Catching Up Yet Still Falling Behind: Sources, Heterogeneity, and Implications of the Modest Female Educational Disadvantage in Rural China

ABSTRACT Limited research has explored the sources, heterogeneity, and implications of a shrinking yet persistent gender gap in educational attainment in rural areas. This study addresses these gaps by analyzing the 15‐year Gansu Survey of Children and Families in rural China, applying structural equation modeling and logistic regression, and conducting multilevel modeling as a robustness check. Results show that family socioeconomic factors explain little of the modest female disadvantage in educational attainment. In contrast, gender‐role educational expectations and aspirations, as well as gender‐role household labor practices, each partially explain the disadvantage. Only their combined effects fully account for the gender gap, highlighting that cultural values and practices are more persistent contributors to the lingering gender disparity in rural education. Furthermore, this modest rural female disadvantage is driven entirely by low‐achieving girls, with no significant gender difference among high achievers. Finally, after completing formal education, rural females and males exhibit distinct disparities in work and marriage. Rural females are significantly less likely to engage in nonfarm work but more likely to enter marriage than their male counterparts. These findings call for policy and theoretical approaches more focused on addressing deep‐rooted gender norms and cultural practices in rural areas to advance gender equality.