Publication Type

Working Paper

Version

publishedVersion

Publication Date

4-2019

Abstract

A target in the Millennium Development Goals—gender parity in all levels of education—is widely considered to have been attained. However, measuring gender parity only through school enrollment is misleading, as girls may lag behind boys in other educational measures. We investigate this with four rounds of surveys from Bangladesh by decomposing households’ education decisions into enrollment, education expenditure, and share of the education expenditure allocated for the quality of education like private tutoring. We find a strong profemale bias in school enrollment but promale bias in the other two decisions. This contradirectional gender bias is unique to Bangladesh and partly explained by the presence of conditional cash transfer programs. Although these programs promoted girls’ enrollment in secondary schools, they were largely ineffective in narrowing the gender gaps in academic performance and intrahousehold allocation of education resources. Gender parity in education cannot be truly achieved without addressing these gaps.

Keywords

Female Stipend Programs, Education, Conditional cash transfer, Private tutoring, Bangladesh

Discipline

Asian Studies | Behavioral Economics | Educational Sociology | Growth and Development

Research Areas

Applied Microeconomics

Volume

09-2019

First Page

1

Last Page

70

Publisher

SMU Economics and Statistics Working Paper Series, No. 09-2019

City or Country

Singapore

Copyright Owner and License

Authors

Download

Share

COinS