EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

Despite the recent global push for gender equality, women continue to experience discrimination across multiple social, economic, and political spheres (United Nations (UN) Women, 2026). Education is one of the sectors in which gender inequality has some of the most significant and long-lasting effects (Chen et al., 2013). Gender equality refers to the equal rights, responsibilities, and opportunities of women and men, and girls and boys, and is recognised as a fundamental human right (UN Women, 2026). It is also essential for advancing development, reducing poverty, and achieving the objectives of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development (United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA), 2026; United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), 2003). Since the 1990s, China has made substantial progress in reducing gender disparities within the education sector and enhancing the overall quality of national education (UNDP, 2024). However, educational gender inequality continues to persist, particularly in rural regions and among low-income households (Chen, 2023; Mu, 2021; Xiao, 2016), with rural girls being most vulnerable.

This report examines the challenges and barriers faced by girls in rural China that affect their access to schooling, as well as the quality and duration of their education. Recommendations will follow regarding how educational outcomes for girls in rural China can be improved through governmental policy and targeted intervention.

CHINA’S EDUCATION SYSTEM: LAWS, POLICIES AND FUNDING

The Education Law of the People’s Republic of China has contributed significantly to improvements in gender equality since compulsory education was formally established in 1986 (Ministry of Education of the People’s Republic of China, 2009). From 1990 to 2020, girls’ literacy rate increased from 68.07% to 95.05% (Statista, 2024). Mandatory education has enabled boys and, more significantly, girls to gain more equal access to primary and junior secondary education (Chen, 2023).

China’s Government has put in place different schemes to support girls with their education and reduce inequality. For example, one way the Chinese Government has tackled educational gender inequality is through the China Children and Teenagers' Fund (CCTF). Since 1989, the CCTF's 'Spring Bud' project has promoted education for girls through running programmes of advocacy and awareness-raising and supporting girls to build skills, such as digital skills. By the end of 2022, the project covered 31 provinces, autonomous regions and municipalities, and supported over four million girls from over 56 ethnic groups (United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO), 2023). A 2020 survey shows the average years of schooling for rural women from Western China has risen in ten years by 2.04 years to 7.44 years. The gap between eastern and western rural women decreased from 0.90 in 2010 to 0.61 in 2020 (Office of the Fourth Survey on Social Status of Women in China, 2021). From governmental programs like the CCTF, it is evident that China has been successful in making progress to improve the education of girls in rural China.

Additional policies, including the Law on the Protection of Rights and Interests of Women (People’s Republic of China, 2022), seek to ensure that school-age girls, particularly those living in remote areas of China, can access compulsory education on an equal basis. According to the State Council Information Office of the People’s Republic of China (2019), “girls in remote poverty-stricken areas and other female groups now enjoy equal access to education resources.” However, such claims may not fully reflect the lived realities of many girls in rural China. Further legislation addressing gender equality in education can be seen in the 2005 Law on the Protection of Women’s Rights and Interests in the People’s Republic of China, which states that “schools should not refuse to admit women or raise the admission standards for women except for special majors.” This legislation is significant in promoting equal access to higher levels of education. Yet, many girls living in rural areas do not have the opportunity to progress to these advanced stages of education, limiting the practical impact of such policies addressing gender equality in education.

Educational funding can also be viewed as a contributing factor to the inequalities experienced by rural girls. China’s largest areas of educational investment are primary education, followed by tertiary and lower secondary education, reflecting the state’s emphasis on compulsory and free education from primary to lower secondary level (Hu, 2022). Although China’s public expenditure on education increased by 37% between 2015 and 2019 (Gan, 2022), spending only reached 4.2% of Gross Domestic Product (GDP). Under UNESCO’s Education 2030 Agenda, governments are encouraged to allocate between 4% and 6% of GDP to public education, meaning China only narrowly meets the minimum internationally recommended benchmark.

It is also important to consider how educational funding is distributed. Education funding in China is allocated according to the household registration system. As Huang et al. (2021) argue, this contributes to unequal access to high-quality educational resources between urban and rural areas, with urban regions receiving significantly greater advantages. Furthermore, rapid urbanisation has attracted substantial funding and skilled professionals to cities, placing rural education systems at a considerable disadvantage (Mu, 2021). This imbalance between rural and urban development impacts the population, creating disparities in social and economic areas. Such inequalities affect not only the early education of girls in rural China but have domino effects on the rest of their livelihoods, including their higher education, professional success, income and health. Keeping girls trapped in a vicious circle and left behind can allow for poverty and inequality to continue, and consequently, the progression of China’s development will inevitably plateau.

