Gender Inequality In Education Research Articles

A qualitative content analysis exploring gender representation in language textbooks published by Jammu and Kashmir board of school education

This paper examines gender representation in Jammu and Kashmir Board of School Education (JKBOSE) language textbooks. These books were revised and developed as per the guidelines of National Curriculum Framework (NCF), 2005, which emphasizes on the elimination of gender inequality in education through the design and selection of learning tasks and pedagogic practices. The factors examined include the ratio of male-female appearances, titles of address for both sexes and the roles/activities assigned to males and females. To examine these factors, a method of qualitative content analysis was adopted. The study findings revealed that the revised textbooks lack relevance with the NCF (2005) guidelines and contribute towards the perpetuation of gender inequality. The bias in favor of males is still present in the core curriculum. Male's appearance dominates in written text and titles. Females are shown in their stereotypical gender roles and activities. This study shows concern towards the gender biased approach of curriculum designers and textbook writers; and recommends of producing gender fair educational material based on the guidelines of NCF (2005).

Gender quota, women in politics, and gender parity in education

AbstractDo women in politics contribute to gender parity in education? This study seeks to provide an empirical answer to this question by examining whether women in politics (women parliamentarians) contribute to closing the gender inequality in education using a global sample of 191 countries from 1990 to 2020. We deployed the two‐stage least square (IV‐TSLS) technique and gender quota as an instrument to isolate the exogenous effect of women in politics on gender parity in primary, secondary and tertiary education. The findings from the IV‐TSLS estimators show that an increase in the number of female parliamentarians is associated with a significant increase in gender parity at all levels of education. These results survived several robustness checks, including using different estimators such as the Lewbel two‐stage least squares and the Kinky least‐squares estimators. Based on the quota type, we documented that women in politics significantly spur gender parity in education in countries with reserved seat quotas and not in countries with candidate quotas. We also found that the results differ across different geographical regions and income groups. The findings call on policy‐makers to address societal, legal and structural barriers limiting women's political participation to achieve gender parity at all levels of education.

Gender Inequality: A Multi-Perspective Analysis

Gender equality is a fundamental human right that has long been denied, and despite progress in some areas, significant challenges still remain in achieving true gender equality. The research motivation of this paper mainly stems from the pursuit of the universal value of social justice and human rights. The aim of gender equality studies is to understand and address the problems caused by gender inequality and gender discrimination in society. In this paper, the author analyzes gender inequality from three perspectives, namely gender inequality in the workplace, education, and health care. It can be summarized that gender inequality at the workplace mainly refers to the situation that women are put at a disadvantage in their workplace, gender inequality in education mainly refers to the unfair treatment of girls in school, and gender inequality in health care mainly refers to the large differences in maternal mortality between low- and high-income countries.

Education and reproductive health: evidence from schooling expansion in Turkey.

We investigate the role of additional years of schooling mandated by a compulsory schooling expansion law in affecting reproductive preferences and safe reproductive health behaviors in Turkey-a middle-to-high-income country with gender inequity in education but overall high levels of safe reproductive health practices at the time of passing the law. Using a fuzzy regression discontinuity design, we find that the additional schooling improved several health behaviors. However, the effects on some outcomes commonly analyzed in the existing literature, such as contraceptive use or fertility, were either weak or insignificant. Overall, our findings complement the current literature on the marginal health benefits of schooling expansion and suggest that policymakers consider the institutional and cultural factors while evaluating the scope and potential non-educational benefits of such expansions.

Household Poverty and Gender Inequality in Education: A Case Study of District Layyah (Pakistan)

The study uses logistic regression on the primary data collected through the Layyah district field survey to investigate the relationship concerning gender inequality in education and poverty. This study found that gender differences in educational attainment negatively impacts household poverty. When the proportion of females enrolled in elementary, secondary, and postsecondary education increases, the likelihood of household poverty declines. The likelihood of a home being poor is further refuted by the intensification in the female-to-male literacy ratio. The likelihood of poverty is positively correlated with the size of the household and the number of children under five but negatively correlated with the qualifications of the household head, age of the household, specialized or methodical abilities of the household head, and possession of the home.

