Female Educational Attainment Research Articles

The rise in cross‐national marriages and the emergent inequalities in East and Southeast Asia

The rise in cross‐national marriages and the emergent inequalities in East and Southeast Asia

Women’s access to school, educational attainment, and fertility: Evidence from Jordan

In socially conservative Muslim societies, the absence of a sex-appropriate school in one’s community has historically been a major constraint to girls’ schooling. We use the expansion of access to girls’ or mixed schools in Jordan to investigate the effects of access to school on women’s education and fertility. We find that having access to a sex-appropriate school in a woman’s sub-district of birth led to 3.0–3.4 additional years of schooling and 1.0–1.4 fewer births. Using access to girl-appropriate schools as an instrument for female educational attainment, we find that an additional year of schooling reduces total fertility by 0.3–0.4 births. The impact of schooling on fertility is mostly for births occurring at older ages (30+) and higher parities (6+). We also find evidence of effects on intergenerational transmission of education but we find no evidence that school access has translated into higher participation in the labor market.

Global fertility in 204 countries and territories, 1950-2021, with forecasts to 2100: a comprehensive demographic analysis for the Global Burden of Disease Study 2021.

Global fertility in 204 countries and territories, 1950-2021, with forecasts to 2100: a comprehensive demographic analysis for the Global Burden of Disease Study 2021.

Employment effects of childcare availability: Evidence from European Union

There are several factors that contribute to the success of a society. Economic and demographic developments are known as important drivers, while the role of parental employment as a key component is sometimes overlooked. This paper focuses on the effects of childcare availability on female and male employment in the European Union regions. Regional differences may be significant, therefore separate panel regression models (with economic and demographic control variables) are established for regions in old and new member states, and the results are compared across different levels of male and female educational attainment. The findings suggest that there is a considerable difference between old and new members states. The availability of early childhood educational development significantly increases employment both for female and male employees with higher education levels in new members states, while this effect is not significant in old member states. For male employees with relatively low education levels, the availability of early childhood educational development does have a significant effect on employment both in old and new member states but this does not hold for female employees with lower education levels.

Does Sociological background influence the choice of Availing of Maternity Care facilities? A study on North-Eastern region of India using hybrid models of Multi-Criteria Decision Analysis

Background: The north-eastern part of India, dominated by a population belonging to various tribal communities, possesses diverse socioeconomic characteristics. The variation across communities in terms of availing maternity care is linked to socioeconomic traits. Objective: To conduct a comparative performance appraisal of all 16 regions in North-East India regarding the availing of maternity care and explore the linkage between each state’s socioeconomic characteristics and its relative success in delivering maternity care. Methods: The study is based on the data from India’s National Family Health Survey (NFHS – 4). We considered a total of 16 geographical areas, 11 criteria of maternity care, and 17 socioeconomic characteristics. We utilized hybrid models of AHP-TOPSIS and Entropy-TOPSIS for the ordinal evaluation of the regions concerning the delivery of maternity care and socioeconomic attainments. Finally, we analysed the associations between the two. Results: The ordinal evaluations rank all 16 regions regarding socioeconomic attainments and the delivery of maternity care. The study finds that Manipur, as a state, excels in delivering maternity care, while Meghalaya is the poorest performer. Female literacy, female educational attainment, male literacy, and female fertility are critical factors significantly impacting women’s availing of maternity care.

The impact of women’s labor resources on economic growth in Uzbekistan

One of the main economic and social wealth of Uzbekistan is its people. Although policymaker pay the special attention at the gender equality in almost every aspect of our lives, we still have gender bias in our labor market. The current study empirically investigated the relationship between female labor force participation and economic prosperity of the country. The paper implemented Granger casualty test to define which variable causes to change another variable amongst the gathered secondary data, after it employed Last Squares method to define the long term relationship amongst variables such as GDP, female labor force participation rates (FLFPR), fertility rates, female unemployment rates, female higher educational attainment and women in business and law index. The study showed that GDP influences the tribulations in rates of female labor force participation, and not on the contrary. Meanwhile, OLS regression gave a negative output of the correlations amongst GDP, Female Unemployment Rate, and Female in Business and Law Index regarding to the FLFPR. The significance of Women in Business and Law index is insignificant. In contrast the long term positive relationship is defined among fertility rate and higher education attainment with FLFPR. But in case of fertility rates the variable is insignificant.