CHINA’S SOCIAL NORMS AND RURAL LIVING

China’s culture and society have traditionally been shaped by patriarchal values and deeply embedded gender norms (Hu, 2018). Although China has made significant progress towards gender equality over recent decades, traditional attitudes towards women remain particularly prevalent in rural areas (Yu and Xie, 2015; Zhao, 2023). While educational opportunities in urban China have become increasingly accessible to both men and women, girls in rural communities continue to experience lower enrolment rates after primary education, highlighting a persistent disparity between rural and urban regions (Wu, 2022).

One of the most significant factors contributing to this inequality is financial pressure. Tertiary education creates a substantial financial burden for households, accounting for approximately 40% of educational costs (Hu, 2022), and with an estimated 5 to 6 million rural residents in China still living in extreme poverty (Lugo et al., 2021), these costs are unattainable. Mu (2021) and Seeberg (2014) argue that higher education, which is non-compulsory in China, is often viewed by rural families as an unnecessary investment for daughters due to occupational inequality and traditional expectations surrounding women’s roles. Although financial hardship affects the educational opportunities of both boys and girls in rural China, girls are more likely to compete with their brothers for limited educational resources because sons are traditionally prioritised as future financial providers (Chen, 2023). In contrast, daughters are often expected to marry, support another household, and contribute to domestic or agricultural labour (Seeberg, 2014). Consequently, educating girls may be perceived by some families as an economic loss rather than a long-term investment.

Compared with urban areas, girls living in poor and remote rural communities face additional barriers that frequently prevent them from continuing their education. For example, with higher education institutions concentrated within urban centres (Statista, 2025), access for rural girls is significantly more difficult. In line with Chinese policies, over 440 courses on women’s drifters and gender equality are available across more than 100 colleges and universities (State Council Information Office of the People’s Republic of China, 2019). But it is also important to acknowledge that those able to access these courses have to be able to reach a level of education, family financial stability and more often than not, this will be students from urban areas, where gender inequality in education for girls is not as much of a significant issue as in rural areas of China. Furthermore, infrastructure inequalities restrict access to education in rural China. Limited transportation networks, long travel distances, and unsafe journeys to school can discourage families from allowing girls to continue their studies (Huang et al., 2021). In contrast, urban areas generally benefit from more developed transportation systems and greater access to educational facilities (Organisation for Economic Co-Operation and Development (OECD), 2017). As a result, girls in rural areas face obstacles that many urban students do not encounter.

Alongside these structural inequalities, traditional gender expectations further disadvantage girls in rural communities. Parents may discourage daughters from pursuing further education because women are traditionally expected to care for children, elderly parents, parents-in-law, and household responsibilities after marriage (Huang et al., 2021). These expectations demonstrate how deeply rooted social norms continue to influence girls’ educational opportunities and personal development.

Early marriage and adolescent pregnancy also remain significant factors affecting girls’ education in remote areas of China. Xiao (2016) argues that in some rural communities, early marriage is viewed to increase the adult population, due to a declining population with young adults migrating to cities for employment opportunities. According to the National Bureau of Statistics of China (2014), between 2007 and 2013, the childbearing rate among Chinese women aged 15 to 19 increased from 3.8% to 7.8%. Among rural women within the same age group, the rate rose from 7.3% to 9.6% between 2008 and 2011.

Xiao’s (2016) case study of ten villages in the Jinping area highlights the personal consequences of these issues. In each village, Xiao encountered child brides and adolescent mothers. One girl, Jie, was only 13 years old when she married her 18-year-old husband and became pregnant shortly afterwards. As a result, she was forced to leave school during the fifth grade. Another girl, Cai, also left school after the fifth grade because her family could no longer afford her education. She married at the age of 15 and became pregnant one year later. Cai later described both herself and her husband as feeling trapped by the limitations imposed by poverty and early marriage. Dong et al.’s (2008) study across five provinces in central and western China also found similar situations. One family forced their eldest daughter to drop out of school early to help with household tasks, while their son was supported to attend college. Another family refused to pay for their daughter’s school resources, and she later tried to take her own life as a result. Consequently, women forced out of school are left with limited options and are forced to take low-end jobs or wait for marriage (Dong et al., 2008). These experiences demonstrate how economic hardship, gender expectations, and limited educational access can combine to restrict girls’ futures and reinforce cycles of inequality, despite the aid of government interventions such as the CCTF.

