In the context of China's low fertility: Gender inequality, feminist identity development, and attitudes toward marriage

Using Downing and Roush's (1985) feminist identity development (FID) model, this study examines whether and how the pervasive gender inequality in China is linked to Chinese women's feminist beliefs and their marriage attitudes, and whether specific dimensions of feminist identity, such as passive acceptance and revelation, mediate the relationship between perceived gender inequality and marriage attitudes. An online survey of 251 never-married Chinese women assessed their (a) perceptions of gender inequality, (b) attitudes toward marriage, (c) intent to marry, and (d) six dimensions of FID (passive acceptance, revelation, embeddedness/emanation, active commitment, femininity synthesis, autonomous synthesis). Mediation analyses revealed two main findings. First, greater perceptions of gender inequality predicted more negative attitudes toward marriage and a lower intent to marry. Second, this link was fully explained by two FID dimensions—passive acceptance and revelation—which mediated the effects in opposite ways. These results highlight how rising awareness of gender oppression among Chinese women is associated with a diminished appeal of traditional marriage.