrolevel characteristics. The following set
individual-level variables, including individual
of equations express the macrocomponent of
education; Model B adds community educathe multilevel model:
tion to Model A; and Model C contains all the
variables in Models A and B, plus cross-level
interaction terms between individual educa-
foj=oo+yoi GDPj+Yo2RURALj+yo3AEDj+Yo4GAPEDj+jioj (C2.0)
fij= a1o+Y1 GDPijY12RURALj+Y1 3AEDj+Y14GAPEDj (C2.1)
tion and community characteristics.
where k = 2, 3, ..., 10 (C2.k)
The microcomponent can be expressed flkj=akO,
as
where
ATTITUDEij = Oj + A jEDij+ P2j AGE,1j + p3jCCPij+ 14j WORKij
the )s are coefficients and the us are
macro-error terms. AEDjand GAPEDjare continu-
+ psi EARNij + 6j ETHNICij + f7j PARENTij
+p83 REG ij+ f9j REG2i + Z O1 REG3i + Ei (C1 .0)
ous variables, and the double bars on these
variables indicate that they are centered on
their grand means. The microcoefficients are
where ATTITUDEif represents one dimension of
gender attitude for individual i in jth communi-
dependent quantities in these equations.
These multilevel models, expressed by
ty, EDii to REG3ii are individual-level predictors
Equations C1.0 and C2.0-C2.K, are "slopes-
of
gender as
attitudes.
EDj, variables,
Agi, and EARN/i
measured
continuous
and theare
as-outcomes" models18 (Bryk and Raudenbush
2002). When the community-level explanatory
variables are excluded from Equations C2.0 and
bars on these variables indicate that they are
centered on their city/county means. The
other variables are dichotomous variables,
and are not centered so that their coefficients
C2.1, these equations represent Model A.
When the community-level explanatory vari-
Table 2. Proportions of the Variance in Gender Attitudes Among 44 Communities
P
Total
Female
Male
Gender Attitudes (N = 17,956) (N = 8,985) (N = 8,961)
Women's
career
.185
.217
.150
Women's marriage rights .133 .161 .112
Women's sexual freedom .172 .183 .164
Having sons not important .232 .289 .201
Note: Intraclass correlation coefficient p = Var(loi)
Var(Eij)+ Var(gioj)
Community-level differences in gender attitudes are all s
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324
Shu
ables
are
der and other attitudes,
moving them in an
equations
egalitarian and liberal direction, although
to
C2.k
re
accounting for only a small amount of the
restricted maximum-likelihood estimates for
variance (Fan and Marini 2000; Mason et al.
the effects of education for these models.
1976; Thornton et al. 1983; Thornton and
Freedman
1979). In addition, in both Models
Estimates for control variables are presented
in
Table A2 for Model B.19
B and C, the positive effect of individual eduBefore I describe the effects of education,
I is larger for women than for men on all
cation
briefly discuss the effects of the control varidimensions of gender attitudes. This finding
ables. Neither per capita GDP nor living indicates
in a
that individual education has a larg-
rural community has any effects on gender
er impact on women's gender attitudes than
attitudes, except for the positive effect ofon
per
men's. Additional years of education ben-
capita GDP on one of women's attitudes.
efit women more than men in expanding
Among the individual-level variables, only
women's perceptions of new opportunities
Communist Party membership is consistently
and changing their frame of reference about
themselves. Individual education thus
associated with gender attitude, while age,
earnings, and ethnicity have some association
empowers women more than it does men,
with some dimensions, and work status, ethwhich is consistent with findings from the
States (Fan and Marini 2000; Mason
nicity, religion, and parenthood have littleUnited
or
et al. 1976; Mason and Lu 1988; Thornton
no influence on gender attitudes.
and Freedman 1979).
