some success in respect of enhancing female opportunity, whereas attempts to reach
more liberal positions on marriage, divorce and employment have been constrained by
male resistance. Lack of policy coordination in the social spheres and in relation to
economic policy is seen as an important factor.
A useful background on historical attitudes to the education of women and girls is
provided,, with special reference to the influence of the post 1949 period, and a range of
useful data on issues such as enrolment at different levels, subject orientation and
employment is listed. It was found that, post 1949, although a re-organised economy
was more willing to recruit women, urbanization was slow. So geography has been a
crucial factor in affecting women's employment prospects, since urban areas normally
offer more education and training opportunities to females. The urban/rural dichotomy,
distinctive and important in the case of China, is given further space in the article
before the author moves on to the 'contemporary' situation: that is to say from 1978 to
the present.
This is described as the period of pragmatism and is examined in relation to four issues:
the family, education, the economy and politics. During the past 20 years marriage and
childbearing trends in China have changed in such a way as to release women for
economic participation, and this has direct links to education where emphasis has been
on basic and vocational sectors. However, female improvement in educational terms is
coming from a very low base and as recently as 1990, of the 80 per cent of the adult
population who were illiterate, 70 per cent were female. Nonetheless within the
proportion of the population actively engaged in education, the female dimension is
growing, This, according to the author, attracts various forms of discrimination
including: tracking females into traditional subjects such as foreign languages, primary
school teaching and fashion; demanding higher grades for females than for males
competing in the same arena, including access to higher education.
Agriculture continues to be the major occupation of the Chinese population, but while
boys may be released for education, parents tend to keep their daughters in productive
employment. Only if a 'township enterprise' (semi urban light industrial development)
is nearby would that pattern be changed, and women transfer to non-agricultural work,
In urban areas where diversification of production offers more employment
opportunities, the positive educational profile of women and girls makes then attractive
but has also attracted a backlash as males seek to protect their traditional position. The
Chinese experience shows the difficulty of sustaining equality due, at least in part, to
lack of power among women as a group. Yet, education and some modern sector
economic participation has engendered a new awareness among Chinese women of
their rights and their potential that sustains them in the continued struggle for equal
opportunity.