State of Women's Education in Developing Countries, Idlustratingthe Extent of the Gender Gap in Education in Those Countries

I''"~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~I PHREE Background Paper Series Public Disclosure Authorized FLoECOPY| Document No. PHREE/91/40 Women's Education in Developing Countries Public Disclosure Authorized Barriers, Benefits and Policy" Elizabeth M. King and M. Anne Hill Public Disclosure Authorized Editors Education and EmploymentDivision Populationand Human Resources Department The World Bank Public Disclosure Authorized September 1991 Mhzpublication series senes as an outlet for background produictsfront the ongoir.g w-orkprogramn of policy .-esearch and analylsis of the Eduication and Employment Ditision in the Population and lluntan ResouircesDepartment of the World Bank. Tke lviewsexpressed are those of the author(s), and should not be attributed to the World Bank. Copyright, World Bank, 1991. This volume has been accepted for publication by the World Bank. It is forthcomingfrom the Johns Hopkins University Press. Preface Several noteworthy volum. s piblished in the 1980s have dealt with the topic of women's education in the Third World. These include the volumesby A.C. Smock, Women's Education in DevelopingCountries: Opportunities and Outcomes, New York: Praeger, 1981,and G.P. Kellyand C.M. Elliott (eds.) Women's Educationin the ThirdWorldt ComparativePerspectives, Albany. State University of New York Press, 1982, as well as regional studies by UNESCO. Smock reviewedlessons from existingliterature and presents selectivedata on five countries (namely, Mexico, Ghana, Kenya, Pakistan, and the Philippines) with the aim of identifyingthe f.actors affecting women's opportunities to participate in formal education and the effects of education on women's marriage, labor supply, and fertility behavior. Her work attempts to shed light and understanding on the complex relationships pertaining to this topic, and the conclusions drawn, though "tentative",provide a springboard for future studies. Kelly and Elliott assembled a collectionof previouslypublished papers on the participation of women in education, the factors affectingwomen's education in selected countries--somefocusing on specificfactors such as religion and textbooks, and some on aspects of women's education--and the influencesof female education on fertility and labor market outcomes. Together with Smock's volume, these papers reflect the knowledge and understanding about these topics at the beginning of the 1980s. How does our volume contribute to the literature? First, this collection of papers compiles more recent data on the status of women's education in the developing world, organized by region, and links these information to development indicators, including income per capita, mortality rates, life expectancy,and fertility decline. Second, it revisits questions pertaining to the factors that have sloweddown educational progress for women. It reviewsJhe findings of more recent social science research, with a focus on available quantitative studies, and identifies gaps in our knowledge. Descriptive and exploratorystudies often raise more questions than they answer partly because their analytical approach is usually limited. Many do not reveal the potential impact of specific policies or interventions on female participation and performance in school, and, hence, cannot guide clearly the practioner on the field. Future researmhin this area will have to consider methodologicalissues more seriously. Third, the volume examines the gains from women's education for family welfare and development. In addition to a review of the literature on the impact of women's education on child and maternal health, fertility,investments in education of their children, and on their own labor supply and earnings, the volume investigates some of these relationships using country-leveldata. The estimates reveal that how much education women receive is a significant factor determining economic growth and the qualityof life of their families,and that gender disparitiesin educatiou imply significant losses in national welfare. The gender gap in education is worthy of attention not only because of equity considerations but also because of its consequences for development. Lastly,the volume reviewspolicy reforms and interventionsby governments,donor agencies and non-governmental organizations (NGOs) aimed at improvingfemales' education in various parts of the world. The last chapter covers a broader set of specific program and project experiences than other studies have done previously. Acknowledgements This volume is a collectionof papers commissionedby the Educationand EmploymentDivision and the Women in Development"ivision of the Populationand Human ResourcesDepartment, World Bank, for a project aimed at examiningthe problemsof girls' and