3. Substantial Increase in Women's Education Level
In building up its strength in education and coordinating integrated reforms of educational, sci-tech and talent systems and mechanisms, China has made tremendous efforts to ensure women's equitable access to education of all categories and levels, raise women's scientific literacy and promote life-long education for them. As a result, women's right to education has been effectively guaranteed.
Gender divide in basic education has been largely eliminated. China has implemented four consecutive preschool education action plans. In 2024, girls accounted for 47.3 percent of children in kindergartens, totaling 16.94 million.
China promotes the high-quality and balanced development of compulsory education, and has accelerated efforts to narrow the educational gaps between regions, schools, groups, and between urban and rural areas. The net elementary education enrollment rate of school-age girls stays above 99.9 percent, and in 2024, girls made up 46.98 percent of students of nine-year compulsory education.
The Plan to Popularize Senior High School Education (2017-2020) and the Action Plan to Develop County-level Senior High Schools During the 14th Five-Year Plan (2021-2025) Period have been implemented nationwide, and the proportion of girls among the senior high school population is continuing to rise, standing at 49.3 percent in 2024.
A rough balance between male and female students in higher education has been achieved. China has made sustained efforts to develop the world's largest higher education system, cement and advance accessibility in higher education, and ensure gender equality in the enrollment of regular institutions of higher learning. In 2024, female students in these institutions made up 50.76 percent of the total, 14.15 percentage points higher than in 1995. Among them, female graduate students accounted for 50.01 percent, an increase of 22.43 percentage points from 1995.
Women enjoy higher-quality vocational education and life-long education. China has speeded up its efforts to build a modern vocational education system and offers assistance to eligible students in the form of tuition exemptions, scholarships, grants, and student loans. As a result, women are enjoying more and better access to high-quality vocational education. In 2024, female students accounted for 47.9 percent of higher vocational school students at the undergraduate and junior college levels, and 45.2 percent of secondary vocational school students.
The women's life-long learning system has become more open and flexible, with the establishment of the national smart education platform for life-long education offering a more convenient and accessible channel that meets women's diverse learning needs. The number of women receiving adult education continues to rise steadily year on year, and in 2024, female students at adult education institutions at the undergraduate and junior college levels numbered 5.13 million, 54 percent of the total, representing an increase of 1.96 million compared to 2012. In 2020, the average length of schooling for female citizens at or above the age of 15 reached 9.59 years.
Women's scientific literacy is on the rise. The Chinese government has promulgated the Outline of the Action Plan for Improving Scientific Literacy for All (2021-2035), which covers raising women's scientific literacy.
It has issued the Guidelines for Science Education in Elementary and High Schools, improved the curriculum, textbooks, experimental teaching, teachers' training, and extra-curricular activity programs of these schools, and enhanced the coordination and transformation of science education resources.
To inspire and cultivate female students' interests in science, public-interest programs aimed at female students have been rolled out, including the Science Lovers Program for Female College Students, Science Empowering Girls, Spring Bud InnoGirls Program, STEM Girls, and Her Science.
A program for raising the capabilities of female employees has also been implemented, and, in particular, efforts have been made to help them improve digital skills.
Thanks to these initiatives and more, the gender gap in scientific literacy is continuing to narrow. The female sci-tech talent pool continues to expand in scale, improve in structure, and grow in capability, with female scientists now regularly making outstanding contributions in various fields, including basic theory, applied technology, and engineering. In 2024, female R&D professionals numbered 2.85 million, representing an increase of 1.69 million from that in 2012.
(Source: SCIO White Paper China's Achievements in Women's Well-Rounded Development in the New Era)
Editor: Cui Rui
