2014050813053012-gender gap in education (developing countries)

Gender Gap in Education in the Developing Countries

Lecture Note Prepared byDr M Sultana AlamDept of Social Studies and CitizenshipFaculty of Human ScienceSultana Idris University of Education

Gender gap in education in the developing countries: An overview

The gender discrimination and inequality are huge in the developing countries. In most developing countries, girls lag markedly behind boys in education. Governments in these countries should favor girls when investing in education because social returns, in terms of child health and fertility, are higher from girls than from boys education. (MOHAMMAD. N, A., & NAZMUL, C., 2009; Journal of Development Studies)

Gender gap in education in the developing countries: An overview

Currently, there are significant gender disparities in education that remain in several regions of the developing world (World Bank, 2001)The Millennium Development Goals emphasize reducing schooling gender gaps that disadvantage girls gender gaps in schooling discriminating against females in developing countries generally are large, though probably declining.

Gender gap in education in the developing countries

IndiaPakistanMalaysiaBangladesh

Women Education in India

India has one of the lowest female literacy rates in Asia, although the Indian government has expressed a strong commitment towards education for all. Therefore, in India the overall literacy level is increasing. Despite the improvements in literacy, there continues to be a large gap between the literacy levels of men and of women.

Factors behind low level of female literacy in India)There are several reasons for the low levels of literacy in India. In India, gender discrimination is currently prominent and a major issue. India has a rich religious and cultural heritage, extending about 5,000 years into the past. The population of India is multi-racial and multi-religious.

Factors behind gender gap in education in India (Cont..)Poverty : Poverty one of the reason that limit womens education opportunity in developing countries. Although school attendance is free, the costs of books, uniforms, and transportation to school can be too much for poor families. Poor families are also more likely to keep girls at home to care for younger siblings or to work in family enterprises. If a family has to choose between educating a son or a daughter because of financial restrictions, typically the son will be chosen. This is one kind of socio-cultural practice.

Factors behind low level of female literacy in India (Cont..) Lack of female teachers: Lack of female teachers is another potential barrier to girls education. Girls are more likely to attend school and have higher academic achievement if they have female teachers. This is particularly true in highly gender-segregated societies such as India .

Gender gap in education in Pakistan Pakistan is an international outlier in terms of gender gaps in education.The gender gap in various educational indicators has remained at very high levels in Pakistan in more recent times. This raises the question of why girls educational outcomes are so inferior to boys.One possible explanation would seem to be that girls receive less attention and educational expenditure than boys in the within-household allocation of resources.

Gender gap in Education in Pakistan (Cont..)In terms of educational attainment, Pakistan ranks at 129, with a 40 per cent female literacy rate. One of the possible reasons for this could be that 16 per cent of the women get married between the ages of 15-19 years. The literacy rate for urban women is more than five times the rate for rural women. The school dropout rate among girls is very high (almost 50 percent), the educational achievements of female students are higher as compared with male students at different levels of education.In Pakistan, though presently girls enrollment rates have risen over time and gender gaps have narrowed. But in rural girls are still in lag behind than men in education.

Gender gap in Education in Pakistan (Cont..)The social-cultural context of Pakistani society is predominantly patriarchal.Women have a low percentage of participation in society outside of the family. In Pakistan, the role of culture in educating females is of vital importance. The socio cultural norms of the rural society of Pakistan keep the girls away from school.

Gender gap in education in Malaysia

In the area of education, there are written laws which categorically forbid discrimination against women and men with regard to education.All Malaysian have equal right to education under the Constitution of Malaysia. This implies that there is no discrimination against women and men in education. Women in Malaysia have made significant progress in education.

Gender gap in education in Malaysia (Cont..)While womens enrollment at all levels of education is comparable to men, their participation in vocational and technical education is limited.Labour Department by gender (2006-2010) showed that the greater amount of the percentage of women are competitive enough to participate in the labor workforce.Women are generally enrolled in areas of traditional female employment like sewing and cosmetology.

Gender gap in Education in BangladeshThe World Economic Forum Report on Global Gender Gap (2012) ranked Bangladesh 86th according to its gender gap index. Gender gap in Bangladesh is lower than in both neighboring India and Pakistan although GDP per capita in these countries are higher than Bangladesh.In Bangladesh, at national level women lag behind men in terms of literacy. Although noteworthy achievements have been made in female enrollment at the primary/secondary level, progress has been very slow in tertiary level education.

