A new Chinese study has found that the presence of top female students can significantly improve the academic performance of other female classmates — especially those from academically and socioeconomically disadvantaged backgrounds.

The study, conducted by researchers from Peking University and Zhejiang University, was published on April 13 in the prestigious, peer-reviewed publication Journal of Development Economics.

Gender gaps in Chinese education have continued to narrow, but disparities remain. In higher education STEM fields — science, technology, engineering, and mathematics — men still outnumber women. Researchers studying this disparity note that the gap is in part due to a lack of visible, ambitious female scientists to serve as role models.

The new findings suggest that making female academic excellence more visible could help girls in junior high school “fully realize their academic potential,” the researchers wrote. Across the national sample, girls scored higher than boys on average but reported lower self-confidence.

The researchers analyzed data from 3,726 students in 88 classes drawn from the China Education Panel Survey, a longitudinal, nationally representative survey by Renmin University of China.

The dataset included students’ grade 7 midterm exam scores from the 2013 school year — the first major exam after entering junior high school in most parts of China — and their results one year later. 

Researchers of the latest study said they chose the midterm exam because early standardized tests can create a strong “first impression” of academic hierarchy in a new class.

The effects were strongest among lower-ranked students and those from disadvantaged rural families, rather than already high-performing students capable of competing for the top of the class, suggesting the mechanism operates more around role models than competition.

The study also found that the presence of top-ranked female students led parents of other girls in the same class to raise their expectations and invest more in their daughters’ education and careers, including helping with homework and offering stronger emotional support.

This points to the importance of both school-based role models and family involvement when designing policies to promote gender equality in education, the study said.

The researchers did not find similar effects among boys of the same age.

Since the 2000s, China has gradually moved to ban the publicizing of academic rankings to reduce pressure and anxiety among students — a reason why the study was unable to use a more recent sample period.

Researchers said their findings suggest there may also be trade-offs to such policies, as visible top female performers could inspire disadvantaged girls who lack confidence.

Additionally, they said future research could examine the long-term effects of exposure to top female students on access to universities, college major choices, career paths, and employment outcomes, as well as how the effectiveness of female role models varies across different cultural and institutional contexts.

Editor: Marianne Gunnarsson.

(Header image: VCG)