Members of the Communist Party have
more egalitarian gender attitudes than doIn comparison to Model A, in which indinonmembers, probably because Party memvidual characteristics explain less than 2.8
bers are subject to lengthy and continuous
percent and 2.3 percent of the variance in
socialization during recruitment (Bian etgender
al.
attitudes for women and men, respec2001) or are self-selected on their values contively, incorporating community-level varigruent with the Communist Party ideology.
ables in Models B and C substantially increasThey thereby adopt the values that the Party
es the amount of variance explained: 4.9 perpromotes, becoming representatives of the
cent to 23.7 percent of the variance among
elite culture and sources of socialization for
women and 3.2 percent to 11.1 percent of
their associates. Age is negatively associated
the variance among men. These contextual
with three of women's attitudes, but only one
influences account for larger proportions of
of men's, indicating that cohort succession
the variance in gender attitudes than do individual characteristics, which demonstrates
acts as a mechanism of change in gender attitudes among women but not among men.
that attitudes are formed through an individual's interaction with the outside world and
Earnings are positively associated with three
dimensions of women's gender attitudes and
are socially constructed. Attitudes are susceponly one attitude among men.
tible not only to the effects of individual characteristics, but to the influences of the social
environments in which these individuals live.
Individual Education There is strong sup-
port for my hypothesis that individual educaFurthermore, on all four dimensions of gention is positively associated with gender attider attitudes, community-level variables
account for more variance for women than
tudes. In Models A and B, individual educa-
tion is associated with all four dimensions of
for men. Spatial variations, particularly those
gender attitudes for both men and women. found in community education and the eduBetter-educated individuals hold more egali- cational gender gap, generally have larger
tarian perspectives on women's careers, mar- ramifications for women's gender attitudes
riage rights, and sexual freedom and are lessthan for men's, indicating that women are
likely to support the idea that having sons is more susceptible to contextual influences
important for women's status. This finding is than are men. Last, on the attitudes toward
consistent with prior evidence that individual women's sexual freedom and the importance
education exerts a consistent effect on gen- of having sons, community education has a
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Table 3. Restricted Maximum Likelihood Estimates of the Net Effects of Individual- and Community-level Educati
for women, N = 8,961 for men)
Women's Women's Women's
Career Marriage Rights Sexual Freedo
Women Men Women Men Women M
Model A: Individual-level Variables a
Individual education .030*** .018*** .022*** .020*** .02 7*** .025*
(.004) (.004) (.005) (.005) (.005) (.0
Model
Model
B:
R2
.010
.006
Individual-level
.015
Variables
+
.010
.028
.025
Community-level
V
Individual education d .030*** .018** .022*** .011 * .027*** .0
(.004) (.005) (.005) (.005) (.005) (.0
Average education in community e .080* .083* .020* .024* .110** f .112
(.040) (.041) (.010) (.011) (.040) (.0
Gender gap in education in community -.031 * .112 -.170* -.098 -.04
(.015) (.078) (.081) (.073) (.020) (.0
Model
R2
.167
.046
.049
.032
.115
.076
By community-level variables .157 .039 .040 .023 .10
By individual-level variables .010 .007 .009 .009 .011
Model C: Individual-level Variables + Community-level
Variables + Cross-level Interactions c
Individual education d .031*** -.002 .035* .017 .022* -
(.004) (.018) (.014) (.014) (.011) (.0
Average education in community e .080* .087* .019* .023* .110** f
(.040) (.039) (.009) (.011) (.039) (.0
Gender gap in education in community -.031 * .111 -.170* -.099 -.04
(.015) (.078) (.080) (.073) (.021) (.0
Individual education x average education .004 -.002 -.003 -.005 .0
in community (.008) (.008) (.006) (.04) (.008) (.01
Individual education x gender gap in education
in
community
Model
R2
.012*
.167
-.004
.012*
-.003
.008*
.0
(.006) (.011) (.006) (.008) (.004) (.0
.047
.049
.032
.115
.079
By community-level variables .157 .040 .040 .023 .10
By individual-level variables .010 .007 .009 .009 .011
a Net of age, Communist Party membership, work status, earnings
b Net of individual control variables listed in a and community-l
c In addition to the same individual- and community-level contr
ual education x rural community.
d Gender differences in the size of these coefficients for all four d
e The size of the coefficient for having sons not important is large
Estimates of the coefficients for the other variables in Models B and
f The size of the coefficient for "Community Education" is larger
* p < .05, ** p < .01, *** p < .001 (two-tailed test).
