Crossing Boundaries : Gender, Caste and Schooling in Rural Pakistan

Jacoby, Hanan G.; Mansuri, Ghazala

Crossing Boundaries : Gender, Caste and Schooling in Rural Pakistan

Autores

Descripción

Can communal heterogeneity explain persistent educational inequities in developing countries? The paper uses a novel data-set from rural Pakistan that explicitly recognizes the geographic structure of villages and the social makeup of constituent hamlets to show that demand for schooling is sensitive to the allocation of schools across ethnically fragmented communities. The analysis focuses on two types of social barriers: stigma based on caste affiliation and female seclusion that is more rigidly enforced outside a girl's own hamlet. Results indicate a substantial decrease in primary school enrollment rates for girls who have to cross hamlet boundaries to attend, irrespective of school distance, an effect not present for boys. However, low-caste children, both boys and girls, are deterred from enrolling when the most convenient school is in a hamlet dominated by high-caste households. In particular, low-caste girls, the most educationally disadvantaged group, benefit from improved school access only when the school is also caste-concordant. A policy experiment indicates that providing schools in low-caste dominant hamlets would increase overall enrollment by almost twice as much as a policy of placing a school in every unserved hamlet, and would do so at one-sixth of the cost.

Palabras clave

ACCESS TO EDUCATION, ACCESS TO SCHOOLING, AVAILABILITY OF SCHOOLS, CHILD HEALTH, CHILD SURVIVAL, COGNITIVE TESTS, COMMUNITIES, DEGREES, DEMAND FOR EDUCATION, DISADVANTAGED GROUP, DISCRIMINATION, DROPOUT RATES, EDUCATIONAL ATTAINMENT, EDUCATIONAL OPPORTUNITIES, ELEMENTARY SCHOOL, ELEMENTARY SCHOOLS, ENROLLMENT FOR BOYS, ENROLLMENT GAP, ENROLLMENT RATE, ENROLLMENT RATES, ENROLLMENT RATES FOR GIRLS, ETHNIC DIVERSITY, EXCLUSION, EXPENDITURES, FAMILIES, FAMILY PLANNING, FAMILY PLANNING SERVICES, GENDER, GENDER DIFFERENCES, GENDER DISPARITY, GENDER GAP, GENDERS, GIRLS, GIRLS SCHOOLS, HEALTH SERVICES, HEALTH WORKERS, HIGH SCHOOL, HIGHER ENROLLMENT, HUMAN CAPITAL, HUMAN CAPITAL FORMATION, HUMAN CAPITAL INVESTMENT, INTERVENTIONS, LITERATURE, MIDDLE SCHOOL, MIDDLE SCHOOLS, MINORITY, ONSET OF PUBERTY, OPEN ACCESS, PAPERS, POVERTY ALLEVIATION, PRIMARY CLASSES, PRIMARY GRADES, PRIMARY SCHOOL, PRIMARY SCHOOL ENROLLMENT, PRIMARY SCHOOLS, PROVISION OF EDUCATION, PUBLIC SCHOOLS, PUBLIC SERVICES, RETURN TO EDUCATION, RETURNS TO EDUCATION, RURAL AREAS, SAFETY, SCHOOL CENSUS, SCHOOL ENTRY, SCHOOL ESTABLISHMENT, SCHOOL FACILITIES, SCHOOL FEES, SCHOOL GIRLS, SCHOOL LOCATION, SCHOOL PARTICIPATION, SCHOOL YEARS, SCHOOLING, SCHOOLING FOR GIRLS, SCHOOLS, SEX, SOCIAL GROUPS, SOCIETY, TEACHER, TEACHERS, TEACHING, UNMARRIED GIRLS, VILLAGE LEVEL, YOUNG BOYS, YOUNG GIRLS, YOUNGER GIRLS