Gender Gap in Education in the

Developing Countries
Lecture Note
Prepared by
Dr M Sultana Alam
Dept of Social Studies and Citizenship
Faculty of Human Science
Sultana 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

India
Pakistan
Malaysia
Bangladesh

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 Bangladesh

The 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..)
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.

Socio

cultural

Norms:

Gender gap in Education in Bangladesh

(Cont..)
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.

Religion:

Gender gap in Education in Bangladesh

(Cont..)

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.

Gender gap in Education in Bangladesh

(Cont..)
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 Preference
Daughters considered as the nonpermanent family member.
Sons are able to support parents in old age
Traditional duties
Early Marriage
Dowry
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 member
Non-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 age

Support 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

practice
Dowry:
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
Bangladesh
In-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.