Does greater filial piety bring more gender income advantages? Exploring the influence of traditional Chinese filial piety on the gender wage gap

• Date: 24 September 2024
• Pages: 96-114
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.1108/IJM-04-2024-0245
• Published date: 24 September 2024
• Subject Matter: Economics,Labour economics
• Author: Xiaoman Li,Xinxin Yang,Qi Zheng

Does greater filial piety bring more

gender income advantages?

Exploring the influence of

traditional Chinese filial piety

on the gender wage gap

Xiaoman Li, Xinxin Yang and Qi Zheng

School of Labor Economics, Capital University of Economics and Business,

Beijing, China

Abstract

Purpose –Based on traditional Chinese filial piety, this article examines the impacts and mechanisms of the

two-dimensional filial piety concept “Qinqin – Zunzun” on gender wages in China via China Family Panel

Studies (CFPS) conducted in 2014 and 2018.

Design/methodology/approach –This article construct regression models to examine the relationship

between filial piety concepts and wages. Also, it uses unconditional quantile regression and decomposition to

explore the impact of filial piety concepts on the wage gap.

Findings –It is found that: (1) The effects of two-dimensional filial piety are heterogeneous in terms of gender.

Specifically, authoritarian filial piety significantly suppresses individual wages and has a stronger

suppressive effect on women’s wages, whereas affinity filial piety significantly enhances individual wages

without gender heterogeneity; (2) Parents’ time support in the intergenerational exchange model is a crucial

mechanism by which filial piety affects wages, exhibiting significant gender heterogeneity; (3) Regarding

wage distribution, authoritarian filial piety mainly widens the gender income gap in the low and middle

income-groups, while affinity filial piety narrows the gender wage gap by “raising the floor”, with its

converging effect being most significant in the middle and high-income groups. This article deepens the

understanding of the gender wage gap and intergenerational income mobility, providing policy references for

better utilizing the social governance function of culture.

Originality/value –The article deepens the understanding and mechanisms of the gender wage gap and inter-

generational income mobility, providing policy reference for better utilizing the social governance function of culture.

Keywords China’s filial piety, Authoritarian filial piety, Affinity filial piety, Gender wage gap,

Inter-generational exchange

Paper type Research paper

1. Introduction

The gender wage gap persists as a seminal issue within the realm of labor economics, consistently

engaging scholars from myriad disciplines across the globe. Over time, this extensive discourse

has yielded a sophisticated framework of interpretations, concerning economic, societal,

technological and cultural dimensions. In economic terms, the emphasis is often placed on human

capital; it is a well-documented premise that augmented educational attainment can mitigate the

discrimination faced by women in the workforce, thereby contributing to the narrowing of the

wage gap (Huang and Yao, 2009). Sociologically, the domestic sphere – and the time women

IJM

45,10

96

© Xiaoman Li, Xinxin Yang and Qi Zheng. Published by Emerald Publishing Limited. This article is

published under the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY 4.0) licence. Anyone may reproduce,

distribute, translate and create derivative works of this article (for both commercial and non-commercial

purposes), subject to full attribution to the original publication and authors. The full terms of this licence

may be seen at http://creativecommons.org/licences/by/4.0/legalcode

This work was supported by Beijing Municipal Social Science Foundation, Grant Number 23JJC041.

The current issue and full text archive of this journal is available on Emerald Insight at:

https://www.emerald.com/insight/0143-7720.htm

Received 9 April 2024

Revised 17 June 2024

Accepted 28 July 2024

InternationalJournal of Manpower

Vol. 45 No. 10, 2024

pp. 96-114

Emerald Publishing Limited

0143-7720

DOI 10.1108/IJM-04-2024-0245

dedicate to household responsibilities – is pinpointed as a pivotal factor. It is posited that the duties

associated with marriage and motherhood, particularly housework and childcare,

disproportionately burden women and consequentially exacerbate wage disparities (Angrist

and Evans, 1998). Institutionally, the scholarship investigates disparities in employment

prospects and pervasive industry-specific gender segregation. Such institutional biases, including

intra-industry discrimination, are recognized as substantial determinants of the gender wage gap

(Cai and Wu, 2002;Ge and Zeng, 2011;Luo et al., 2019). Concurrently, the evolution of technology,

embodied by the advent of the Internet, industrial automation and robotics, presents an array of

impacts on gender-based wage differentials, warranting extensive exploration (Mao et al., 2018;

Xu et al., 2022). Moreover, from a cultural standpoint, there is an increasing focus on unraveling

how widespread norms and beliefs underpin the gender wage gap within a global context (Grosso,

2007). The synthesis of these diverse perspectives continues to enhance our understanding of the

nuances undergirding gender pay disparities, spotlighting the multifaceted nature of this

persisting economic conundrum.

The current research on the gender wage gap still has limited explanatory power, leaving

potential mechanisms and missing variables yet to be explored in depth. The Global Gender

Gap Report 2022 [1] by the World Economic Forum reveals that globally only 68.1% of

gender gaps have been eliminated, while China’s gender gap index stands at 0.682 [2],

indicating a significant unbridged gap of 31.8%, exceeding the global average. This prompts

consideration of informal mechanisms beyond traditional factors that consistently influence

the gender income gap. Cultural factors, deeply rooted in societal issues, may play a vital role

in shaping these informal mechanisms. Recent studies have found that socio-cultural

influences may subconsciously perpetuate gender inequality by reshaping traditional

economic, family and technological decision-making mechanisms (Qing, 2019;Scarborough

and Moeder, 2022). Regrettably, few studies have integrated China’s traditional cultural

concepts into the analytical framework of gender inequality. Confucianism, deeply ingrained

in traditional Chinese culture, continues to influence socio-economic behavior, shaping

hierarchical gender norms and intergenerational behavioral standards. Among them, “filial

piety is the foremost of all good deeds”, and “filial piety” is the core concept of this kind of

“ritual” culture. In traditional Chinese patriarchal society, filial piety not only represents a

duty but also implies certain rights, predominantly favoring men. The Xiaojing (Classic of

Filial Piety) closely intertwines Confucian filial piety with political ethics, establishing it as a

criterion for national governance and official appointments.

On the contrary, it is essential to recognize that classical theory treats filial piety as a

singular concept and neglects to explore its structural dimensions, thereby diminishing its

efficacy in explaining the economic impacts of filial piety culture in China. In China, two

distinct concepts of filial piety have emerged around the value norms of “rites” – “Qinqin

(Being close to the people you should be close to)” and “Zunzun (Respecting the people you

should respect)”. The former is known as affinity filial piety, which emphasizes interaction

and voluntariness with a focus on emotional communication. Conversely, the latter is

referred to as authoritarian filial piety, which underscores “No Violation” with a core tenet of

“reverence and obedience,” prioritizing substantial eldercare support. These contrasting

“ritual” norms give rise to markedly different intergenerational resource distribution and

allocation patterns within the family, potentially exerting a substantial influence on the labor

market performance of descendants (Deng, 2017;Hao and Yu, 2015).

In conclusion, traditional Confucian social and cultural factors contribute to our further

exploration of the deep-rooted causes of the gender wage gap. The filial piety culture has

significantly influenced families’ intergenerational production and exchange behaviors within

the Confucian cultural circle (including China, Japan, Korea, North Korea, Vietnam and

Singapore). The potential marginal contributions of this article are as follows: Firstly, drawing

from the cultural context of “filial piety is the foremost of all good deeds” in countries of the

International

Journal of

Manpower

97