Exclusion, Gender and Education Case studies from the developing world A companion volume to Inexcusable Absence Maureen A. Lewis and Marlaine E. Lockheed, editors Center for Global Development Washington, D.C. Maureen A. Lewis is the acting chief economist for human development at the World Bank and a non-resident fellow at the Center for Global Development. She formerly managed a unit in the Bank dedicated to economic policy and human development research and programs in Eastern Europe and Central Asia. Marlaine E. Lockheed is a visiting fellow at the Center for Global Development and a lecturer in public and international affairs at Princeton University. She previously served as acting director for education at the World Bank, where she also oversaw education strategy and lending in the Middle East and North Africa. Copyright © 2007 Center for Global Development 1776 Massachusetts Avenue, N.W. Washington, D.C. 20036 www.cgdev.org All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means without permission from the Center for Global Development. Exclusion, Gender and Education: Case Studies from the Developing World may be ordered from the Center for Global Development. Contact: [email protected]. The views expressed in this publication are those of the authors. This publication is part of the overall program of the Center, as endorsed by its Board of Directors, but does not necessarily reflect the views of individual members of the Board or the Advisory Group. Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Lewis, Maureen. Inexcusable Absence: why 60 million girls still aren’t in school and what to do about it / Maureen Lewis and Marlaine Lockheed. p. cm. ISBN 1-933286-22-8 1. Sex discrimination in education. 2. Sex discrimination against women. 3. Girls—Education. I. Lockheed, Marlaine E. II. Title. LC212.8.L49 2006 371.822—dc22 2006031671 Printed in the United States of America Editing, cover design, and typesetting by Communications Development Incorporated, Washington, D.C. Cover photo: © 2002 Shehzad Noorani/World Bank Printed by United Book Press, Baltimore, Maryland The paper used in this publication meets the minimum requirements of the American National Standard for Information Sciences—Permanence of Paper for Printed Library Materials: ANSI Z39.48-1992. The Center for Global Development is an independent, nonprofit policy research organi- zation dedicated to reducing global poverty and inequality and to making globalization work for the poor. 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The Center is supported by an initial significant financial contribution from- Ed ward W. Scott Jr. and by funding from philanthropic foundations and other organizations. Board of Directors Edward W. Scott, Jr.* David Gergen Paul O’Neill Chairman and co- Thomas Gibian* Jennifer Oppenheimer founder Bruns Grayson* John T. Reid* Nancy Birdsall* Jose Angel Gurria Treviño William Ruckelshaus President and co-founder James A. Harmon Jacob Scherr C. Fred Bergsten* Enrique Iglesias Belinda Stronach Co-founder Carol Lancaster Lawrence Summers Bernard Aronson* Susan Levine* Adam Waldman* Jessica Einhorn Nora Lustig *Member of the Executive Committee Timothy Geithner M. Peter McPherson Advisory Group Dani Rodrik Kemal Dervis Deepa Narayan Chairman Esther Duflo Rohini Pande Masood Ahmed Peter Evans Kenneth Prewitt Abhijit Banerjee Kristin Forbes David Rothkopf Pranab Bardhan Carol Graham Federico Sturzenegger Jere Behrman J. Bryan Hehir Robert H. Wade Thomas Carothers Simon Johnson Kevin Watkins Anne Case Anne Krueger John Williamson David De Ferranti David Lipton Ngaire Woods Angus Deaton Mark Medish Ernesto Zedillo iii Contents Preface ix Acknowledgements xiii 1 Social exclusion: The emerging challenge in girls’ education Maureen A. Lewis and Marlaine E. Lockheed 1 Social exclusion and education 5 Evidence on exclusion and schooling in developing countries 9 Cross-country evidence on girls’ education and exclusion 16 Policy implications and areas for further research 23 References 25 Part I Ethnic and linguistic diversity and lower school enrollment 29 2 Girls in Lao PDR: Ethnic affiliation, poverty, and location Elizabeth M. King and Dominique van de Walle 31 Educational attainment and adult literacy: Uneven progress over time 32 Educational inequality among children now in school 38 Results of the model: Explaining school enrollment and attainment 54 Conclusions and policy implications 62 v vi Contents Annex to Chapter 2 64 References 69 3 Girls in Gansu, China: Expectations and aspirations for secondary schooling Emily Hannum and Jennifer Adams 71 Girls, boys, and educational access in China: historical context 72 Why do gender disparities exist? Social science theories 73 Does gender still matter for access to basic education? 