An Economic Analysis of the Gender Gap in Household Demand for Education: Evidence from India

Abstract

Education plays a crucial role in building tomorrow’s human capital, and thus, it is an essential tool for economic growth and development. Following the second Millennium Development Goal’s (MDG) (2000) call for achieving universal school education by 2015, extensive government initiatives with special emphasis on girls were undertaken in India. Access to education has shown tremendous progress and became successful in bringing almost all potential pupils to primary (standard I-V) school. However, starting from the elementary (standard VI-VIII) level onwards, the gender gap in enrollment persists and widens with the level of education in India. This paper quantifies the gender difference in enrollment decisions for children and provides a theoretical structure to the underlying demand-side factors that influence parents in keeping girls out of the post-primary education system compared to boys. The analysis uses the 2nd round dataset of the India Human Development Survey (IHDS), published in 2012 and finds a significant gender gap in enrollment. A girl child is on average, 3.6% less likely to continue schooling compared to a boy, ceteris paribus. The enrollment probability of girls worsens with higher birth order; an eldest sister has a significantly lower probability (5.2%) of continuing school education compared to an eldest brother, keeping other things same. Further, it also finds that beyond the age of 14 when children are no longer entitled to get free compulsory education under Right to Education (RTE), girls’ enrollment probability declines. For example, a girl above the age of 14 is 7.8% less likely to continue schooling, and if she is an eldest sister among siblings, her probability of discontinuing schooling is11% compared to that of boys in similar conditions. Labor market variables especially returns on education and variability in wages, play crucial and significant roles in the schooling decision of children. Parents’ reciprocity expectation is also found responsible for lower enrollment of girls compared to boys.