Women, literacy and liberation in rural China / Elizabeth V. Billard.

Abstract

This thesis examines female illiteracy in rural China, bearing in mind the government's commitment since 1949 to female emancipation, universal literacy and the transformation of the whole of Chinese society. It aims first, to discover that has been achieved and why educational opportunities for rural women and girls are still much poorer than those of rural males or urban males and females. Second, it aims to understand how literacy practice is gendered in China and how this gendering undermines efforts to eliminate illiteracy amongst rural females in particular.