I NOW examine the relationship between rural women's education and their involvement in politics, and the work patterns of women and men. It is evident that both education and political participation (or lack thereof) have a major influence on gender divisions of labour. In dialectical fashion, gender divisions of labour also shape women's involvement in education and politics. The first and second sections of this chapter examine women's participation in education and politics respectively. The third discusses the All-China Women's Federation and the campaigns it has run in rural China in the post-Mao era.

EDUCATION

As is common across the world, rural women in China are on the bottom rung of the ladder when it comes to educational opportunities and attainments. For example, in 1990 approximately 70 per cent of the country's 182 million illiterates aged 15 and above were women. Of these, 84 per cent were rural residents. The higher the level of education, the lower are women's and rural residents' participation rates, so that of all university graduates in 1990 only 30 per cent were women, the vast majority of whom were urban residents.

In addition to the gender inequalities found in educational attainment, males and females are taught different messages about their future roles in society and at, and above, secondary level are often segregated into different areas of specialised education.