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326
Shu
larger
effect on men's gender attitudes in
ef
either
model. This finding again
confirms the prevaagain
aff
lence of contextual influence on women's
influenc
gender attitudes.
larger
co
bearing
Cross-level Interaction Between Community
country
and Individual Education The results do not
support my hypothesis that the positive effect
Commun
of individual education is smaller in communithe
co
ties with higher average education. The positive
egalitari
effect of individual education
does not vary by
These
fin
level of community education for either sex.
sis
that
g
The findings strongly support my hypothin
commu
esis that the negative effect
of gender
tional
att
in
inequality in education in
a community is
there
is
a
smaller for women with higher levels of indimunity-
vidual education. For women, on all four
tives. In both Models B and C, men and
women in communities with higher average dimensions of gender attitude, the negative
education are more likely to endorse gendereffect of gender inequality is lower for highly
equality in women's careers, marriage rights, educated women. This finding indicates that
and sexual freedom and are less likely to sup- individual education grants women more
port the idea that having sons is important. resources and inner strength to sustain their
I found partial support for the hypothesis egalitarian gender attitudes when they
that community education has differentialencounter a negative social environment. It is
effects on different kinds of gender attitudes. also possible that highly educated women
The influence of community education on tend to mix in networks that consist largely of
gender attitudes is the largest on the attitude better-educated individuals, who are likely to
toward the importance of having sons, thereinforce their egalitarian views.
second largest on the attitude toward
women's sexual freedom, smaller on the atti-
tude toward women's careers, and the small- CONCLUSIONS
est on the attitude toward women's marriage
rights. Only the difference between the atti-
tude toward having sons and the attitude
In this article, I analyzed micro- and macrolev-
el educational influences on egalitarian gentoward women's marriage rights is statistical- der attitudes in China using a national indily significant. This pattern is consistent for vidual sample and a city- or county-level data
both women and men, indicating that for set. I compared the effects of individual and
both sexes, egalitarian gender attitudes are community education, and analyzed varianot uniformly distributed-they are more tions in these education effects by dimensions
widespread on issues that are promoted by of gender attitude for the two sexes separate-
the elite at an earlier time than on those that
are promoted at a later time.
ly. I did so first through a confirmatory factor
analysis to model gender attitude as a fourmultidimensional construct measuring atti-
Gender Gap in Community Education tudes toward women: career, marriage rights,
There is also support for my hypothesis that sexual freedom, and the importance of havwomen in communities with large gender ing sons. I then estimated micro-, macro-,
gaps in education hold more traditional gen-and cross-level influences on these gender
der attitudes than do women in communities
attitudes through a series of nested multilevel
with smaller gender gaps. Among women,models.
the gender gap in education is negatively The results showed that egalitarian gender
associated with all four attitude domains. The
attitudes are unevenly distributed in the
gender gap in education, however, has no Chinese population, with attitudes on some
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Education and Gender Egalitarianism 327
less awareness
of fashionable
ideas and
dimensions more egalitarian
than
on others
and some subgroups of beliefs,
the population
holdand are thus less likely to change their
ing more egalitarian perspectives
attitudes accordingly.
than others.
Individual attributes account for little of the
Second, the uneven gender egalitarianism
on different attitudes reflects the order of
variance in gender attitudes. Rather, education influences gender attitudes at both the
transition in the official culture. The egalitarimicro- and macrolevels. Better-educated
an attitude toward women's marriage rights
initiated and promoted by the
women are empowered to hold more was
egali-
Communist Party at a much earlier time
tarian gender attitudes. More important,
egalitarian gender attitudes tricklethrough
down educational institutions, the effect of
which has trickled down to all communities.
through community education, and individu-
analyses indicate that the transition on
als in high-education communities are My
socialattitude was largely complete by the time
ized toward ideas of gender equality.this
That
the data were collected: I observed a uniform
community education has a larger positive
distribution of the items measuring this attieffect on the attitude toward the importance
of sons than on the attitude toward women's
tude in the most egalitarian category; among
marriage rights indicates that the transitionall four gender attitudes, community charac-
on the latter attitude occurred earlier and
teristics account for the lowest amount of
variance on this attitude; the size of commubecame more widespread via education.
nity education effect on this attitude is also
Women in communities with a large gender
the smallest among all four attitudes; and this
gap in education support egalitarian attitudes
less.
is the only attitude on which I did not observe
age differences for either men or women.