Predictors of Modern Contraceptive Use Among Married Women in Pakistan, India, and Bangladesh

Background: Pakistan, Bangladesh, and India are all facing challenges related to large, growing populations with low levels of contraception. While, Bangladesh has the highest CPR (62%), close to the world’s CPR of 64%, India stands at 58%, followed by the lowest for Pakistan at 35%. Objective: To analyze the differences in the socio-economic determinants of modern contraception use in Pakistan, India, and Bangladesh. Methods: This study uses data from the latest rounds of Demographic and Health Surveys for Pakistan (2017-2018), Bangladesh (2017-2018), and India (2015-16) to examine the socioeconomic determinants of traditional, modern, and the most popular method of contraception among married women across the three countries by employing logistic regressions. The sample consists of currently married and fecund women only (Bangladesh=10,738; India=224,070; Pakistan=4,255). Results: In Bangladesh, Oral contraception Pills (OCPs) are the most popular method of contraception (44%), followed by the use of other modern contraception(38%) and traditional contraception(18%). In India, 60% of women using contraception, reported using female sterilization, 27% uses other forms of modern contraception, and 13% reported using traditional methods. For Pakistan, 29% of the women reported using condoms as a source of contraception, 43% of women reporting using other modern methods, and 29% of women reported using traditional methods of contraception. Logistic regressions in Bangladesh and Pakistan show that female educational attainment level is positively associated with the use of modern methods and the country’s most popular method of contraception but negatively associated with female sterilization, the most popular contraception method in India. Additionally, the socioeconomic status of the household is positively associated with the use of the most popular method of contraception in Pakistan but negatively associated with other modern methods. Contraception decision making if done by women in Bangladesh is positively associated with the use of both the most popular methods as well as modern methods of contraception. In India, the household's socioeconomic status and women’s age are positively associated with the use of modern contraception. Conclusion: For these countries to lower the population growth rate, achieve replacement-level fertility, and increase the use of modern contraception, they need to focus on relevant determinants that would help them achieve the desired results.

Teen Brides, Migrant Husbands and Religious Schooling

In many Muslim communities across South Asia, children and adolescents access education through religious institutions such as madrassa. When analysing the impact of madrassa on gender equity and empowerment, many scholars downplay feminist criticism of these institutions on the basis that even non-religious schools promote traditional gender roles in the global south. Some research on Bangladesh explains that ‘modernised’ or government-recognised madrassa, where students learn secular academic topics in addition to Arabic and Quranic verses, help boost female educational attainment in conservative communities. In addition, scholars often resist criticism of madrassa and other local practices such as early marriage in the name of understanding non-Western norms and ideals. Based on ethnographic fieldwork in remote villages of northern Bangladesh, this paper analyses the impact of religious schooling on young women’s everyday lives and perspectives through the experiences of young brides who are married to labour migrant men. Some of these brides have attended secular school while others have attended traditional madrassa, and I attempt to understand how their educational backgrounds have informed their views on marriage and gender roles. In this article, I contest the claim that religious schooling and early marriage can facilitate rural women’s agency. I argue that advocating for modernised madrassa is problematic, unless the conflicting impacts of unrecognised/traditional madrassa on women’s agency are acknowledged.

