The impact of gender inequality in education on income in Africa and the Middle East

Abstract

We use data for a group of sub-Saharan African, North African and Middle Eastern countries to explore the impact of gender inequality in education on levels of income per capita. Two gender inequality indicators are used: the gap in female to male primary education enrolment ratios and the gap in female to male secondary education enrolment ratios. Estimation results indicate that gender inequality in primary and secondary education has a statistically significant negative effect on income, especially in North African and Middle Eastern countries. In relatively open economies, gender inequality in education seems to have an additional effect, but this effect is consistently positive, suggesting that while trade contributes to higher income it may be accompanied by greater inequality. Overall, the results in this paper provide further evidence that the international development community's focus on reducing gender inequality and achieving universal primary education is well founded.