UC Irvine

This paper empirically examines gender inequality in benefiting from public education, health care and pension transfers over the lifecycle in China. Based on data from the 2010 wave of China Family Panel Studies and government statistics, we apply the internationally comparable method of National Transfer Account to conduct analyses. The results show that, although public health care and pension transfers are remarkably biased against women at old ages, public education transfers are essentially gender-neutral even at the tertiary education level. Gender inequality among older cohorts is largely a legacy of past occupational and earning privileges for males, and the fragmented design of health insurance and pension programs. With growing female advantage in education and a gradual unification of social security system, the gender gap in public transfers in China is expected to narrow in the coming years.