China’s recent gender history is marked by periodic ruptures, with the transition from socialist feminism to market economy accompanied by major paradigm shifts in public discourse on gender roles and status, femininity, and masculinity. This dissertation explores how this shifting gender structure, intertwined with the continuous influence of Confucian family values, economic development, market transition, and educational expansion, manifests in individual-level gender beliefs in contemporary China. Applying a multidimensional conceptualization of gender ideology, it identifies different nationally relevant gender principles and examines their sociodemographic predictors, regional distributions, and covariation across generations of Chinese men and women who came of age during different socioeconomic and political eras. The study explores which aspects of gender-traditionalism endure and why, as well as which forms of gender-egalitarianism take hold during China’s socioeconomic transformations. The mixed-methods research design applied combines latent class analysis and multilevel regression analysis of nationally representative survey data from the Chinese General Social Survey (2010-2017) with analysis of 79 original in-depth interviews conducted with diverse populations in China. This methodology allows for a more comprehensive understanding of China’s gender ideologies and attention to intersectional identities shaped by political generation, geographic origins (e.g., urban vs. rural), and gender.
Key findings reveal a multifaceted and contextually rooted structure to Chinese gender ideology. The coexistence of male-supremacist values and essentialist beliefs about women’s domestic roles, along with an expectation for women’s paid employment—despite their continued subordination—is consistent with the multidimensional nature of gender beliefs observed in other countries. However, the ways in which these gender principles rise and fall, couple and decouple, are distinct in China, influenced by the country’s unique economic, cultural, and political landscapes.
The observed multidimensionality in gender beliefs and their variation across social groups and regions also confirm that market transition is not necessarily accompanied by a uniform liberalization of gender beliefs. Survey results indicate a two-phased evolution of gender beliefs during China’s market transition: initially, traditional gender norms intensified, reflecting a “traditionalizing effect,” but over time, as the market economy matured, there was a shift towards more liberal egalitarian beliefs. Nonetheless, the pervasive market-driven values in contemporary China exacerbate a “double-bind” Chinese women face, torn between paid work and primary caregiving, which naturalizes workplace gender inequalities.
Lastly, the dissertation connects evolving gender beliefs with family dynamics, highlighting potential influences on China’s declining fertility rate and proposing policy recommendations. Altogether, these findings underscore the need to interrogate common narratives about the connection between gender equality and modernization, particularly in societies undergoing rapid socioeconomic transformations. They also illuminate how deeply entrenched gender norms can be recast in changing societal contexts, resulting in novel forms of gender inequality.
