Advancing Female Education by Improving Democratic Institutions and Women's Political Representation

Using cross-country and panel regressions, we investigate to what extent gender gaps in education and employment (proxied using gender gaps in labor force participation) reduce economic growth. Using the most recent data and investigating an extended time period (1960–2000), we update the results of previous studies on education gaps on growth and extend the analysis to employment gaps using panel data. We find that gender gaps in education and employment considerably reduce economic growth. The combined “costs” of education and employment gaps in the Middle East and North Africa, and South Asia amount respectively to 0.9–1.7 and 0.1–1.6 percentage point differences in growth compared to East Asia. Gender gaps in employment appear to have an increasing effect on economic growth differences between regions, with the Middle East and North Africa, and South Asia suffering from slower growth in female employment.

We examine factors contributing to the gender gap in employment in science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) among men and women with bachelor’s degrees in computer science and engineering, the two largest and most male-dominated STEM fields. Data come from the National Science Foundation’s (NSF) Scientists and Engineers Statistical Data System (SESTAT) from 1995 to 2008. Different factors are associated with persistence in STEM jobs among computer science and engineering degree holders. Conditional on receiving a degree in computer science, women are 14 percentage points less likely to work in STEM than their male counterparts. Controlling for demographic and family characteristics did little to change this gender gap. Women with degrees in engineering are approximately 8 percentage points less likely to work in STEM than men, although about half of this gap is explained by observed differences between men and women. We document a widening gender gap in STEM employment in computer science, but this gender gap narrows across college cohorts among those with degrees in engineering. Among recent computer science graduates, the gender gap in STEM employment for white, Hispanic, and black women relative to white men is even larger than for older graduates. Gender and race gaps in STEM employment for recent cohorts of engineering graduates are generally small, though younger Asian women and men no longer have an employment advantage relative to white men. Our results suggest that a one-size-fits-all approach to increasing women’s representation in the most male-dominated STEM fields may not work.

Background: National Education Policy 2020 aims to eliminate existing disparities in access to education for children from any gender or any under-represented group. After independence, India makes considerable strides in reducing gender gaps in education, but even today the goal of gender parity in school enrolments remains elusive. India provides Universal Elementary Education to all and this commitment has been articulated through Constitution, National Education Policies and other Innovative Programmes. All these initiatives put a strong emphasis on the education of girls and some of the programmes have been started particularly to eliminate gender gaps in school education. Purpose: This paper is an attempt to review the Innovative Programmes started by the Government of India to redress the gender gaps in school education and also to analyze the impact of these programmes on female literacy rates and enrolment rates of girls in elementary education. Before analyzing the innovative programmes and their impact on educational statistics, the paper briefly assesses the status of education in the Constitution of India and also studies the national policy perspective regarding universal elementary education of girls in the country in order to provide a sound background to this study. Methods: The method of document analysis for the review of policy documents and innovative programmes has been utilized and trend analysis method has been applied to study the educational statistics from the year 1950 to 2015. Results: The female literacy rates and enrolment of girls in total enrolments for the classes VI-VIII have registered an increase after the implementation of these programmes. Conclusions: It has been observed that these community-based programmes of the country have received a lot of international recognition for their contribution towards reducing gender gaps in elementary education. So, the experiences of these Innovative Programmes can prove quite beneficial for other countries struggling with gender gaps in school education.

Measuring Gender Equality in Education: Lessons from Trends in 43 Countries

This longitudinal evaluation of gender inequalities and economic growth addresses key questions in the evolving debate over the character of gender differentiation and the goals of womens empowerment. These questions include: 1) whether the impact of strategies of economic growth served to enhance or undermine the status of women; 2) whether changes in the status of women were accompanied by significant changes in gender inequality; and 3) the implications for existing debates. Section I reviews several sets of literature pertinent to the questions using three general approaches: modernization-neoclassical women in development and gender and development. Section II presents the data and methods used in the evaluation. The research assessed the contending interpretations reviewed in the first section by combining another set of cross-sectional and longitudinal data on womens status and inequalities between men and women with other existing indicators. Section III discusses the results in the following order: 1) cross-sectional patterns in womens status; 2) trends in womens status; 3) cross-sectional patterns in inequality between men and women; 4) trends in inequality between men and women; and 5) conclusion. Finally section IV presents an overall discussion of the findings of the whole longitudinal evaluation.

