中国女性崛起:父母的观念转变与女性高等教育--来自“高校停招”的经验证据

The Rising of Chinese Women’ College Education:The Effect of Parents’ Daughter Preference on Women’ College Education--Evidence from the College Stopping Enrollment

现有研究发现:经济因素会改变父母的“重男轻女”观念,影响父母在子女间的资源分配决策。本文从“弥补父母未曾实现心愿”的视角证明:非经济因素同样可以转变父母的“重男轻女”观念,继而推动女性在高等教育上的崛起。利用1966年“高校停招”作为准自然实验,基于2000年人口普查数据,采用双重差分和三重差分法,实证发现:那些父母更可能受到“高校停招”影响而失去“金榜题名”机会的女性,高中毕业后入读大学的可能性显著提高。机制检验发现:当女孩有机会“圆父母的大学梦”时,父母在资源分配上的“轻女”倾向会得到明显缓解。不仅如此,“轻女”观念的转变还会延续到下一代。本文对理解近年来中国女性在高等教育上的崛起有一定的启示意义。

Economic factors have been well documented in literature to determine parents’ gender preference and resource allocations between boys and girls. This paper shows that non-economic factors matter using a policy shock in 1966 that the Chinese government stopped the recruitment in college education. Using the Census 2000 data, we employ a difference-in-difference(DD) method and an DDD method to show that girls, whose parents are more likely to be affected by the policy that deprives them of the chance to go to college, are more likely to obtain the college education. As for the mechanism, we argue that the opportunity to make up for the human capital loss shapes parents’ preference for sons over girls and thus parents allocate more resources to girls when girls can make up for their regrets. Our findings offer new insights into the causes of the rise of women in college education in China.