Interventions for gender equality in STEM education: A meta‐analysis

AbstractBackgroundAlthough gender inequality in education is gaining increasing attention, female underrepresentation remains pervasive in STEM fields. Many studies have applied various interventions to narrow the gender gap in STEM education.ObjectivesIn this study, we conducted a systematic meta‐analysis to examine the effectiveness of various interventions for gender equality in STEM education and tested the influence of moderator variables.MethodsTen databases—ERIC, IEEE, JSTOR, ProQuest‐Education, SAGE Journals, Scopus, Springer Link, Taylor & Francis, Web of Science, and Wiley Online Library—and seven high‐quality journals in related fields were selected as literature resources. The Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta‐analyses (PRISMA) process was used to identify eligible articles for the random‐effects meta‐analysis.Results and ConclusionsThe overall effect size (Hedges' g) was 0.434, indicating that the interventions promoting gender equality in STEM education had a near‐medium positive effect. There were significant differences by the type of intervention, but not by the type of intervention outcome. The results of the moderator analysis showed a significant difference in moderator variables, including country, educational level, form of experiment, intervention level, and different measurement methods, whereas there was no significant difference in the moderator variables, including economic development level and sample size.ImplicationsThis study examined the effectiveness of gender equality interventions and the impact on it of different types of intervention, intervention outcomes, and moderator variables. These results have implications for the design of gender equality interventions in STEM education.

Gender Inequality in Education and Science

The research in the paper is directed towards the study of gender equality in science and education, with a focus on science and research activities in Serbia. The aim of the research conducted is to identify certain anomalies indicating the presence of a gender gap in education and science and to compare the trend in the domain of gender inequality with the one detected in Europe. Descriptive statistics is used in the research. The data is collected from various sources and the relevant literature that explores the gender gap in education and science, primarily focusing on the publications of the Statistical Office of the Republic of Serbia (SORS). The research proved the presence of gender inequality in science and research activities in Serbia. In fact, the gender segregation that is present in the education system is also reflected in the field of science. The research also confirmed the existence of vertical segregation, manifested through women's extremely modest participation in management positions of institutes and faculties.

The Analysis of Gender Inequality in Education in Nigeria

In recent years, the awareness of gender equality has been gradually awakened in peoples minds. Nigeria is one of the strongest countries in Africa but still faces problems of poverty, gender discrimination, and social welfare. The paper focuses on analyzing the gender inequality in education in Nigeria, its causes, and suggesting some possible solutions. Analyzing gender inequality in education in Nigeria will provide insight into the impact of ideology and policy on education and provide a new perspective on how gender inequality in education can be improved. The study was conducted through analysis and review of previous literature and comparative data analysis of the entire educational environment in Nigeria, from elementary schools to universities and even the academic sector as a whole. This thesis finds that although gender inequality in education in Nigeria has improved in recent decades, it remains a severe problem, not primarily due to deficiencies in policymaking but rather to the entrenchment of ideas and internalization of behaviors.

Gender Gap in Access to Education in Kazakhstan

Gender inequality in education is a problem in both developed and developing countries. This social phenomenon has many negative consequences (income inequality, decline in human capital, reduction in economic growth, etc.). The purpose of this study is to identify the gender inequality in education through the analysis of gender gaps in access to education in Kazakhstan. The study was conducted within the concept of liberal feminism to assess the participation of women in education. Issues of gender inequality in education were studied through the gender parity index, with a focus on the analysis of the enrollment of women and men in education and their satisfaction with the availability of educational services. The main research methods were economic and statistical analysis and comparison. The source base for the study was statistical data from the Bureau of National Statistics of the Agency for Strategic Planning and Reforms of the Republic of Kazakhstan for the period from 2000 to 2022. The limitation of the study was the lack of data for a certain period or by level of education. The study revealed that in Kazakhstan there is a gender inequality in the field of postgraduate education, where the number of students is dominated by women. During the period under review, gender inequality decreased at the master’s level and increased at the doctoral level. At the same time, during the pandemic, gender inequality in education at the master’s level increased, while at the doctoral level it decreased. The main reason for the emergence of gender inequality in the field of postgraduate education is the low attractiveness of employment in the field of education and science on the part of men due to the low level of income in this area. The results obtained indicate the need to increase the prestige of teaching and research activities among the population, including by raising wages and providing decent social security for specialists in this field.