Purpose: Over the past few decades, there has been an increasing interest in understanding the relationship between trade liberalization and gender inequality in developing countries. In Pakistan, due to its social, demographic, cultural and economic problems, gender disparity in education (GDE) is still prevalent. This study examines the impact of trade reforms on gender disparity in education using micro data from Pakistan.
 Design/Methodology/Approach: The feasible generalized least-squares (FGLS) method is employed for empirical analysis. We used panel corrected standard errors (PCSEs) for robustness checks.
 Findings: The analysis reveals that a reduction in import tariffs is associated with GDE. Trade liberalization gives rise to gender disparities. We added several control variables to the baseline model for robustness checks. Regarding the control variables, average family wage income, family size, urbanization, female-to-male labor force participation and the female share of the total labor force are identified as important determinants of GDE in Pakistan.
 Originality or Value: This study contributes to the existing literature by studying the relationship between trade liberalization and gender disparity in education in Pakistan and employing a better measure of reductions in import tariffs for trade liberalization. We construct a provincial liberalization index. Second, this study takes into account the whole trade regime as a sample period (i.e., from 1990-2005) to assess the impacts of the trade regime as protection rates significantly reduced through this regime. Third, we measure the gender gap in education by comparing males and females' average years of schooling as opposed to previous studies that used secondary school enrolment ratios as a proxy for the gender gap in education. Fourth, we used panel data to explore the impact of trade liberalization on gender disparity in education for empirical analysis.

The gender gap in education remains a critical barrier to social and economic development in many parts of the world. This study explores the implications of gender disparities in education within the Godda district, a rural area in the Indian state of Jharkhand, and examines how these disparities impact the region’s economic growth. Gender inequality in education leads to a significant underutilization of female talent and hampers socioeconomic progress, especially in developing regions. Despite various initiatives by the government and non-governmental organizations to bridge this gap, educational attainment for girl’s remains disproportionately lower compared to boys. Key contributing factors include socio-cultural norms, economic constraints, inadequate infrastructure, and early marriage, which collectively restrict educational opportunities for girls. This study employs both qualitative and quantitative methods, utilizing data from surveys, interviews, and secondary sources to understand the current state of gender disparity in education within Godda. The findings reveal that limited access to education for girls not only perpetuates poverty cycles but also impedes regional economic development. Educated women are more likely to contribute to the workforce, improve household income, and invest in their children's education, creating a multiplier effect for development. Therefore, addressing the gender gap in education is essential for fostering sustainable economic growth in Godda. Policy recommendations include increasing investment in girls’ education, improving school infrastructure, implementing community awareness programs, and providing financial incentives to families to encourage girls' enrollment and retention in school. This case study highlights the urgent need for targeted educational reforms to bridge the gender gap and accelerate economic progress in rural districts like Godda.

Despite substantial progress, gender gaps persist in many developing countries. Since the 1990s, a literature has emerged arguing that these gaps not only are inequitable but also reduce economic performance. This review finds that, first, it is methodologically difficult to determine reliable effects of gender gaps on economic performance. Second, accounting studies that calculate how much larger GDP would be if gender gaps in employment disappeared vastly overestimate likely effects. Third, the theoretical literature has generated important insights on mechanisms linking gender gaps to economic performance. Fourth, systematic reviews of the cross-country evidence robustly show that lowering gender gaps in education leads to higher economic performance, while the literature on the impact of other gaps is much more limited. Fifth, there is accumulating micro evidence on how reducing particular gender gaps at the level of households, farms, or firms can improve economic performance in particular contexts, with robust results in some areas, and less clear evidence in others.

This study aims at investigating the cross-country variation in gender-gap in economic activity. A balanced panel data for 72 countries with complete data for the period 2000-2016 were extracted from the World Bank indicators. The statistical diagnostic tests supported the use of the fixed effect model. The series was stationary at level and not co-integrated. Moreover, the null hypothesis of the appropriateness of random effect model was rejected. The estimated results assure the importance of demand side factors in dampen the gender gap in economic activity as expected such as GDP growth, gender gaps in employment, in being self-employed and unemployment, urbanization and trade openness. Surprisingly, the supply side factors such the cross-country variation in gender gap in education and fertility rates were no more important determinants in explaining the gender gap in economic activity. This study recommends governments to improve the demand-side factors that would encourage more female employment and reduce the gender gap in economic activity later.

Gender gaps in employment and pay are interrelated indicators of gender inequality that may be affected in countervailing ways by regulatory interventions. However, policies designed to produce a more gender-egalitarian sharing of paid and unpaid labor, and consequently the workplace penalties of parenthood, have potential to enhance their complementarity. The cross-national comparisons examined in this chapter indicate that narrow gender gaps in both employment and pay can coexist, and that this can occur where generous and gender-egalitarian work/family provisions are available. However relationships between the overarching gender order, policy interventions, and wider regulatory frameworks are shown to be complex, underlining the difficulties of generating change. Overall the data suggest that narrowing of these gender gaps will be slow and far from inevitable.

