Son Preference, Gender Gap in Higher Education Attainment and High‐Skilled Occupations: Evidence From China

Yangming Bao and Di Lu

Review of Development Economics, 2026, vol. 30, issue 2, 967-981

Abstract: The paper examines the impact of the resumption of China's national college entrance exam (Gaokao) on the gender gap in higher education attainment and women's later career advancement. We find that the resumption of the Gaokao widened the higher education gender gap in affected cohorts in regions with stronger son preference. Moreover, this gap later extended to high‐skilled occupations, including directorships and executive positions in Chinese public firms. These outcomes are driven by local sex discrimination, which exacerbates gender‐biased resource allocation. Our findings highlight that entrenched gender norms can distort policies designed to nurture talent without explicit gender targeting, ultimately leading to persistent gender disparities in high‐skilled positions.

Date: 2026
References: Add references at CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
https://doi.org/10.1111/rode.70036

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:bla:rdevec:v:30:y:2026:i:2:p:967-981

Ordering information: This journal article can be ordered from
http://www.blackwell ... bs.asp?ref=1363-6669

Access Statistics for this article

Review of Development Economics is currently edited by E. Kwan Choi

More articles in Review of Development Economics from Wiley Blackwell
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Wiley Content Delivery ().