When Technology Meets Inequality: The Persistent Effects of Distance Education on Gender Gaps in Rural China

ABSTRACT This study examines the persistent effects of China's Modern Distance Education Program (MDEP), a large‐scale educational technology initiative that provided access to high‐quality instruction for over 100 million rural primary and junior high school students. Utilising two nationally representative surveys and employing a cohort‐based triple‐difference (DDD) identification strategy, we demonstrate that MDEP significantly narrowed the gender gap in educational attainment. The programme's effects exhibit a cumulative pattern, intensifying with greater exposure duration and investment intensity. We further find that MDEP facilitated gender‐equitable access to public educational resources and weakened son‐preference distortions in household educational investment, thereby improving educational outcomes for rural girls. These educational gains also translated into persistent reductions in gender disparities in labour market outcomes, with MDEP‐exposed rural women experiencing greater improvements in formal employment, digitally intensive occupations and wages than comparable men.