151Compulsory Education Law in 1986 the enrollment rate of school-age girls was
98 %, and was only 0.1 % lower than that of boys. At this time, the five-year grad-
uation rate of girls was 91.1 %, which was higher than the boys’ 90.5 %. By 2001
there was virtually no gap in primary school enrollment rate between boys and
girls was and no difference in drop out rates which were below 1 %.
Though enrolment rates gaps have diminished it remains true that there are
imbalances in the population of girls and boys. Preferences for boys have resulted
in the number of girls becoming 10 % or even 20 % less than the number of boys
in some areas, especially where there is low economic development and an agri-
cultural base. The 2010 census showed that sex ratio at birth (SRB) had generally
improved as a result of increased awareness of the problems of unequal birth rates
and the fact that the economy and culture of China have been developing rapidly.
This has had an impact on people’s opinions on gender equity in a positive way as
have a range of national and international initiatives to promote gender equality.
In all major cities there is now no substantial gap between boys and girls in
enrollment rates. Son preference is still an issue in rural areas and small cities.
The most important reason for families in rural areas wanting sons is not that sons
are expected to take over the farming or household duties, as some people argued.
The most important reason is, traditionally, girls move in with her husband’s fam-
ily when she gets married and she thus cannot look after her own parents when
they grow old. In contrast boys live with their parents when they grow up, play an
important role in ancestor worship, and ensure that the family name lives on.
In some poor and remote areas, and amongst some ethnic minorities, early
marriage persist and takes place before completion of basic education. The low
educational level of the parents and the exam-oriented education contribute to per-
ceptions that educating girls is not important. In these areas, the problems of girls’
education remain substantial. Some key issues are discussed below
7.4.1 Key Issues for Girl’s Education
First, though gender equity has improved greatly it remains the case that in sur-
veys of school enrolment (Lee 2011 ) parents still tend to favour boys if a choice
has to be made. Drop out of girls is also attributed to the lack of reasons to edu-
cate girls beyond the basic level. In large cities such as Beijing, most families only
have one child. Children in one-child households enjoy significantly improved
opportunities for education compared to children in multiple-child households.
The improvement for girls was larger than that of boys. In addition, it seems
there is no difference in years of schooling between only-child boys and only-
child girls, whereas the gap between boys and girls inside multiple child house-
holds remains significant. In particular, years of schooling for girls having male
sibling(s) were 0.62 years lower than that of girls having female sibling(s). These
findings suggest the one-child policy may have inadvertently contributed to greater
educational gender equality in China.