Research on the Educational Gender Inequality and Affirmative Action in China

Since the 1970s, driven by economic growth, a number of laws and regulations have been passed in China to guarantee women's right to equal access to education and advance gender equality in the field. Higher education attainment in China has dramatically increased during the last few decades. However, girls still cannot have the equal opportunity for education compare to the boys due to the traditional attitude of preference for sons and limited educational resources. The purpose of this paper is to discuss the reasons for educational inequality in China from historical and economic perspectives, and compare educational equality in different countries, as well as the affirmative action implemented in China so far. This paper emphasizes the impact of historical reasons and son preference on gender inequality in education by collecting and analyzing data. What is more, this paper also compares affirmative action between China and other countries in order to come up with a better solution to eliminate educational gender inequality. The results show that the educational gender gap in China differs significantly between urban and rural areas. Moreover, the legislation in China lacks specific punishment and supervisory agencies, which makes it difficult to protect womens rights.

A Missing Piece? Men and the Puzzle of Gender Mainstreaming in the European Union.

In its early uptake and sweeping application of gender mainstreaming, the European Union (EU) sits in the vanguard. However, bringing a gender perspective to bear on policy has proven a stubborn challenge. Drawing on Bacchi's "What's the Problem Represented to Be?" approach and her conceptualization of policies as gendering practices, I critically interrogate how men have been implicated in the problem of gender inequality via policy discourse in the EU. I focus on violence against women/gender-based violence and gender inequalities in education. Analysis of these two issues serves to highlight some of the interpretive limits to the problem of gender inequality in the EU and likely beyond. The discursive elusiveness of men works to keep much of the workings of gender power obscured. Such discounting of "the man question" signals a significant misstep that undercuts gender mainstreaming's transformative prospects.

Effects of public expenditure on education on gender inequality in education in sub‐Saharan Africa (SSA)

AbstractThe study examines the effect of public education expenditures on gender inequality in education in sub‐Saharan Africa. It covers 25 countries in sub‐Saharan Africa for the period 2010–2019. The generalised method of moments was used. The estimator developed by Blundell and Bond was chosen. The following results are found: (i) public expenditure on education has a positive effect on gender equality in education at the primary, secondary and tertiary levels; (ii) remittances have a negative effect on gender equality in education at the primary, secondary and tertiary levels; (iii) population growth has a negative effect on gender equality in education at the primary and tertiary levels, but at the secondary level, the effect is positive. The main political implication is that sub‐Saharan African countries must continue to invest in inclusive school to ensure gender equality, which remains a goal to be achieved in the region.

Educational Gender Inequality in China Rural Area

Gender Equality has always been a concern of researchers all over the world. Every country has made an endeavor to promote gender equality in various domains, one of which is Education. Even though compulsory education has shrunk gender inequality concerning education in rural China, many girls in underprivileged regions still decide to stop their studies after completing the required schooling because of financial problems or some family issues. This phenomenon highlights the difficulties and obstacles that women face when pursuing an education, which is brought on by a variety of circumstances, including societal and familial considerations. This essay examines the reasons behind gender discrimination and the barriers to education encountered by Chinese women living in disadvantaged regions while also proposing strategies for improvement. The results indicate that rural women's pursuit of higher education may be hindered by societal stereotypes, social and cultural effects like patriarchal ideology, and familial factors such as lack of educational resources and low educational levels of parents.

