One of the most radical and important social changes in the twentieth century is the opening of tertiary education to women and their entry into the professional workplace. This MPhil Thesis uses the China University Student Dataset-Republic of China (CUSD-ROC), which collects over 100,000 individual undergraduate student records from 26 universities between 1905 and 1952, the China University Student Dataset-PhD (CUSD-PhD), which records 4697 Chinese post-tertiary students who studied overseas for a PhD during the first half of the twentieth century, and the China Workforce Dataset - Republic of China/People’s Republic of China (CWFD-ROC/PRC) which I am just beginning to compile, to understand better the early history of female tertiary education and professional employment du...[ Read more ]

One of the most radical and important social changes in the twentieth century is the opening of tertiary education to women and their entry into the professional workplace. This MPhil Thesis uses the China University Student Dataset-Republic of China (CUSD-ROC), which collects over 100,000 individual undergraduate student records from 26 universities between 1905 and 1952, the China University Student Dataset-PhD (CUSD-PhD), which records 4697 Chinese post-tertiary students who studied overseas for a PhD during the first half of the twentieth century, and the China Workforce Dataset - Republic of China/People’s Republic of China (CWFD-ROC/PRC) which I am just beginning to compile, to understand better the early history of female tertiary education and professional employment during the first half of the twentieth century.

By analysing and contrasting student family spatial and especially social origins by gender as well as different gender preferences for student majors, I demonstrate that many features of female education today can be traced back to the Republican period of the first half of the twentieth century preceding later Communist educational policies. I further suggest that the gender landscape of twentieth century and contemporary China, including the very meanings of femininity itself, consequently differ from elsewhere, especially in East Asia.