Uneven Gender Egalitarianism
Because the transition in this attitude was ini-
tiated earlier than in other attitudes, change
in this attitude has saturated high-education
communities, approaching the most egalitarian ceiling. Since further change is less feasitics account for more variation in both
ble, little alteration has occurred at the later
women's and men's gender attitudes than
dotransition in high-education commustage of
individual characteristics. These differences in
nities, while change in lower-education comthe explained variance indicate that the shift munities has maintained its momentum. This
toward egalitarianism occurred sooner and to difference in the pace of the transition resulta greater degree in some attitudes than in ed in the smallest community-level variation
others. This unevenness has three implica-and the smallest effect of community educa-
Egalitarian attitudes are unevenly distributed
in different communities and among different
attitude dimensions. Community characteris-
tions.
tion for this attitude.
On the other hand, it was not until the
the result of an unequal distribution of edu-1980s that the Community Party started
cation among Chinese communities.
actively promoting an egalitarian attitude
Communities that are considered essential for
toward gender preference in offspring to
the communist rule receive heavy invest-facilitate and justify its "one-child-per-family"
ments from the state. Because of greater edu-policy. Among all attitudes, this dimension
cational opportunities, residents of these
has the largest amount of community variacommunities generally attain more educa-tion, the largest amount of variance
tion. In these high- education communities,
explained by the multilevel model, and the
residents have more exposure to the values
largest community-education effect. The attitude toward women's sexual freedom also
and conduct that are deemed appropriate by
First, this uneven gender egalitarianism is
started its transition at a later time; it thus has
the elite and thus are more likely to shift their
attitudes in congruence with the prevailing
the second largest community-education
ideas. In contrast, individuals in less-well-edu-effect and the largest age difference for both
cated communities receive less socialization
men and women, indicating an ongoing
influence from the dominant culture, have
cohort-based transition among both sexes.
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328
Shu
That
the
associated with egalitarian
attitudes for both
individua
men and women, and this empowerment
effect is larger for women than for
men.
larger
am
Increased individual education is associated
support
t
with more egalitarian gender attitudes, particuattitude
larly among women. Women with higher levels
trickling
of individual education also tend to have moreth
Third,
resources and more internal strength to sustain
influenc
their egalitarian gender attitudes when they
domestic
encounter a negative social environment. This
Commun
the influence from the West. The latter influfinding is evident in the smaller negative effect
ence started to make inroads into the Chinese
of the gender gap in community education on
population only in the 1980s, as is evident bygender attitudes for highly educated women.
both the relatively large community-level My analysis demonstrates that it should
variation and the large effect of community-not be assumed that the positive effect of
level education on women's sexual freedom
education on egalitarian attitudes is a univer-
sal phenomenon and that this positive effect
and the large age effect on this attitude
can be applied to all societies at all historical
among both men and women.
times. Rather, the effect of education should
These results expand the "trickle-down"
thesis in the transition in values-that the
be interpreted within the context of a specif-
ic society and historical period because the
social elite initially adopt egalitarian gender
content of socialization reflects the varied
attitudes and then promote them through
sources of influence and assorted values that
education (Inglehart 1990; Schreiber 1978).
are in
promoted at different historical moments.
Both the better educated and those living
The effect of education also differs for differ-
more educated communities are widely
exposed to the elite culture and haveent
a subgroups of the population and for dif-
greater sensitivity to the "fashionable" ferent
posi- attitudes, as is evidenced by the gender
differences in the effects of individual educations that are promoted by the elites. This
tion, as well as differences in the effects of
uneven process of attitude transition has also
community
education on different dimenbeen experienced by the U.S. population in
sions of gender attitudes.
its shift toward more egalitarian gender atti-
tudes (Thornton and Freedman 1979).
Dual Effects of Education
NOTES
Education influences gender attitudes in two
1. For example, numerous documents have
ways. First, through direct and indirect experecorded that women, mostly elite women,
riences, an educational system exposes indiwere permitted to divorce and remarry in the
viduals to a socialization process through
Tang dynasty but not in the more recent Ming
which they internalize what are deemed
or Qing dynasties (Tao and Min 1994).
appropriate values. The educational system
2. They are likely to persist either for a proacts as a socialization agent in diffusing longed
the
period because it takes time for new
dominant culture for individuals of both
learning (Jackman 1994) or permanently
sexes. This socialization process appears because
to be
values are relatively autonomous and
gender neutral, influencing the attitudes
of
independent
of economic conditions (Damage
both sexes. As a result, communities with
1994; Hamilton 1996) and economic relationhigher average levels of education are more
ships and gender relationships are interrelated
likely to have more egalitarian attitudes
but separate domains (Stacey 1983; Wolf
toward the status of women. There is no 1985).
gender-based difference in the quantity of influ3. It has been argued that education also
ence exerted by community-level education.
fosters conceptual growth because it is generalSecond, individual education is positively
ly perceived as a learning process in which indi-
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Education and Gender Egalitarianism 329
al data collection are
involved
the Population
viduals acquire broad knowledge,
exposed
of the sophisticated
Academies of Social Sciences in
to different values, and Institutes
develop
cognitive skills (SelenicShanghai,
and Steinberg
Shandong, Guangdong,
1969).
Shanxi,
Education fundamentally Ningxia,
alters
Jilin,
people
Sichuan, by
Hebi, shiftand Hubel; the
Women's Studies
Center
in Hangzhou
ing their basic values, expanding
their
frames
of
reference, and stimulating
University;
cognitive
and the Institute
andofperPopulation in
sonality growth (JohnSudan
1969;
Lipset
1981).
I the
University
in Shanghai.
I thank
could not test this effectUniversity
with my
Service
data;
Centerthus,
at the Chinese
I
do not discuss this effect of education in this
University of Hong Kong for making these data
article.
available.
9. Four survey instruments were used for
4. Women's share of fieldwork varied widely
women and men in rural and urban communiin the nation, depending on the intensity of
cultivation, population density, type of crops,
ties. Most parts of these four instruments are
and climate (Davin 1975).
identical, except for the items that were perti5. The expansion of the educational sysnent to fertility behaviors for women and those
tem in China is not a linear, monotonic
that were pertinent to work and conditions of
work for rural residents.
process. Although elementary education has
steadily increased over time (Hannum and Xie 10. There are concerns that this high com1994; Lavely et al. 1990), the expansion ofpliance rate implies that the respondents tendsecondary education, particularly senior high ed to report in a way that was consistent with
school education, retracted during the Great
what the government was advocating. The
Leap Forward and the Cultural Revolutiondata show a substantial rate of defiance of the
(Hannum and Xie 1994; Zhou et al. 1998). government's "one-child" policy, with more
The retraction of college education duringthan 55 percent of the rural respondents and
the same periods was much more severe than more than 20 percent of the urban residents
that of senior high school education (Zhou et
preferring a son if only one child was allowed.
al. 1998).
On the other hand, a comparison with the
6. Young Pioneers of China is a mass orga- 2000 Survey on Health and Family Life in
China, which used various methods to ensure
nization for children aged 7-14 that trains
children in leadership. Youths aged 15-25 are
the respondents' confidentiality, found a modeligible to apply for membership in the CYL-erate degree of under reporting of espousal hita more elite organization than the Young
ting: only 1 percent of the men and 3 percent
Pioneers. Only the most advanced students
of the women reported being hit by their
are recruited into the CYL, which is separate spouses in the 1991 data set that was used for
from the class as a whole and holds privatethis study, and 4 percent of the men and 9 permeetings; the CYL is also expected to maincent of the women reported being hit by their
tain strong roots in the class, assisting thespouses in the 2000 data set. It is unclear, how-
Party in the moral-political education of
ever, whether this discrepancy reflects a change
youths. Its members are expected to be mod- over time or a moderate underreporting of
els for the young to follow.
