Globalization and the gender income gap: evidence from the export technology complexity in China

This paper studies the impact of the improvement of the position in the manufacturing global value chain (GVC) on the gender income gap. Using export technology complexity to measure the extent of GVC integration across Chinese provinces, this study combines provincial-level data with individual-level information from the China Family Panel Studies (CFPS). This study finds that the occupational gender income gap tends to decrease with increasing embedding of the GVC position, with more pronounced effects observed among low-skill, low-income workers. The mechanism is that the integration into GVCs enhances female human capital, reduces the gender gap in market labor participation and traditional gender stereotypes, but this does not mean that the status and awareness of women’s career advancement have been further improved. These results offer valuable policy insights for advancing the goal of common prosperity.