Dr. Emily Hannum (UPenn) presents her talk titled, "Gender, Multi-Context Childhood Poverty, and Long-term Educational Attainment in China's Rural Northwest".

This talk will discuss gender differences in the relationship between childhood poverty and educational attainment in rural China.  The presentation will first describe a longitudinal study of children in rural Gansu, China that began when children were 9-12 years old and followed them into adulthood. The study collected extensive information about the major contexts of child development--family, school, and community. This approach allows for a broad conceptualization of childhood poverty. In addition, information about siblings permits consideration of how poverty relates to boys' and girls' outcomes differently within the same family. The presentation will then review evidence suggesting that girls’ educational attainment is more sensitive to poverty than boys' educational attainment and discuss possible mechanisms behind this relationship.