Gendered families: states and societies in transition

ABSTRACT Family life has changed significantly in recent decades for both women and men. Fertility rates have dropped, numbers divorcing have increased, and the proportion of children born outside marriage has grown. At the same time, we have seen significant changes in state forms and institutions, with marketization becoming embedded in centrally planned economies as well as welfare states. Women increasingly participate in labour markets and higher education, as expectations of equal opportunity have expanded. Despite obvious improvements in female employment and educational attainment, however, gender inequalities persist, not least in law, policy, labour markets, and family roles. Women continue to provide the bulk of informal multigenerational care. Work and family policies vary across the globe, yet policy analysis from a gender perspective is scarce. This editorial considers research from around the world, including Europe, the former Soviet bloc, Japan, and China, to develop an understanding of the tensions and shifts in the gendered organisation of family lives. Changes and continuities in gendered inequalities shaping family life are examined, with a focus on the intersection of state, labour market, and family, as they reproduce and reshape gender norms and inequalities.

Child Marriage Bans and Female Schooling and Labor Market Outcomes: Evidence from Natural Experiments in 17 Low- and Middle-Income Countries

I measure the effect of child marriage bans on female educational attainment and employment using a difference-in-differences approach employing subnational spatial and cohort variation in a sample of over 250,000 female respondents from 17 low- and middle-income countries banning child marriage between 1995 and 2012. My results using the full study sample suggest that raising the minimum legal age of marriage to 18 increased age at marriage, age at first birth, and the likelihood of employment. In urban areas, the bans also reduced child marriage and increased educational attainment. Effects of the bans typically were smaller in rural areas, in countries with a lower pre-ban minimum legal age at marriage, for cohorts with lower temporal exposure to the ban, and for reducing marriage at ages just below 18, consistent with imperfect enforcement. (JEL I21, J12, J13, J16, J18, K38, O15)

The evolutionary novelty of childcare by and with strangers

Alloparenting by and with genetically unrelated individuals is evolutionarily novel; thus, the Savanna–IQ Interaction Hypothesis predicts that more intelligent parents are more likely to resort to paid childcare by strangers. Analyses of individual data (National Child Development Study) in the United Kingdom (Study 1) and macrolevel data from the United States (Study 2) and economically developed Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) nations (Study 3) confirmed the hypothesis. Net of education, earnings, sex, current marital status, and number of children, more intelligent British parents were more likely to resort to paid childcare at ages 33 and 42; net of female labor force participation rate, median household income, median cost of childcare, and mean education, U.S. states with higher average intelligence had higher proportions of children (ages 0–4) in paid childcare; and net of maternal employment, gross domestic product (GDP) per capita, cost of childcare, and female educational attainment, OECD nations with higher average intelligence had higher proportions of infants (ages 0–2) in paid childcare. The results were remarkably consistent; both across the 50 U.S. states and 45 economically developed OECD nations, a one IQ point increase in the average intelligence of the population was associated with a 1.8% increase in the proportion of children in paid childcare. Contrary to earlier findings, there was some suggestive evidence that the experience of paid daycare might harm the cognitive development of children. The studies point to the importance of evolutionary perspective in developmental psychology and child development.

Is maternal autonomy associated with child nutritional status? Evidence from a cross-sectional study in India.

Despite India's steady economic growth over recent the period, the burden of childhood malnutrition persists, contributing to higher neonatal and infant mortality. There is limited evidence available to contextualise mothers' crucial role in childcare practices and health status in the Indian context. This study attempts to assess the association between maternal autonomy and the nutritional status of children under five. We used samples of 38,685 mother-child pairs from the fourth round of the National Family Health Survey (NFHS-4), conducted in 2015-16. We considered three widely used indicators of child nutrition as outcome variables: stunting, wasting, and underweight. Maternal autonomy (measured from three dimensions: household decision-making, freedom of physical movement, and access to economic resources/control over assets) was the key predictor variable, and various child demographics, maternal, and household characteristics were considered control variables. Stepwise binary logistic regression models were performed to examine the association. Of study participants, 38%, 21%, and 35% of children were stunted, wasted, and underweight, respectively. Our results (models 1 to 4) indicate that mothers with greater autonomy were significantly associated with lower odds of malnourished children. After controlling for all potential confounding variables (in model 5), maternal autonomy had a statistically insignificant association with children's stunting (Odds ratio [OR]: 0.93; 95% confidence interval [CI]: 0.87, 1.00) and wasting (OR: 0.92; 95% CI: 0.85, 1.00). However, a significant relationship (though marginally) was retained with underweight (OR: 0.94; 95% CI: 0.88, 0.99). In addition, socio-demographic characteristics such as child age, birth order, maternal education, maternal BMI, place of residence and household wealth quintile were found to be strong predictors of child nutritional status. Future policies should not only inform women's empowerment programmes but also emphasise effective interventions toward improving female educational attainment and nutritional status of women, as well as addressing socioeconomic inequalities in order to combat the persistent burden of childhood malnutrition in India.

