The purpose of this study is to contribute to scholarly understanding of generational change and individual variation in women’s educational experiences when encountering gender inequality. The guiding framework is a feminist concept—intersectionality. I adopt a phenomenological multiple case design to examine 1) how women across four different generations from the 1930s to the 1990s experienced gender inequality in their educational experiences in Shancun (pseudonym), a rural village in southern China, 2) how these women interpret their experiences, and 3) how educational reforms and policies implemented between the 1930s and the 1990s shaped their experiences. Between May and August 2013, I interviewed 12 women from Shancun across four generations. I conducted two interviews with each participant, and each interview lasted about 40 to 65 minutes. I also relied upon informal conversations to gather supplemental information about the participants. In addition, in order to know the village history I conducted multiple interviews with a senior in the village.
A focus on individuals reveals the complexity behind the macro level patterns and the agency exercised by parents and their daughters. In comparison with the previous generation, women who were born in the 1950s and 60s had better access to schooling. Little progress in increasing women’s schooling was made between the second and third generation. The fourth generation witnessed a sharp increase of educational attainment over the third. The nonlinear progress of women’s schooling was associated with the women’s movement, government advocacy of gender equity driven by a nationalism discourse, the collective farming, and urbanization. Meanwhile, the impact of educational policies is invisible except Saomang (literacy education) provided an opportunity for one of the participants to gain some basic literacy.
The data collection was sponsored by the University of Missouri John Bies International Travel Scholarships.