Closing the education gender gap inLatin America and the Caribbean: Success factors and challenges

Claudia PirasInter-American Development Bank

Gender and Diversity UnitOctober 3, 2007

The Schooling Gap Has Reversed in LAC

• Contrary to the situation of Africa, Asia and the Middle East, gender-parity in education, and thus the corresponding MDG, have been achieved in LAC.

• Furthermore, in most of the countries of the region there is a reverse gender gap in education. Women are nowadays achieving higher average years of schooling than their male counterparts (with some important exceptions).

The Schooling Gap Has Reversed in LAC

• These surprising outcomes seem to contradict the standard assumption that parents favor investing in boys’ education.

• Without doubt the advances made in the education of women configure one of the biggest success stories of the region. However, little is know about this important and unprecedented accomplishment in the developing world.

• Most of the studies that have looked at a variety of educational outcomes in LAC have not gone beyond addressing the inexistence of a gender gap.

Our Research Questions

The paper’s aim is to provide answers to the following questions: – When did the gender gap in schooling closed in LAC? – Was it a uniform process across the region or some countries

closed the gender gap earlier than others? – Is the reversal of the gender gap that we observe in LAC

uniformly distributed by education levels or is it mostly explained by changes among the more educated?

– Are the countries that did not close the gender gap in schooling yet on their way to close it? Are there current gender differences in attendance and attainment among 6-18 years old by income quintile? And by ethnic characteristics?

The Data

• 17 National Household Surveys between 2001-2004.• Processed and harmonized by the Research

Department of the Inter-American Development Bank.• Pooling the data sets and using the expansion factors.• The data represents approximately 90% of the Latin

American population

Gender Differences in Adult School Attainment

Ave

rage

ye

ars

of s

choo

ling

Latin American and the Caribbean CountriesAverage years of schooling by birth cohort and gender

(3 year moving average)

4.0

5.0

6.0

7.0

8.0

9.0

10.019

40

1942

1944

1946

1948

1950

1952

1954

1956

1958

1960

1962

1964

1966

1968

1970

1972

1974

1976

1978

1980

Birth cohortFemale Male

Gender Gap in Average Years of Schooling

• Females born between 1940 and 1942 attained, on average, 5 years of schooling while their male counterparts attained 5.8.

• For those born between 1979 and 1981 (that is, those who were between 21 and 24 years old at the time of the surveys), the average schooling attainment for females was 9.6 years while for males was 9.3.

• During this period of four decades, females’ schooling attainment increased by approximately 4.6 years while males’ attainment increased by 3.5.

Latin American and the Caribbean CountriesGender Gap in the average years of schooling by birth cohort

(3 year moving average)

-1.2

-1.0

-0.8

-0.6

-0.4

-0.2

0.0

0.2

0.4

0.619

40

1942

1944

1946

1948

1950

1952

1954

1956

1958

1960

1962

1964

1966

1968

1970

1972

1974

1976

1978

1980

Birth cohort

Gap

in a

vera

ge

yea

rs o

f sch

oolin

g

(Fe

ma

le-M

ale

)

The Evolution of the Gender Schooling Gap

• It moved from approximately one year in favor of males for the birth cohort 1940-1942 to almost one-quarter of a schooling year in favor of females for the birth cohort 1979-1981.

• On average for the four decades of birth cohorts that our data sets are covering, the gender gap has been reducing at a rate of approximately 0.27 years of schooling per decade.

• The figure also suggests that the gender parity was achieved for those born around 1967.

• …there are interesting cross-country differences

Approximate Birth Cohorts for Which Gender Parity in Schooling was Achieved

BoliviaGuatemalaMéxicoPerú

19

50

19

55

19

60

19

65

19

70

19

75

19

80

19

85

19

90

19

95

20

00

Brasil (’50)Jamaica (’50)Uruguay (’50)Argentina (‘51)Panamá (’52)Colombia (’53)

Venezuela (’55)Costa Rica (’57)

Chile (’65)Honduras (’66)Nicaragua (’67)

El Salvador (’72)Paraguay (’72)

Latin American and the Caribbean Countries Gender Gap in the average years of education, birth cohorts 1940-1980

Panamá

Perú

JamaicaHondurasCosta Rica

Paraguay

Mexico

Chile

Brazil

Uruguay

Nicaragua Argentina

Bolivia

Colombia

Guatemala

Venezuela

El Salvador

-1.0

-0.5

0.0

0.5

1.0

1.5

-2.5 -2.0 -1.5 -1.0 -0.5 0.0 0.5 1.0

Gap in average years of educationBirth cohort 1940

Gap

in a

vera

ge y

ears

of e

duca

tion

Birt

h co

hort

198

0

Decomposition of the Evolution of the Schooling Gap

• Four components: – Those who achieved no education and primary

incomplete (L1), – Those with primary complete and secondary

incomplete (L2),– Those with secondary complete and college

incomplete (L3), and– Those that completed college or more (L4).