Does representation of women in parliament promote economic growth? Considering evidence from Europe and Central Asia

IntroductionThe relationship between gender equality and economic growth has attracted considerable attention in scholarly research. While existing literature has evaluated the significance of gender inequality in education and employment, the impact of gender disparity in public service on economic growth remains an under examined area of scholarly inquiry. The main aim of this study is to assess the effect of female empowerment in public service on economic growth in Europe and Central Asia (ECA). To the best of our knowledge, this is the first analysis of the relationship between female political empowerment and economic growth at a regional level.MethodsWe rely on several econometric techniques to obtain robust empirical results and resolve various problems encountered when using panel data. We start with the random and fixed effects model to obtain the baseline results. The fixed effects model generates unbiased estimates by reducing the impact of time omitted variables. The core empirical technique used in this study is the twostep system GMM estimator.ResultsThe empirical results suggest that female participation in parliament has a positive and significant effect on economic progress. In particular, a 10%-point increase in women's representation in parliament leads to a 0.74%-point increase in GDP growth.DiscussionThus, it is essential to further promote female empowerment programmes in developing countries and continue to adopt new measures aimed at increasing the participation of women in public service. Future studies could explore the relationship between female empowerment and economic growth at subnational levels and test whether female empowerment moderates the relationship between financial development, innovation, trade and economic growth.

Why Parents Sent their Daughters to School: A Qualitative Study of Girls’ Schooling in Kandahar Province, Afghanistan in 2018

Afghanistan's history suggests that women's rights are integrally connected to cultural norms and political power. Known as the worst place for women and having the highest level of gender inequality in education, Afghanistan and its people are often portrayed in the Western media as passive and backward individuals with sexist and uncivilized cultural values. This study examines the questions of women's access to education in post-2001 Afghanistan based on the narratives and accounts of schoolgirls and their parents in one of the most insecure provinces of Afghanistan. The study was conducted in the summer of 2018. It draws on 18 semi-structured, in-depth qualitative interviews with schoolgirls and their parents in Kandahar, a southern province of Afghanistan that was the battlefield for the Taliban and American forces for over twenty years. The findings suggest that pragmatic reasons such as security, poverty, and access were the most significant barriers to girls’ education, challenging the traditional assumptions that perceive Afghan cultural values as the only obstacle to girls’ education. I argue that contrary to the stereotypical depiction of Afghanistan and its culture, local actors and cultural values played a vital role in promoting girls’ education.

What are the Causes of Gender Inequality in Education in China?

Inequality in education occurs in many countries and regions, and it has not been addressed strongly and effectively. In China, education faces many challenges, particularly in relation to gender inequality. Firstly, the article analyses and summarises the current state of gender inequality, pointing out that women in China have significantly fewer years of education than men, and that the contrast between urban and rural areas of China is more pronounced. Secondly, the paper will also find that women have lower enrolment rates and less access to further education, both at the compulsory primary level and at the tertiary level. Thirdly, the article will try to explore three potential causes of this phenomenon in light of the existing inequalities in China. The potential causes of these inequalities are explored in depth from the influence of the Confucian culture's notion of male superiority over females found in historical and cultural contexts, from family factors such as parents' perceptions of educational investment and family composition structures that exert an unequal effect on girls' education, and from age and educational attainment biases against women found in traditional Chinese concepts of marriage, respectively. The issue of gender inequality in education needs to be given attention and the potential influencing factors need to be analysed, especially with regard to the unfair treatment of female education.

Son preference and education Inequalities in India: the role of gender-biased fertility strategies and preferential treatment of boys

We investigate the impact of son preference in India on gender inequalities in education. We distinguish the impact of preferential treatment of boys from the impact of gender-biased fertility strategies (gender-specific fertility stopping rules and sex-selective abortions). Results show strong impacts of gender-biased fertility strategies on education inequalities between girls and boys. Preferential treatment of boys also matters but appears to have a more limited impact for most outcomes. Further, our results suggest that gender-biased fertility strategies create gender inequalities in education both because girls and boys end up in systematically different families and because of gender inequalities in pecuniary investment within families. Since gender inequalities in education in India are partially the result of gender-biased fertility strategies, they are not likely to disappear until the strong desire to have a son does so.