women's educationin the developingworld. The papers were first prepared for an inter-agencyconference at the World Bank in June 1989. The project was undertaken under the general directionof Ann 0. Hamilton. The volume benefits from the ideas and advise of many. Ann Duncan managedthe project togetherwith ElizabethKing and helped to conceptualizethe volume. Helen Abadzi, Ila Patel and Maigenet Shifferraw wrote back,jound papers for the project on nonformaleducation and the participationof women in it. We are also gralefuI to Jere Behrman, Rosemary Bellew, Birger Fredriksen, Ann Hamilton, Barbara Herz, Lynel Long, Chloe O'G2ra, and AdriaanVerspoor for their commentsand support at various stages of the study. Four anonymc reviewers gave us excellent suggestionsfor improving the volume. CharleneSemer and H%lenWhitney Watriss edited the first drafts of chapters 3 through 7. Marianna Ohe took over f-:m them; with pati-nce, good humor, and imagination,she further transformedeach chapter. Althea Skeete-Comedyprovided superb secretarialsupport throughoutthe preparationof the volume; her excellent textprocessing,organizational skills. and industrywere critical to its completion. We are heavily in her debt. We also thank Cynthia Cristobalwho patientlyand competentlytyped in the final revisions. Lastly, we thank the many others who contributedto the individualchapters; they are acknowledgedin each chapter. Table of Contents Page Chapter 1. Women's Education in the Third World: An Overview ....... I1 M. Anne Hill and Elizabeth M. King Chapter 2. Returns to Women's Education .43 T. Paul Schultz Chapter 3. Sub-Saharan Africa .79 Karin A.L. Hyde Chapter 4. Middle East and North Africa .111 Nagat El-Sanabary Chapter 5. Latin America .143 Ines Bustillo Chapter 6. South Asia .179 Shahrukh R. Khan Chapter 7. East Asia .209 Jandhyala B.G. Tilak Chapter 8. Educating Women: Lessons from the Past .251 Rosemary T. Bellew and Elizabeth M. King Overview 1 Chapter 1. Women's Education in the Third World: An Overview ALAnne Hl and Elizabeth Flmg* Improvingand widening accessto education has been a major goal of education policyin most Third World countries in the past two decades. This reflects the broad recognition that education contributes to development. Evidence is overwhelmingthat education improves health and productivity, and thait the poorest people benefit the most. However,this evidencealso indicates that when schoolsopen their doors wider to girls and women, the benefits multiply. While educating both men and women is essential to the process of development, failing to invest in women's education can even reduce the potential benefi.s that educating men can have on measures of social well-being. Indeed, failure to raise women's education to equality vith men's exacts a high development wst--in lost opportunities to raise productivityand income, and to improve the quality of life. Yet, female education is still much lower than for men in most developing countries, and many women and girls do not receive the type and level of education that will allow them to develop or to utilize their skills fully. This chapter is an overviewof the state of women's education in developing countries, iDlustratingthe extent of the gender gap in education in those countries. It examines the linkages between the level of development and welfare of these counmriesand women's education, using extensivedata for 152countries over the time period 1960through 198f. Evidence from many countries (described in detail in Chapter 2) points to the strong relationship betwee:; the education of girls and women and national development. While most analysishas focused on the leiel of women's education, the implications of the gender gap in education on development have not been fully explored. Our empirical research begins to assess the considerable effects that gender disparities iP educational attainment impart for economic ayr! social weil being. Given the negative consequences ol gender differentials in education, the chapter proceeds to consider the environment within which educational decisions are made. In low income countries, much of the cost of investingin education is borne privately,yet many benefits to education are public. And gender differentials in the extent .o which costs and benefits are public lead to underinvestment in women's education. This chapter concluLdeswith a description of the remaining chapters in this volume. State of Women's Education Several indicators illustrate important patterns and trends in women's education in developing countries. Each of these indicators leads to the same conclusions: the level of female e.'ucation is low in poor countries, with just a handful of exceptions;and by any measure, the gender gap is largest in poor countries. Adult literacy Rates Consider first

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