• To what extent each of these components explain the changes in the gender schooling gap (E[SF]-E[SM]?

Latin American and the Caribbean Countries Decomposition of the educational gender gap by educational level

-0.01-0.03

-0.39-0.05

0.51

-0.17

0.16

-0.56

-1.0

-0.5

0.0

0.5

1.0

1.5

1940 1980Birth cohort

Gap

in y

ears

of s

choo

ling

(Fem

ale-

Mal

e)

No Education Primary comp.and Secondary incomp.Secondary comp. and college incomplete College degree or more

Latin American and the Caribbean CountriesDecomposition of the change in the educational gender gap

-0.34

0.72

0.02

0.68

-1.0

-0.5

0.0

0.5

1.0

1.5

1980/1940

Gap

in y

ears

of s

choo

ling

(Fem

ale-

Mal

e)

No Education Primary comp.and Secondary incomp.Secondary comp. and college incomplete College degree or more

Decomposition of the 1940-1980 Changes

• Most of the changes in the gender gap are explained by those that happened among the most educated (the two highest educational groups).

• For the groups with primary complete and secondary incomplete the changes were such that, in this segment, the boys achieve more schooling than the girls.

• …cross-country heterogeneity

Decomposition of the changes in the educational gender gap by educational level. Birth cohorts 1980-1940 Latin American and the Caribbean Countries

-1.0

-0.5

0.0

0.5

1.0

1.5

2.0

2.5

3.0

Arg

entin

a

Bol

ivia

Bra

sil

Chi

le

Col

ombi

a

Cos

ta R

ica

Gua

tem

ala

Hon

dura

s

Jam

aica

Mex

ico

Nic

arag

ua

Pan

ama

Per

u

Par

agua

y

El S

alva

dor

Uru

guay

Ven

ezue

la

Gap

in y

ears

of e

duca

tion

(Fem

ale-

Mal

e)

No Education Primary comp.and Secondary incomp.

Secondary comp. and college incomplete College degree or more

Different Patterns for the Decomposition of the Changes

• For most of the countries the components of the third and fourth level are the two most important elements of the decomposition.

• For Bolivia and Peru the component of the second level (primary complete and secondary incomplete) is noticeable and positive.

• For Bolivia, Honduras, México and El Salvador the component of the first level (no education and primary incomplete) contributes to an important extent to the explanation of the changes in the gap favoring females.

Summary (Attainment)

• We found that the gender schooling gap has changed at a fast pace during the last four decades. For the oldest cohort in our data the gender gap in schooling attainment was almost 0.8 years favoring males. For the youngest cohort the gap changed to a state in favor of females by almost one-fourth of a schooling year.

• During this period the gender gap in attainment changed at a pace of 0.27 years of schooling per decade, favoring females.

• Most of the changes are explained by changes in the upper end of the distribution of schooling.

• Most of the changes are also explained by the completion of schooling levels (as opposed to more years of schooling within each level).

• There are four countries that did not close the gender gap in schooling yet. Nevertheless, three of them are on their way to achieve it:– Bolivia (cohort of 2011)– Guatemala– Mexico (cohort of 1999)– Peru (cohort of 1984)

• Interestingly, these are countries with important ethnic diversity.

Summary (Attainment)

Gender Differences in School Attendance and Attainment of

6-18 years old

By income quintileBy ethnic characteristics

Bolivia, Guatemala, Mexico and Peru

School Attendance by Gender and Per Capita Household Income Quintile

0.0

0.1

0.2

0.3

0.4

0.5

0.6

0.7

0.8

0.9

1.0

6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18

Age

Sh

are

Atte

ndi

ng S

choo

l

Male, lowest quintile

Female, lowest quintile

Male, middle quintile

Female, middle quintile

Male, highest quintile

Female, highest quintile

Bolivia, Guatemala, Mexico and Peru

Mean School Attainment by Gender and Per Capita Household Income Quintile

0.0

1.0

2.0

3.0

4.0

5.0

6.0

7.0

8.0

9.0

10.0

11.0

12.0

6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18Age

Me

an

Ye

ars

of

Co

mp

lete

d S

cho

olin

g

Male, lowest quintileFemale, lowest quintile

Male, middle quintile

Female, middle quintile

Male, highest quintile

Female, highest quintile

Gender Differences in Attendance and Attainment (by income quintile)

• The estimates for attendance rates for children ages 8-11 in the region are above 95% leaving little room for variation across gender or income group. However there is a slight difference in attendance by income quintiles at young ages. At age 7 there is a 5 percentage point gap in attendance across the lowest and highest income quintiles.