Overall, girls in rural China continue to face significant educational disadvantages shaped by poverty, traditional gender norms, inadequate infrastructure, and early marriage. These barriers contribute to disproportionately high female dropout rates, where girls account for 80% of the total dropout rates, and restrict women’s long-term social and economic opportunities (Huang et al., 2021;Dong et al., 2008). From the data released by the National Bureau of Statistics, there were 73.6% of illiterate women in rural areas in China in 2017, while men only accounted for 26.4%. Although China has made substantial progress towards gender equality in education, the experiences of girls in rural areas demonstrate that major inequalities remain.

RECOMMENDATIONS

Following on from the above evidence, the below are clear active violations of CEDAW stemming from post-EO policy implementation.

• The key recommendation is increased promotion of female empowerment and gender equality education within schools and local communities in rural China. Although the Chinese government introduced the “Guiding Opinions on Village Regulations and Residents’ Conventions” in 2018 through several national departments, including the Ministry of Civil Affairs and the All-China Women’s Federation, further action is still required to challenge deeply rooted patriarchal attitudes and traditional gender expectations. Promoting gender equality education can help younger generations recognise the value and contributions of women within society and reduce discriminatory attitudes towards girls’ education. Xie (2024) argues that gender equality should be more widely incorporated into education to encourage equal treatment of women and men and challenge traditional expectations surrounding women’s roles, including the belief that motherhood is an obligation rather than a personal choice. In addition, Huang et al. (2021) emphasise that teachers should give equal attention and encouragement to both girls and boys within the classroom environment. Furthermore, curriculum reform is also necessary. Research on Chinese school textbooks has shown that gender stereotypes continue to persist, with women more frequently portrayed in domestic and subordinate roles, while men are represented in positions of authority and skilled employment (Yang et al., 2025). Such portrayals can reinforce harmful gender stereotypes and influence how girls perceive their own social value and future opportunities. Revising educational materials to portray women and men equally across a range of occupations and social roles could help challenge traditional beliefs surrounding gender. In the long term, these forms of governmental intervention may reduce the prioritisation of sons over daughters in educational investment and contribute towards improving educational opportunities for girls in rural China.

• A more targeted financial aid approach could also help address gender inequality in rural education in China. While the CCTF has supported girls’ education across multiple provinces, financial constraints within rural households continue to limit educational opportunities for girls. One example of a targeted intervention is the Educating Girls of Rural China EGRC programme, a registered Canadian charity that provides financial sponsorship and emotional support to girls from orphaned, single-parent, or low-income households affected by illness. The programme has supported over 700 girls to access university education and reports strong completion outcomes among participants. However, as a small-scale charitable initiative operating outside the state education system, its model may not be directly scalable to China’s national context. Nevertheless, such programmes illustrate how need-based financial assistance can reduce economic barriers that disproportionately affect rural girls’ continuation in education and may offer useful insights for the design of more targeted government policy.

• Likewise, increasing China’s GDP spending on education, so they are no longer at the bottom percentile of UNESCO’s advocacy for educational spending, particularly in rural areas, to target the issues of education inequalities that girls in rural China face. This recommendation should be highly considered, as China possess the world’s second-largest GDP at US$18.74 trillion (World Bank, 2024).

• Laws should be more effectively enforced in rural areas to ensure equal educational access for girls. Section 18 of the Ministry of Justice of the People’s Republic of China (2023) stipulates that parents or guardians are responsible for ensuring that female school-age children complete compulsory education, reinforcing the legal principle of equal educational rights for girls and boys. While China has developed a comprehensive legal framework for gender equality in education, enforcement remains uneven in practice, particularly in rural areas where monitoring capacity is more limited and long-standing social norms continue to influence household decision-making. In many cases, legal provisions are weakened not only by cultural attitudes but also by structural constraints, including household poverty, which can lead families to prioritise limited resources towards sons’ education. However, this should not be interpreted as a justification for reduced expectations of compliance; rather, it highlights the need for stronger institutional oversight alongside financial support mechanisms. Targeted subsidies, reduced schooling costs, and conditional support for rural girls’ education could help address these economic pressures. In addition, enforcement alone may be insufficient without parallel efforts to shift attitudes at the community level. Awareness-raising initiatives targeting parents and extended family members, including grandparents, are therefore essential to challenge entrenched gender norms that shape educational decisions. However, such interventions may face resistance in contexts where traditional beliefs remain deeply embedded, suggesting that change is likely to be gradual rather than immediate. Education itself plays a critical role in this process, as it enhances individuals’ capacity to understand and challenge inequality and contributes to broader socio-economic development and poverty reduction (UNDP, 2003).