Gender gap in Education in Bangladesh (Cont..)

Socio cultural Norms: By custom a patriarchal social system exists in Bangladesh. The traditional patriarchal society of Bangladesh is based on class and gender divisions. Education for girls is often considered irrelevant. Most parents would only let their daughters learn the teaching and reciting the Quran.


Religion: Some of the peoples agreed that the religion could be easily being misinterpreted. Therefore, female participation in education is hinder as they are supposed not to be seen in public places or to mix up with their opposite sex.


Household Poverty: Household poverty and poor financing education is another important factor that hinders the female participation in education in this country. The parents may withdraw them once the demands for fees become impossible to meet.


Availability of water, hygiene and sanitation services: This factor is happened in Bangladesh which may a problem to female participation in schools. The schools are unable to provide adequate water, sanitation facilities and hygiene behavior for a variety of reasons related to health issue. Thus, it caused of infections and illness which some of the cases have caused death among school children. Further to this, especially female children are refused to attend school.

Gender gap in Education in Bangladesh (Cont..)Pregnancy: Pregnancy was also an issue raised that prevented schoolgirls from completing their education. Therefore, most of the schools are not welcoming those pregnant women to participate in education as they may interrupt the education process and .the teachers may need to do extra class for them.

Socio-cultural norms on Gender Gap in Education in the developing countries (Cont)Son PreferenceDaughters considered as the non-permanent family member.Sons are able to support parents in old ageTraditional dutiesEarly MarriageDowry Purdah

Son-Preference

Son preference is well-known to India Bangladesh, Pakistan and Malaysia . Due to socio-cultural practice, the social system has given high value to sons as potential providers and perpetrators of family names. It I is also commonly believed sons will provide all supports to parents in their old age. On the other hand, daughter will marry and move another family.

Priority on Sons education

Early Marriage Early marriage is a common practice in rural areas of developing countries . It is also one of reason for gender gap in education. Daughters are often married of at a very young age . A woman, on an average, is married before reaching the age of 20 years . Most of the parents do believe in early marriage due to daughters safety.

Daughter as the non-permanent family memberNon-permanent family member: In many families, daughters are considered as the non-permanent family member. Because after married women will move another family . They will eventually live with their husbands families, and the parents will not benefit directly from their education.

Support in old ageSupport in old age: Many parents view educating sons as an investment because the sons will be responsible for caring for aging parents. On the other hand, parents may see the education of daughters a waste of money. Because after marriage they will move another family. This negative parental attitudes toward educating daughters is a barrier to a girls education .

Traditional Duties

Traditional duties : An important reason for gender bias in education is womens traditional role in societies. In developing countries, womens duty are vowed to carry out mainly domestic work. For these tasks do not need particular knowledge and families perceive girls education as a waste of time.

Dowry as the social cultural practiceDowry: In developing countries, parents invest the same amount of money in sons and daughters. But girls receive less education because the money is used to endow them with a dowry, On the other hand, parents educate boys in order to assure them of higher incomes and better wives (with higher dowry).

Dowry as the social cultural practice (Cont..)

Daughters with higher levels of education will likely have higher dowry expenses as they will want a comparably educated husband. However, education sometimes lowers the dowry for a girl because it is viewed as an asset by the husbands family.

Purdah Practice (veil) Another socio-cultural and religious practice Purdah that influence on gender gap in education in many developing and Muslim countries. Many research show that the poor educational achievement of the girls may be attributed to the prevailing Purdah system in many countries.

Purdah Practice( Cont)

In many countries, due to Purdah related norms women's mobility is limited. In rural areas due of Purdah practice womens movement is limited within the confines of the homestead. These limit womens education opportunity

Influence of Socio-cultural norms on Gender gap in education in BangladeshIn-depth interview with Lima Khatun,

My mother wants that I continue my study at the tertiary level but she was more interested to send to my brother to school. Of course, it was difficult for her to bear our educational expense. But she tried all means for my brother education after allhe is a son and he is able to contribute to the family income. (In-depth interview with Lima Khatun)

Influence of Socio-cultural norms on Gender gap in education in Bangladesh

Interview with Sariafah Begum

For our daughters, we stop education as soon as they grow up. We think only primary education is enough for them. We want to see them as a good wife and a mother, so primary education is enough for them. But our son should be higher educated because they will contribute to our family income in future.