Gender equality is a pressing issue on the agenda of many countries. Climate change is a global problem that cannot be solved without joint efforts. In Moldova, the problem of climate change is particularly acute, as the country is agrarian. Over the past six years, every second year, due to climate cataclysms, the volume of agricultural production has fallen. First of all, crop production volumes declined by an average of 30% in 2020, 2022, and 2024. On the other hand, Moldova strives to mitigate gender inequality, which manifests itself in various spheres of life (economy, health care, participation in decision-making bodies). This study tests the hypothesis about the impact of climate change on gender vulnerability. The authors suggest that in Moldova, climate change is exacerbating existing gender vulnerability, widening gender gaps in income, employment, poverty, and political participation. The research methodology is based on correlation analysis of publicly available data from the National Bureau of Statistics. The novelty of this study lies in the development of the Gender Vulnerability Index (GVI), consisting of six sub-indices that reflect the gender gap in income, employment, absolute poverty level, life expectancy at birth, representation in Parliament, and ministerial positions. The results of the study showed that there is a statistically significant relationship between climate change and the level of gender vulnerability. Gender gaps in employment and income exert the most significant impact on the GVI. These two indicators reflect women's limited opportunities in the labor market and wages compared to men, and their value has been higher in the last five years than in the previous period. The developed equations of multiple linear regression not only confirmed the proposed hypothesis but also proved that to mitigate gender vulnerability, it is necessary to promote strategies and programs aimed at reducing female unemployment and increasing the level of women's education.

Achieving gender equality in education is an important development goal. We tested the hypothesis that the gender gap in adolescent education is accentuated by illnesses among young children in the household. Using Demographic and Health Surveys on 41 821 households in 38 low- and middle-income countries, we used linear regression to estimate the difference in the probability adolescent girls and boys were in school, and how this gap responded to illness episodes among children <5 years old. To test the hypothesis that investments in child health are related to the gender gap in education, we assessed the relationship between the gender gap and national immunization coverage. In our sample of 120 708 adolescent boys and girls residing in 38 countries, girls were 5.08% less likely to attend school than boys in the absence of a recent illness among young children within the same household (95% confidence interval [CI], 5.50%-4.65%). This gap increased to 7.77% (95% CI, 8.24%-7.30%) and 8.53% (95% CI, 9.32%-7.74%) if the household reported 1 and 2 or more illness episodes, respectively. The gender gap in schooling in response to illness was larger in households with a working mother. Increases in child vaccination rates were associated with a closing of the gender gap in schooling (correlation coefficient = 0.34, P = .02). Illnesses among children strongly predict a widening of the gender gap in education. Investments in early childhood health may have important effects on schooling attainment for adolescent girls.

The data on women’s education and labour force participation in India suggests that though the gender gap in education (particularly higher education) has almost disappeared, the gender gap in employment remains significant. The paper links the burden of double responsibility (paid work plus unpaid ‘care work’) with the low labour force participation rates among the highly educated women in urban India. Based on primary and secondary sources, the paper analyses the lived experiences of women who had to either leave their careers or who continued by managing to balance the two sets of responsibilities. Interrogating the care diamond in India, the essay examines two recent provisions of the government of India for working mothers – an increase in Maternity Leave and the provision of Childcare Leave. It finds that though these provisions seem to be in the right direction as they bring recognition to the care burden of employees, given the prevailing social norms on gender roles, they are insufficient (in their present form) to bring gender parity in the labour market.

In this paper, we will briefly review the existing literature on the growth impacts of gender gaps and assess its relevance for the European situation. We will show that gender gaps in education in Europe are unlikely to play an important role for economic performance, but that gender gaps in employment appear to impose a significant efficiency cost in European countries where the gaps are large.

Using data from 60 countries, we measure how much couples agree on sex preferences for children and whether differences in sex preferences are associated with gender gaps in children's education. Results show extensive disagreement in sex preferences for children, with husbands far more likely to want more sons but their wives more likely to prefer having equal numbers of boys and girls, wanting more daughters, or having no preference. India has the highest share of agreement on sex preferences (59 percent), and Niger has the lowest (32 percent). The association between couples’ sex preferences and gender gaps in education differs considerably by country. In some countries, girls have worse outcomes when their parents agree on son preference and better ones when parents agree on daughter/no preference. But there are numerous counter‐examples as well. Gender gaps in education appear more often when wives hold son preference but not their husbands than the reverse combination. Agreement on daughter/no preference is the only category that is systematically associated with better outcomes for girls relative to boys (although even here there are caveats). Balanced preference (wanting as many boys as girls) is an ambiguous category with heterogenous patterns in terms of educational gender gaps.