"unpopular" behaviors or ideas in the 1991
7. Without longitudinal data, the
data set.
macrolevel education and gender attitudes 11. How communities were designated rural
were measured contemporaneously; I cannot
and urban in the sampling process is under
rule out a reciprocal relationship between documented, but it appears that these desigcommunity education and gender attitudes.nations are longstanding, as is evident by the
However, there is evidence that changes indifferent levels of administrative units that were
education preceded changes in gender atti-selected for the urban and rural samples.
tudes (Lavely et al 1990; Wolf 1985).
12. This database was assembled by
8. These data were collected by the Chinese researchers at the University of Michigan and
Academy of Social Sciences in collaborationcompiled and edited by China in Time and
with the Population Research Institute of the Space and the Consortium for International
East-West Center in the United States. The actu- Earth Science Information Network.
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330
Shu
level
variables, the interaction between com- d
The
tion
base
munity and individual
characteristics, individvalue
of
p
ual-level residual and community-level
residual.
13.
(heavy,
lig
So this approach helps avoid the "contextual
summatio
fallacy" when the residuals, which remain after
try-level
the effects of an insufficient number of individ14.
estim
ualI
variables have been
partialled out, are erromodels
by
neously interpreted as contextual effects
in
1
to
6
or
terms of mechanisms occurring at the group
number
level (Hauser 1970).
approach
19. When no interactions terms are present,
the
mos
the regression coefficients reflect the general
meaning
relationships at each level of the other indepenaccounts
15. I also tested a model in which these
dent variables. When the interaction terms are
present, the regression coefficients for the main
measures are consolidated into a single con-
effects reflect the "conditional" relationships in
struct. The model goodness-of-fit indices indiwhich
all other independent variables but the
cate that this model does not fit the data as well
as the four-construct model (BIC = 41.69, one
X2 in
= question equal either the grand mean or
the
group
mean. Because the coefficients for
162.55, df= 77, X2/df= 2.11, GFI = .78, RMR =
the
main effects remain largely unchanged
.320), indicating the multidimensionality of
the
between Model B and Model C except for the
gender-attitude construct.
16. Since the indicators were measured on
effect of individual education for men, I derived
ordinal scales, I converted them to normalmy conclusions about the main effects from
Model B and my conclusions about the interacscores by using PRELIS, a preprocessor for LIStion effects from Model C. Since the results for
REL, to estimate a matrix of polychoric correlations and an accompanying matrix of asymp-Model C are similar to those for Model B, the
totic variances and covariances (J6reskog andestimates for control variables in Model C are
S6rbom 1988b). I then estimated measurenot presented in this article, but are available
ment models using the weighted least-squares
from me on request.
fitting function in LISREL VIII, which is asymp- 20. This finding is based on additional
models that I estimated for each of the four
totically distribution-free (J6reskog and S6rbom
1988a, 1993).
gender attitudes for both sexes with (1) the
17. I compared pairs of measurement modinteraction between individual education
els-one in which the parameters were conand age added to Model C; (2) the interaction between community education and age
in which some or all the parameters were
added to Model C; (3) two interactions list-
strained to be equal across subgroups and one
allowed to vary by subgroup-and determined
that the former models fit the data as well as
ed in (1) and (2) added simultaneously to
Model C; (4) and treating age as a series of
dummy
variables (< 30, 31-40, 41-50, 51+),
18. I estimated this model by a combination
I reestimated Models B and C and also reesof maximum-likelihood and empirical Bayes
procedures using the EM algorithm in hierar-timated the same models in (1), (2), and (3).
chical linear modeling (Dempster, Laird, andWhen age is treated as a continuous variable,
Rubin 1977). This multilevel model controls forthe interaction between personal education
the latter models.
the effects of the individual-level determinants
and age on men's attitude toward sexual
and partitions the residuals into individual and freedom is significant. When age is entered
community residuals. This approach attributes as a series of dummy variables, the interacresiduals that are unexplained by the individ- tion between community education and the
ual-level multivariate model to community- youngest age group (< 30) is significant.