• At older ages there is a slight tendency for boys from the lowest income quintile to have higher attendance rates than girls from the same income group. The opposite happens at the highest income quintile.

• There are some gender differences in attainment at the lowest income quintile (approximately 0.5 years of schooling in favor of boys).

Peru 2003School Attendance by Gender and Ethnicity

0.0

0.1

0.2

0.3

0.4

0.5

0.6

0.7

0.8

0.9

1.0

6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20

Age

Sch

ool A

ttend

ance

Male, non-indigenous Female, non-indigenousMale, Indigenous Female, Indigenous

Bolivia 2002School Attendance by Gender and Ethnicity

0.0

0.1

0.2

0.3

0.4

0.5

0.6

0.7

0.8

0.9

1.0

6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20

Age

Sch

ool A

ttend

ance

Male, non-indigenous Female, non-indigenousMale, Indigenous Female, Indigenous

Guatemala 2002School Attendance by Gender and Ethnicity

0.0

0.1

0.2

0.3

0.4

0.5

0.6

0.7

0.8

0.9

1.0

6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20

Age

Sch

ool A

ttend

ance

Male, non-indigenous Female, non-indigenousMale, Indigenous Female, Indigenous

Bolivia 2002Mean School Attainment by Gender and Ethnicity

0.0

2.0

4.0

6.0

8.0

10.0

12.0

6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20

Age

Mea

n Y

ears

of C

ompl

eted

Sch

oolin

g

Male, non-indigenous Female, non-indigenousMale, Indigenous Female, Indigenous

Guatemala 2002Mean School Attainment by Gender and Ethnicity

0.0

2.0

4.0

6.0

8.0

10.0

12.0

6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20

Age

Mean Y

ears

of C

om

ple

ted S

choolin

g

Male, non-indigenous Female, non-indigenousMale, Indigenous Female, Indigenous

Peru 2003School Attainment by Gender and Ethnicity

0.0

2.0

4.0

6.0

8.0

10.0

12.0

6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20

Age

Mean Y

ears

of C

om

ple

ted S

choolin

g

Male, non-indigenous Female, non-indigenousMale, Indigenous Female, Indigenous

Gender Differences in Attendance (By Ethnicity)

• Attendance rates for Peru are above 90% from age 6 to 13 for all groups. However starting at age 16 indigenous males and females attend school at much lower rates than their non-indigenous peers.

• The situation is less optimistic in Bolivia and Guatemala, where the indigenous display clear lags in school attendance both at early ages as well as in later teen years.

• Although boys and girls have similar profiles from ages 7-13, attendance rates for indigenous girls start to depart at age 9.

Gender Differences in Attainment (By Ethnicity)

• Profiles of school attainment in Bolivia and Guatemala are similar to the patterns observed in Peru.

• While non-indigenous females have similar years of schooling attainment to their male peers, indigenous teenager girls lag behind their male indigenous peers by approximately 2 full years of schooling.

• The gender differences are largest after ages 15-17. • Although there are some common features in the

patterns of schooling attainment by gender and ethnicity among the three countries there is a striking difference in the levels of attainment.

Success factors that contributed to closing the gender gap

Policy of Free and Universal EducationCo-ed schoolsGirls scholarshipsEducation legislation on gender equality

Education Policy

Adult literacy campaignsChild care and pre-school programsWomen in the teaching professionTeenage pregnancy

Anti-poverty programsLabor market opportunities for womenGovernment participation in international campaigns and treaties on gender equality

Social/EconomicPolicy

Remaining challenges

• The statistics presented in our paper portray a success story with respect to the educational attainment of girls in most of LAC.

• However, in some countries rural girls, particularly from indigenous groups, have higher probability of drop-out and not reaching secondary education than rural boys.

• Gender parity is not the same as gender equality. At the same time as schools empower young people with knowledge and skills, they also reflect and reinforce societal norms, including norms about gender roles.

• Gender discrimination and gender stereotyping are still present in textbooks and educational materials, in classroom dynamics, in teacher attitudes and expectations, and in vocational orientation.

Conclusions

There are parallel truths about gender and education in LAC:1. The gender divide in education in LAC for the most part

requires interventions to attract boys and young men. Regional leaders are starting to pay attention to the problem.

2. There are pockets where girls are still being denied their right to an education, particularly within indigenous populations and in rural areas.

3. The reproduction of gender inequality is related to the social construction of expectations, where the school plays a key function. The role of the education system as a catalyst of change in gender relations requires further attention. Despite progress, it continues to project gender stereotypes that limit the capacities and future opportunities of girls and boys.

Thanks