Revisiting the Gender Gap in Private Household Expenditure on Education in India: An Empirical Analysis

Abstract

The article presents empirical observations regarding the private household expenditure on male and female students incurred by Indian households at the disaggregated level of education. By using the data sets of two consecutive rounds of National Sample Survey Office (NSSO), that is, 64th and 71st, which were based on social consumption survey of health and education, the article explores the bias in household expenditure on education by the variable of gender. The result presents a different analysis when compared to the findings of earlier studies, in terms of persisting gender gap in expenditure on education at different levels of education like higher, technical or at diploma levels as compared to elementary level. The study finds that the biasness in expenditure decreases and, in some cases, even higher for female students for technical and diploma level of education. For the analysis of data, the statistical tool of percentage relative gap has been used.