Gender Inequality, Intrahousehold Allocation and Educational Outcomes in Rural China: Evidence from Sibling Data

Li-Chung Hu, University of Pennsylvania

Do parents differentiate the educational outcomes between sons and daughters in rural China? Prior research suggests that girls have lower educational attainment than boys across families in China. Existing research primarily relies on sample from urban families with only one child and pays little attention to rural families, normally have more than one child. However, sample from one child family is hard to know how parents allocate resources within families, since the only child receives all the resources. This research aims to explore the gender differences in educational outcomes and how parents allocate resources within families in rural China by using unique sibling data from the Gansu Survey of Children and Families. Preliminary suggests that there is no difference in educational attainment, but sons outscore their sister in test scores. The next step of this research is going to explore how parental investment reinforces the gender differences in educational performance.