• Similarly, laws relating to child marriage and adolescent pregnancy should be more effectively enforced. Although the legal age of marriage in China is 22 for men and 20 for women (Chinese Academy of Social Sciences Institute of Law, 2012), illegal and underage marriages still occur in some rural communities (Xiao, 2016; Dong et al., 2008). Greater education surrounding girls’ legal rights, alongside awareness of the social and economic benefits of delayed marriage and childbirth, may help reduce school dropout rates among adolescent girls. Delaying childbirth may allow girls greater opportunities to complete their education, gain financial independence, and improve their long-term quality of life. However, while the repopulation of rural villages remains a concern in some areas, rural-to-urban migration is largely driven by the greater educational and employment opportunities available within cities. This highlights the importance of broader rural development strategies.

• Rural development may also contribute to improving girls’ educational outcomes, although it represents a longer-term and more complex policy intervention. Strengthening rural infrastructure, particularly transport systems and the geographical distribution of schools, can help reduce the practical barriers that often contribute to school dropout. Improved accessibility may encourage sustained school attendance by removing distance, safety concerns, and travel time as significant obstacles to girls’ continued education. Furthermore, wider rural development and increased local employment opportunities may reduce the large-scale migration of young adults to urban areas. In turn, this could help ease population pressures within rural communities and reduce expectations placed upon young girls to marry early and contribute towards repopulating villages. Consequently, rural development may not only improve educational access but also help address some of the wider social pressures that contribute to educational gender inequality in rural China.

CONCLUSION: HOW TO BRING POLICIES INTO ALIGNMENT WITH CEDAW

Although China has made significant progress in expanding access to education and reducing gender disparities since the introduction of compulsory education, girls in rural areas continue to face substantial inequalities that limit their educational opportunities and long-term social mobility. Financial hardship, unequal distribution of educational resources, inadequate rural infrastructure, traditional patriarchal values, and practices such as early marriage collectively continue to disadvantage rural girls despite existing legal protections and government initiatives. While policies such as the Education Law of the People’s Republic of China and programmes including the China Children and Teenagers’ Fund have contributed to improvements in literacy rates and school participation, these measures have not fully addressed the structural and cultural barriers that persist within many rural communities.

Improving girls’ education in rural China, therefore, requires a more comprehensive and targeted governmental approach. Greater investment in rural education, stronger enforcement of equality legislation, targeted financial support for disadvantaged girls, and improved rural infrastructure are all necessary to reduce educational disparities. Equally important is the promotion of gender equality education and wider social change to challenge traditional attitudes that continue to prioritise sons over daughters. Educational reform must not only increase access to schooling but also transform the social conditions that restrict girls’ aspirations and opportunities.

While this report has provided a general overview of girls’ education in rural China, it is important to recognise that educational inequality is not experienced uniformly across all groups. There are many other groups of girls within China whose educational experiences also require greater attention, particularly girls from ethnic minority communities, who may face additional linguistic, cultural, geographical, and economic barriers to education. As a result, different and more specialised policy recommendations may be necessary to address the diverse challenges experienced by these groups.

Ultimately, improving educational opportunities for girls in rural China is not only a matter of individual rights and gender equality, but also an essential component of China’s long-term economic and social development. Given the increasing influence Chinese women are having on legislation and social reform, alongside the growing ability of public pressure to hold the government accountable (Wu, 2022), it is vital that these educational inequalities continue to be addressed through sustained governmental commitment and social change. Ensuring that rural girls can fully participate in education would contribute to poverty reduction, social mobility, and sustainable national development, while helping China move closer to achieving the broader goals of gender equality outlined in the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals.