Higher education expansion and gender norms: evidence from China

Abstract

Abstract This paper explores whether the expansion of higher education can influence attitudes regarding gender norms. I evaluate the impact of China’s higher education expansion since 1999. The results show that the reform has significantly increased higher educational attainment for both women and men. However, women’s progressive views on gender roles are negatively affected following the expansion. The erosion of women’s egalitarian ideology can be attributed to the findings that women’s opportunities in the labor market are worsening relative to those of men. The results are significantly driven by married women and people who live in areas with a high male-to-female sex ratio. Practical conditions in the labor market and at home may adversely affect women’s ability to fulfill egalitarian gender roles.