77 Measuring gender disparities and their sources 77 Conclusions and implications 94 Annex to Chapter 3 96 References 96 4 Rural girls in Pakistan: Constraints of policy and culture Cynthia Lloyd, Cem Mete, and Monica Grant 99 Education in Pakistan 100 Girls’ disadvantage in enrollment: existing evidence and data 104 Are new schools in rural areas addressing the needs of the most disadvantaged girls? 107 What factors affect girls’ enrollment in rural Pakistan? 112 Conclusions and policy implications 116 References 117 5 Girls in India: Poverty, location, and social disparities Kin Bing Wu, Pete Goldschmidt, Christy Kim Boscardin, and Mehtabul Azam 119 Enrollment and achievement in primary school 120 Gender and social disparities in access to secondary education 129 What determines student achievement in secondary school? 132 Conclusions and policy implications 139 Annex to Chapter 5 140 References 141 6 Indigenous girls in Guatemala: Poverty and location Kelly Hallman and Sara Peracca, with Jennifer Catino and Marta Julia Ruiz 145 Data used 147 Who goes to school? The roles of ethnicity, gender, poverty, and location 149 Why don’t girls go to school? 165 Indigenous girls’ schooling experiences 171 Contents vii Policy implications for getting girls into school 172 References 174 Part II Less diversity and higher enrollment 177 7 Rural Bangladesh: Sound policies, evolving gender norms, and family strategies Sidney Ruth Schuler 179 Policy and program interventions in the education sector 185 Policies, programs, and opportunities for women in other sectors 187 Qualitative data sources 187 Evolving gender norms 188 Local perspectives on policy and program interventions 192 Family strategies regarding female education, employment, and marriage 194 Limits and precariousness of changes underway 199 Conclusions 200 References 201 8 Tunisia: Strong central policies for gender equity Marlaine E. Lockheed and Cem Mete 205 Education in Tunisia 209 The data 210 What accounts for gender equity at the early stages of basic education? 211 When and how do gender inequalities start to emerge? 220 Conclusions 224 Annex to Chapter 8 226 References 228 Index 231 Preface At the Center for Global Development we aim to stimulate new thinking on longstanding development problems, par- ticularly problems for which it is possible to imagine how a change in attitudes or practices in the rich world could improve lives in the poor world. The problem of children, especially girls, failing to attend school, is a classic one. No one disagrees that girls ought to go to school—for their own sake and because educating girls ensures a better future for their children and their societies. Many donors express a willingness to finance increased access to better schooling, especially for girls. There is universal support for the Mil- lennium Development Goal of universal primary education by 2015. And in fact, progress in expanding education in developing countries has been impressive in the last two de- cades and girls have benefited as enrollment rates, especially in primary schooling, have increased dramatically. But the limits of standard approaches to achieving near-universal education (building more schools, training more teachers, providing essential learning materials) are evident. More than 75 million children are not enrolled in school or are not attending school regularly; many who at- tend learn little and fail to complete primary school. One worrying example of that reality: in some countries primary school enrollment among girls who are members of exclud- ed groups—social minorities—is below 50 percent. One year ago we published a book by Maureen Lewis (a then senior fellow at the Center) and Marlaine Lockheed, ix x Preface Inexcusable Absence: Why 60 Million Girls Still Aren’t In School