Gender Gap in School Completion Rates: Evidence from Rural India
41 Pages Posted: 24 Jul 2006
Date Written: July 2005
Abstract
Using the Uttar Pradesh-Bihar Living-Standard Measurement Survey (1997) this paper examines the factors that have created a wedge in the grade completion levels of the male and the female children. Our study reveals that in the context of educational outcomes, the birth order of the child as measured by the presence of older siblings is not as important as the age of the child itself. The sex bias is more severe for older children. The household religion and caste continue to exert a strong influence on the demand for schooling even after controlling for income and the education of the parents. The schooling of the parents affects the male and female samples differently in the two states: the number of grades completed by the male child is not always sensitive to maternal education whereas mother's education always matters for the female sample. Our decomposition results suggest that an improvement in the mean characteristic levels of the female sample particularly household atmosphere and development of the village can act as key factors in reducing the gender gap in grade attainment.
Keywords: Gender difference, Grade attainment, India
JEL Classification: I22, O15
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