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Education and Gender Egalitarianism 331
APPENDIX
Control Variables--Rationale
Economic development. Economic development has exerted a mixed effect on women's status in
It is associated with more equal treatment of children of both sexes (Johnson 1983; Michelson and
2000) and increased educational and employment opportunities for women (Chinese Educat
Commission 1996; Johnson 1983; Lavely et al. 1990; Whyte 1984). Increased household inco
made communication media, such as the radio, television, newspapers, and computers, all of
played a role in changing attitudes and values, much more widely accessible. In addition, eco
development is sometimes negatively associated with women's status in China. Following the rapid
opment from rural reforms in the late 1970s, female primary school attainment leveled off and
secondary education declined by 20 percent in rural China (Lavely et al. 1990). In developed rural
munities, male heads of households have favored male offspring in allocating opportunities and r
once the household was reintroduced as the primary unit of production (Entwisle et al. 1995). Ma
in highly developed cities asked female workers to "stay home," offering as compensation a sma
centage of their base salaries (Wu 1995).
Rural residence. China has a marked rural-urban divide in gender inequality. Rurual women hav
ed access to eduation, particularly secondary education (Lavely et al. 1990). Changes in attitu
public opinion appear to diffuse from metropolitan centers to smaller communities (Fisher 1978
and Hill 1977). In urban China, patriarchal family control on women diminished greatly after 1949
scale industrialization granted women high labor-force participation (Bian et al. 2000; Whyte 198
the nuclear family became the dominant family type. However, peasants continued their long-st
traditions, and few significant changes occurred in the traditional family structure in rural China.
Birth cohort. With the rapid expansion of the educational system, the younger cohorts tend to
ter educated than the older cohorts. The impact of drastic social change is larger on the younger
than on the older cohorts (Mason and Lu 1988; Thornton et al. 1983; Thornton and Freedman
Gender. In almost every country, women have more liberal attiudes on gender perspectives th
men (Chia et al. 1994; Fan and Marini 2000; Furnham and Karani 1985; Gibbons, Stiles, and Shkod
1991; Herzog, Backman, and Johnson 1983; Ingelhart and Norris 2003; Loo and Logan 1977; Ma
Lu 1988; Nelson 1988; Seginer, Karayanni, and Mar'i 1990; Thornton 1989; Thornton et al. 198
Communist Party membership. Because applicants for Party membership undergo a lengthy sc
process to socialize them to the values and culture that the Communist Party promotes (Bian et al
they become representatives of the elite culture and sources of socialization for their associates an
adopt the more egalitarian gender attitudes promoted by the Party. I controlled the effect of this
also because Party members are becoming better educated (Bian et al. 2001).
Work status. The gender attitudes of employed women are less traditional than are those of w
who are not employed outside the home (Andersen and Cook 1985; Huber and Spitze 1981; M
al 1976; Molm 1978; Tallichet and Willits 1986; Thornton and Freedman 1979; Thornton et al.
Earnings. Women who draw more earnings from paid employment, agricultural activities, or other
businesses are more likely to identify with a male provider role and less with a female caretaker role
trolled this variable also because earnings tend to be correlated with education.
Parenthood. Entry into parenthood is negatively associated with egalitarian gender attitudes fo
men and women in the United States (Fan and Marini 2000; Morgan and Wait 1987; Thornt
Freedman 1979). Child rearing demands time that conflicts with other activities, and this time d
leads individuals to view men as having an advantage in paid employment and women in parentin
Ethnicity. Ethnic minorities in China generally have less exposure to the elite values and are les
ceptible to ideas of gender egalitarianism; thus, they are more likely to adhere to traditional gend
tudes.
