More than half of the impoverished girls in China seek vocational education over a tertiary degree as a way to improve their situation, but gender inequality and sexist stereotypes are significant barriers to access, a new report says.
China has in recent years promoted and supported the development of vocational education – the enrollment level of secondary vocational education is no less than 45 percent that of regular high school education (students can go on to take college entrance exams), according to economic news portal Caixin.com.
Vocational education has become an effective means for impoverished students to up-skill, improve their circumstances and halt the intergenerational flow of poverty. Some 58 percent of impoverished girls "value vocational skills over a degree," according to the Research Report on Future Vocational Education Needs of Impoverished Girls in China 2017, jointly released by China Children and Teenagers' Fund and China Philanthropy Research Institute on October 10.
But gender inequality continues to get in the way. In terms of how often parents pay attention to the schoolwork of children, the research team found that only a quarter regularly pay attention to girls, whereas more than 43 percent of parents give regular attention to the school performance of boys. In other words, Chinese parents pay less attention to girls’ performance and their future.
But economic factors have a significant role to play too. When asked why they had dropped out of school, about half of girls who participated in the study chose "family poverty," with around seven percent choosing "parents believe it brings no benefit for girls to get schooling" and four percent choosing "having to look after younger brothers or sisters." This came despite many girl dropouts having good academic performance, the report said.
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