Gender segregation in the causal effect of foreign direct investment on educational attainment: the Chinese experience

ABSTRACT We examine the causal effect of foreign direct investment (FDI) on educational attainment through the lens of gender segregation in China. Using a comprehensive dataset for the 1985–2014 period and controlling for endogeneity, we find that a more prominent FDI presence causes higher educational attainment, particularly for women. Moreover, we show that this gender-segregated causal effect remains robust to different estimators, measurements and specifications. Overall, we uncover an important social externality of FDI that has never been explored systematically in the literature; namely, FDI generates positive spillovers on female educational attainment in its host country.

The effect of gender equality on the carbon intensity of well-being: panel data analysis for the MENA economies 1995-2018

PurposeThis paper aims to explore the ecological efficiency through assessing the relation of the “carbon intensity of well-being” (CIWB) to gender equality, gross domestic product (GDP)/capita, the urban intensity of the population, the age structure of the population, foreign direct investment as a percentage of GDP and manufacturing as a percentage of GDP.Design/methodology/approachCIWB equation is estimated for a panel of 18 MENA economies and Turkey over the period 1995–2018 using the two-way fixed effects Prais–Winsten regression with panel-corrected standard errors.FindingsThe elasticity coefficients obtained from the estimated models indicated mixed effects on CIWB. While the increase of female educational attainment, accompanied with an increase in the female labor force participation rate, reduce CIWB, the younger female population and the younger population, in general, increase CIWB. Furthermore, while increasing FDI inflows reduces CIWB, increasing the manufacturing share of GDP increases CIWB.Originality/valueThe pursuit of Sustainable Development Goals worldwide has moved the relevant literature on climate change mitigation and adaptation measures to a new level, where using the CIWB method is increasingly used to reflect carbon dioxide emissions per capita unit of expected lifespan. The present paper’s contribution to the literature is two-fold: one is computing and estimating the CIWB to examine ecological efficiency for the middle east and north africa (MENA) economies and Turkey over the period of study; and two is integrating and validating the beneficial impacts of integrating the gender equality dimension in the CIWB–climate change literature.

Female Educational Attainment, Marriage, and Fertility: Evidence from the 1944 G.I. Bill

Female Educational Attainment, Marriage, and Fertility: Evidence from the 1944 G.I. Bill

The health of the nation in 2100 – The hope and despair

The health of the nation in 2100 – The hope and despair

Proximate and distal factors associated with the stall in the decline of adolescent pregnancy in Uganda

BackgroundAdolescent pregnancy in Uganda declined from 31% in 2000–01 to 25% in 2006 but thereafter stalled at 25% from 2006 to 2016. This paper investigates the factors associated with the recent stall in the rate of decline of adolescent pregnancy in Uganda.MethodsWe used logistic regression models for 4 years (2000–01, 2006, 2011 and 2016) of data from the Uganda Demographic Health Survey to explore proximate and distal factors of adolescent pregnancy in Uganda. We carried out Blinder-Oaxaca decomposition models to explore the contributions of different factors in explaining the observed decline in adolescent pregnancy between 2001 and 2006, and the subsequent stall between 2006 and 2016.ResultsWe found that marriage among women aged 15–19 years, and early sexual debut, were strongly associated with adolescent pregnancy. These declined substantially between 2000 and 01 and 2006, leading to a decline in adolescent pregnancy. Their decline was in turn associated with rising levels of female education and household wealth. After 2006, education levels and household wealth gains stalled, with associated stalls in the decline of marriage among women aged 15–19 years and sexual debut, and a stall in the decline of adolescent pregnancy.ConclusionsThe stall in the decline of adolescent pregnancies in Uganda was linked to a stall in the reduction of adolescent marriage, which in turn was associated with limited progress in female educational attainment between 2006 and 2016. We emphasize the need for a renewed focus on girl’s education and poverty reduction to reduce adolescent pregnancy in Uganda and subsequently improve health outcomes for adolescent girls.

