The Rise in China’s Gender Income Inequality

Abstract

This research aims to shed light on the causes of the rising gender income gap in China. We first apply the Oaxaca-Blinder decomposition method (Oaxaca, Int Eco Rev 14: 693–709, 1973; Blinder, J Hum Res 8: 436–455, 1973) to our survey data to estimate the extent to which that gap can be explained by the difference in human capital characteristics (such as years of education and years of experience). We find that a rising discrimination against females (either due to tradition or otherwise) is not the main cause of the rising gender income gap in China. Instead, we present evidence to propose that two of the three main drivers of China’s economic growth—namely, privatization and urbanization—very likely have contributed to the rise in China’s gender income gap.

Appendix

1.1 Appendix 1: The Female-to-Male Ratio of Estimated Earned Income in Asia and Europe, 2011

Asia		Europe
Country	Ratio	Country	Ratio
Brunei Darussalam	0.97	Norway	1
Singapore	0.88	Luxembourg	1
Australia	0.82	Switzerland	0.89
Mongolia	0.8	Netherlands	0.83
New Zealand	0.7	Sweden	0.82
Vietnam	0.69	Denmark	0.81
Cambodia	0.66	Finland	0.74
China	0.65	Ireland	0.72
Thailand	0.63	United Kingdom	0.71
Philippines	0.6	Croatia	0.7
Maldives	0.57	Iceland	0.69
Bangladesh	0.55	Germany	0.69
Japan	0.51	Romania	0.68
Malaysia	0.43	Belgium	0.67
Indonesia	0.42	Latvia	0.67
Korea, Rep.	0.41	Lithuania	0.67
Iran, Islamic Rep .	0.4	Moldova	0.67
Fiji	0.38	Bulgaria	0.66
Nepal	0.37	Russian Federation	0.65
Sri Lanka	0.36	France	0.65
India	0.31	Hungary	0.64
Average	0.58	Slovenia	0.62
		Estonia	0.62
		Ukraine	0.6
		Cyprus	0.58
		Spain	0.57
		Portugal	0.57
		Poland	0.57
		Slovak Republic	0.57
		Austria	0.56
		Italy	0.54
		Albania	0.54
		Macedonia, FYR	0.51
		Greece	0.5
		Armenia	0.5
		Czech Republic	0.48
		Malta	0.47
		Georgia	0.39
		Average	0.65

1. Data Source: The Global Gender Gap Report (2011)

1.2 Appendix 2: Ranking of Countries by Female-to-Male Earned Income Ratio

	Female-to-Male
Country	Ratio	Rank
Luxembourg	1	1
Norway	1	1
Brunei Darussalam	0.97	3
Switzerland	0.89	4
United States	0.88	5
Singapore	0.88	6
Qatar	0.84	7
Netherlands	0.83	8
Sweden	0.82	9
Australia	0.82	10
Denmark	0.81	11
Mongolia	0.8	12
Burundi	0.8	13
Bolivia	0.77	14
Mozambique	0.76	15
Canada	0.75	16
Ghana	0.75	17
Finland	0.74	18
Lesotho	0.74	19
Malawi	0.73	20
Madagascar	0.73	21
Ireland	0.72	22
United Kingdom	0.71	23
Croatia	0.7	24
New Zealand	0.7	25
Iceland	0.69	26
Ethiopia	0.69	27
Germany	0.69	28
Vietnam	0.69	29
Romania	0.68	30
Lithuania	0.67	31
Belgium	0.67	32
Latvia	0.67	33
Tanzania	0.67	34
Moldova	0.67	35
Burkina Faso	0.67	36
Benin	0.66	37
Cambodia	0.66	38
Bulgaria	0.66	39
Kenya	0.66	40
Uganda	0.65	41
Russian Federation	0.65	42
China	0.65	43
Angola	0.65	44
France	0.65	45
Barbados	0.64	46
Israel	0.64	47
Hungary	0.64	48
Namibia	0.64	49
Gambia	0.64	50
Thailand	0.63	51
Estonia	0.62	52
Slovenia	0.62	53
Kuwait	0.61	54
Paraguay	0.61	55
Kazakhstan	0.61	56
Chad	0.61	57
Brazil	0.61	58
Ukraine	0.6	59
Philippines	0.6	60
Peru	0.59	61
Jamaica	0.58	62
Cyprus	0.58	63
Spain	0.57	64
Poland	0.57	65
Senegal	0.57	66
Slovak Republic	0.57	67
Maldives	0.57	68
Portugal	0.57	69
Tajikistan	0.57	70
Mauritania	0.56	71
Zambia	0.56	72
Austria	0.56	73
South Africa	0.56	74
Bahrain	0.56	75
Uruguay	0.56	76
United Arab Emirates	0.55	77
Costa Rica	0.55	78
Trinidad and Tobago	0.55	79
Bangladesh	0.55	80
Panama	0.55	81
Albania	0.54	82
Italy	0.54	83
Kyrgyz Republic	0.53	84
Azerbaijan	0.53	85
Argentina	0.52	86
Japan	0.51	87
Cameroon	0.51	88
Macedonia	0.51	89
Greece	0.5	90

1. Data Source: The Global Gender Gap Report (2011)