China’s remote areas are backward in economic level and ideological level.
The current situation in China is that many families in remote areas cannot afford to send their children to school. In such place, there are not enough educational resources, because the most important problem of food and clothing for most families has not been solved. Although the government has subsidies, it is only to meet basic needs and is not enough to support education.
Moreover, most families in remote areas are backward, they prefer to have more than one child and they pay more attention to boys than girls. If a family has a son and a daughter, they will probably try their best to get their son educated, while the daughter can only work to subsidize the family, get married in right age and give the bride price to the son.
In addition, I found that classrooms of schools in remote areas are very rough, with simple desks and chairs and blackboards. These schools often have only one or two teachers, and one teacher has to teach several subjects. Moreover, many families live in the mountains, which is far from the school and it is difficult to walk to school, making it very inconvenient and unsafe for students to go to school.
The reasons for the inequality in women’s education in remote areas are probably several main aspects, such as economic reasons, gender inequality in social concepts (son/man preference) and insufficient educational resources. The other reasons may be the insufficient government’s support and policy intervention and the bias against women in enterprises recruitment.
China also has assistance programs for women’s education in remote areas, such as Spring Bud Project, which aims to help girls in poor areas return to school. There are also international organizations such as the Half the Sky Foundation, which provide assistance for girls’ education in remote areas of China, focusing on financial aid, women’s rights education and health support.
I think that by analyzing the specific effects of these projects and their role in promoting women’s education through case studies, I can understand the current work situation and get some reference from it. That may be a good way to get into it.
I have actually thought about interviews and questionnaires about this kind of research, but I feel that it is not very feasible to implement it.
Hi Chengchen Ma,
It sounds like you may be interested in policy analysis? You could look at how different policies impact the educational resources given to remote parts of china or focus more on the gender gap as you mentioned that in your post too. If you have capacity you could explore doing interviews/surveys with teachers or school personael but that may be challenging given the timeframe, but it is possible.
Happy to discuss different ideas and options with you if you would like.
Best,
Carleigh