China Center Chart Dive: Older aged, higher educated women—a promising, underutilized talent pool in China

Despite the strong increase in female educational attainment levels in China over the past decade, there are still stark disparities in labor participation rates between men and women. The number of female graduates has seen a dramatic increase since 2002 – including undergraduates, postgraduates, and senior secondary graduates. In 2015, there were 106 female graduates with PhD and/or master's degrees for every 100 male graduates, a near doubling of the numbers from one decade ago.

Yet this higher level of female education has been accompanied by a decreasing level of female labor force participation.