Religion. The type of religious affiliation may influence the socialization of gender attitudes. Individuals
with religious affiliations have less-liberal attitudes than do those without in the United States (Mason and
Lu 1988), but little is known about this relationship in China
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332
Variables
Shu
Table
Women
Variables
Mean
SD
Community-Level
Al
Men
Mean
SD
Variables
Average education [AED] 7.76 2.39 7.76 2.39
Gender gap in education [GAPED] 1.79 1.08 1.79 1.08
Rural community (rural = 1) [RURAL] .61 .49 .61 .49
Log GDP per capita [GDP] 7.35 .67 7.35 .67
Individual-Level Variables
Education [ED] 6.97 4.26 8.62 3.70
Age [AGE] 35.60 8.32 37.51 9.11
Party member (CCP = 1) [CCP] .10 .30 .28 .45
Work status (working = 1) [WORK] .64 .48 .94 .24
Log earnings [EARN] 7.14 .87 7.59 .67
Parenthood (N of Children $) [PARENT] .96 .21 .95 .21
Ethnic minority (Non-Han = 1) ETHNIC] .15 .36 .15 .35
Religion
Muslim [REG1] .11 .31 .10 .31
Christian[REG2] .01 .09 .01 .08
Buddhist[REG3] .04 .20 .03 .18
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Education and Gender Egalitarianism 333
Table A2. Restricted Maximum Likelihood Estimates of Macro- and Microlevel Influences
on Gender Attitudes for Model B Not Displayed in Table 5 (N = 8,985 for women, N
8,961 for men)a
Women's Women's Women's Having Sons
Career Marriage Rights Sexual Freedom Not Important
Varialbes Women Men Women Men Women Men Women Men
Community-level Variables
Log GDP per capita .097 -.035 -.059 .121 .149* .019 .128 .013
(.013) (.078) (.115) (.082) (.075) (.080) (.081) (.080)
Rural community (rural =1) -.331 .219 -.060 -.098 .094 .152 -.301 .042
(.267) (.270) (.233) (.188) (.173) (.205) (.231) (.264)
Individual-level Variables
Age (x 10) -.060*** -.001 .005 -.003 -.054* -.070*** -.006*** -.037
(.001) (.002) (.018) (.012) (.022) (.018) (.002) (.020)
Party member (CCP = 1) .169*** .079* .101* .059* .089* .110*** .121*** .099***
(.039) (.032) (.040) (.029) (.041) (.023) (.028) (.030)
Work status (working = 1) -.077* -.165 .083 -.044 .041 -.060 -.006 -.061
(.031) (.191) (.062) (.065) (.057) (.137) (.055) (.1 74)
Log earnings .065*** -.047 .067* .084* .023 -.002 .046*** -.017
(.019) (.031) (.026) (.033) (.023) (.035) (.020) (.040)
Parenthood (parent = 1) .056 -.078 -.059 -.028 .013 -.031 .023 .047
(.053) (.048) (.045) (.047) (.042) (.055) (.052) (.047)
Ethnic minority -.121* -.174 -.170* -.066 -.086 .033 -.079 -.123
(Non-Han = 1) (.058) (.102) (.077) (.059) (.074) (.075) (.079) (.075)
Religion
Muslim .128 .158 .175 .035 .024 -.070 -.067 -.002
(.070) (.141) (.090) (.080) (.096) (.113) (.122) (.115)
Christian -.110 .003 -.222 -.534** .103 -.088 -.165 -.103
(.117) (.169) (.200) (.204) (.097) (.143) (.135) (.120)
Buddhist .037 -.031 .081 -.007 -.055 -.183 -.071 -.063
(.065) (.287) (.053) (.071) (.1 33) (.124) (.1 79) (.211)
Intercept .032 .038 -.078 .105 -.317 -.031 -.037 -.115
(.181) (.153) (.152) (.156) (.128) (.176) (.143) (.141)
-2Log likelihood 18,513 18,432 19,842 18,886 19,004 18,278 18,417 18,145
* p < .05, ** p < .01, *** p < .001 (two-tailed test).
a Net of individual education, average education in community, and gender gap in education in c
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Xiaoling She, Ph.D., is Assistant Professor, Department of Sociology, University of Califor
Her main fields of interest are social stratification, sociology of gender, and quantitative
ogy. She is currently researching market transition and gender segregation in urban Chi
attitudes in China: education and the Communist Party's state and foreign influences (w
Zhu); and gender, housework, and household power in urban China (with Yifei Zhu).
The author thanks Yanjie Bian, Diane Felmlee, Mary Jackman, and Dina Okamoto for thei
comments on this article. This research was partially supported by a Junior Faculty Resea
from the Institute of Governmental Affairs and a Faculty Research Grant from the Academi
University of California, Davis. Direct all correspondence to Xiaoling Shu, Department of S
University of California, Davis, 1 Shields Avenue, Davis, CA 95676; e-mail: xshu@ucdavi
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