China sees substantial increase in women's education level: white paper

BEIJING -- China has made tremendous efforts to ensure women's equitable access to education of all categories and levels and women's right to education has been effectively guaranteed, said a white paper released on Friday.

Gender divide in basic education has been largely eliminated, according to the white paper, titled "China's Achievements in Women's Well-Rounded Development in the New Era."

In 2024, girls accounted for 47.3 percent of children in kindergartens, and girls made up 46.98 percent of students of nine-year compulsory education, said the white paper, stressing that the net elementary education enrollment rate of school-age girls stays above 99.9 percent.

The white paper highlighted that a rough balance between male and female students in higher education has been achieved.

In 2024, female students in higher education 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.

In 2020, the average length of schooling for female citizens at and above the age of 15 reached 9.59 years, according to the white paper.