Trends and Issues of Women's Education in China

China has a rich educational history dating back more than three thousand years, but women did not become part of the mainstream education system until the last sixty years. The Confucian ideology, which has been deeply rooted throughout Chinese history, confined females to an oppressed social status. Moreover, this historical ideology continues to cause deep resistance to the changes that would promote women's education, which, in turn, would help uproot the ideological foundation of discrimination against women. Some changes regarding Chinese women's education began in the twentieth century with the collapse of the feudal dynasty and the emergence of first the nationalist government and, later, the People's Republic of China. However, Chinese women's education in the world's most populated country is still far behind educational opportunities for men. More than fifty years of socialist gender equality policies and practices have succeeded somewhat in promoting females' attendance in schools. It has also produced females who have taken positions of influence in the society, yet an imbalance of educational opportunities and achievements for women still exists. Feminist literature has indicated the importance of women's education to their political and social emancipation (Sapiro 1999). Acceptance of women in public educational settings, availability of educational opportunities for women, and equal treatment for female students are variables that affect women's entrance to school, their retention, and their advancement through education. This article will first describe the history of education for Chinese women and then present the current educational trends and issues facing China today.