Cultural Barriers to Education of the Girl Child and Its Implication to Educational Attainment of the Oroko Children in Secondary Schools in the Kumba Municipality

The purpose of this study was to investigate the cultural practices that pose a barrier to female educational attainment of the Oroko people. Looking at the cultural barrier to the education of the girl child and its implication on educational attainment, the researcher realized that culture has played a great part in the attainment of education of the girl child in the Oroko land. The population of this study was made up of three secondary schools in the Kumba municipality. The instrument for data collection was the questionnaire. Data was analyzed by the use of descriptive and inferential statictics. The results showed that cultural barriers such as early marriages and the preference of the boy child’s education over that of a girl child affect the girls’ educational attainment in the Oroko land. Based on the finding the researcher recommended that the government should open schools in all villages so as to encourage the girls to go to school, the few girls who are already in school should try and impress their parents so that can change their mentality and conception that they have concerning female education.

G.I. Jane Goes to College? Female Educational Attainment, Earnings, and the Servicemen’s Readjustment Act of 1944

The 1944 Servicemen’s Readjustment Act (the “G.I. Bill”) provided returning WWII veterans with educational benefits sufficient to cover tuition, fees, and living expenses at almost any U.S. university or college. While several studies examine subsequent educational attainment and earnings for male veterans, little is known about how the G.I. Bill affected the 330,000 American females who served in WWII. Using data from the 1980 5 percent Census Public-use Microdata Sample, I find that female WWII veteran status is associated with a 19 percentage point increase in the proportion who report any college attendance, a 7.8 percentage point increase in college completion, and earnings that are 19.8 percent greater relative to comparable females who are not veterans. Because service was entirely voluntary for females, I use service eligibility requirements, enlistment records, 1940 Census data, and the G.I. Bill’s retroactive nature to establish a causal relationship among veteran status, educational attainment via the G.I. Bill, and increased earnings. To help separate the effect of the G.I. Bill from the effect of military service itself, and because benefits increased with longer service, I instrument for female veterans’ educational attainment using age at the time of the G.I. Bill’s announcement. My instrumental variables estimates imply that female veterans’ earnings increase by $1,350 (11.6 percent) per year of G.I. Bill-induced education, explaining 73 percent of the overall difference between veteran and non-veteran females’ earnings in 1980.

The advantage of daughters in hypogamous families: parental heterogamy and educational outcomes among children of highly educated parents

ABSTRACT Increasing female educational attainment across OECD countries is making hypogamy a widespread phenomenon. This trend provides an opportunity to re-examine the effects of educational assortative mating on children's educational outcomes. This research explores the effects of hypergamy, homogamy, and hypogamy on gender differences in children's expectation of university graduation and actual college graduation. For the first purpose, logistic regression with country fixed-effects is applied to individual-level data from PISA 2015; a similar analysis is carried out for the second purpose with data from the European Social Survey. Three characteristics make us expect higher female advantage among children of hypogamous couples: higher probability of mothers being the main family breadwinner; higher probability of gender value conflict, eventually leading to family breakup and the father's absence; and the possibility that the father's occupation discourages sons from pursuing higher education. A systematic female advantage is indeed found among children of hypogamous couples in terms of expectation of college graduation and actual college graduation. Among the possible mechanisms behind this female advantage, only the father's and the mother's occupation could be explored with the data at hand, but none of them explain this advantage.