Leadership and education of women entrepreneurs: A Qualitative Research in Chinese Agricultural service industry

With the development of globalization, more and more women entrepreneurs are standing out in the Chinese agricultural service industry. Their leadership is related firmly to their leadership. This paper provides the evaluation of influence of gender inequalities in education on women entrepreneurship leadership in selected Chinese women entrepreneurs in agriculture empirically. Six women entrepreneurs with different educational backgrounds from the Chinese agricultural service industry were investigated separately. The findings of this study show three main important facts. First, six women entrepreneurs have attended advanced education after working. These advanced courses have provided great help to their entrepreneurship. Second, six women entrepreneurs practice unique female leadership when they manage the company. Third, three of them had difficulties in early education at an early age because of family factors. Two of them feel that when they make a choice, their individual choice and needs must be in the second place to their family duties. One of them dropped out of primary school because her family is poor, and the chance of study was provided to her brothers. From a very young age, girls are treated with an unequal share of study opportunities between boys and girls, they are being reported to keep their balance between education and family domestic work within suburban China. Overall, the findings suggest that the higher education women entrepreneurs get, the stronger leadership they have.

The attainment of gender education equality: A preliminary assessment of country performance in sub-Saharan Africa

The research literature on girls’ education in low and middle income countries focuses almost exclusively on ‘what works?’ which is confined mainly to relatively small scale experimental interventions, particularly randomised control trials This evidence is important but it provides few insights about the overall (especially more recent) progress made by individual countries and the overall effectiveness of the national strategies and specific policies in promoting girls’ education. This article is an initial attempt to redress this research imbalance. It has three principal objectives. Firstly, it outlines a broad conceptual framework which provides the basis for a holistic analysis of country-level performance in improving girls’ education. Secondly, it presents an initial, tentative assessment of country performance in improving girls’ education across sub-Saharan Africa. And thirdly, it explores some of the potentially key national characteristics and policy interventions which may help to explain the considerable variability in country performance during the last two decades in redressing gender inequalities in education in this region.

Perpetuation of gender discrimination in Pakistani society: results from a scoping review and qualitative study conducted in three provinces of Pakistan

BackgroundGender discrimination is any unequal treatment of a person based on their sex. Women and girls are most likely to experience the negative impact of gender discrimination. The aim of this study is to assess the factors that influence gender discrimination in Pakistan, and its impact on women’s life.MethodsA mixed method approach was used in the study in which a systematic review was done in phase one to explore the themes on gender discrimination, and qualitative interviews were conducted in phase two to explore the perception of people regarding gender discrimination. The qualitative interviews (in-depth interviews and focus group discussions) were conducted from married men and women, adolescent boys and girls, Healthcare Professionals (HCPs), Lady Health Visitors (LHVs) and Community Midwives (CMWs). The qualitative interviews were analyzed both manually and electronically through QSR NVivo 10. The triangulation of data from the systematic review and qualitative interviews were done to explore the gender discrimination related issues in Pakistan.ResultsThe six major themes have emerged from the systematic review and qualitative interviews. It includes (1) Status of a woman in the society (2) Gender inequality in health (3) Gender inequality in education (4) Gender inequality in employment (5) Gender biased social norms and cultural practices and (6) Micro and macro level recommendations. In addition, a woman is often viewed as a sexual object and dependent being who lacks self identity unless being married. Furthermore, women are restricted to household and child rearing responsibilities and are often neglected and forced to suppress self-expression. Likewise, men are viewed as dominant figures in lives of women who usually makes all family decisions. They are considered as financial providers and source of protection. Moreover, women face gender discrimination in many aspects of life including education and access to health care.ConclusionGender discrimination is deeply rooted in the Pakistani society. To prevent gender discrimination, the entire society, especially women should be educated and gendered sensitized to improve the status of women in Pakistan.