Gender disparity in South Asia : comparisons between and within countries

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Gender disparity in South Asia : comparisons between and within countries

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Filmer, Deon
King, Elizabeth M.
Pritchett, Lant

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Abstract

Using data assembled from the Demographic Health Surveys of over 50 countries and from the National Family Health Surveys of individual states in India, the authors create a new data set of comparable indicators of gender disparity. They establish three findings: 1) As is by now well-known, the level of gender disparities in health and education outcomes for girls in South Asia is the highest in the world. 2) Even within South Asia, and within India or Pakistan, there are huge variations in gender disparity. Differences in gender disparity among Indian states or among provinces in Pakistan are typically greater than those among the world's nations. The ratio of female to male child mortality in one Indian state (Haryana) is worse than in any country in the world, although in another state (Tamil Nadu) it is lower than in all but three countries. 3) Across and within the set of developing nations, gender disparity is not only a phenomenon of poverty. There is almost no correlation between per capita income and the gender disparities in health and education outcomes. So although absolute levels of health and education outcomes for girls are strongly related to economic conditions, the disparities between outcomes for girls and boys are not. Understanding what causes such great gender disparity within South Asia is the next pressing question for researchers.

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Paper provided by The World Bank in its series Policy Research Working Paper Series with number 1867.

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Date of creation: 31 Jan 1998
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Handle: RePEc:wbk:wbrwps:1867

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Filmer, Deon & Pritchett, Lant, 1997. "Child mortality and public spending on health : how much does money matter?," Policy Research Working Paper Series 1864, The World Bank. [Downloadable!]
Easterly, William, 1999. " Life during Growth," Journal of Economic Growth, Springer, vol. 4(3), pages 239-76, September. [Downloadable!] (restricted)

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(explanations, Please report citation or reference errors to , or , if you are the registered author of the cited work, log in to your RePEc Author Service profile, click on "citations" and make appropriate adjustments.)

Ueyama, Mika, 2007. "Income growth and gender bias in childhood mortality in developing countries:," IFPRI discussion papers 739, International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI). [Downloadable!]
Smith, Lisa C. & Byron, Elizabeth M., 2005. "Is greater decisionmaking power of women associated with reduced gender discrimination in South Asia?," FCND discussion papers 200, International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI). [Downloadable!]
Cornia, Giovanni Andrea & Menchini, Leonardo, 2006. "Health Improvements and Health Inequality during the Last 40 Years," Working Papers RP2006/10, World Institute for Development Economic Research (UNU-WIDER). [Downloadable!]
Abu-Ghaida, Dina & Klasen, Stephan, 2004. "The Costs of Missing the Millennium Development Goal on Gender Equity," IZA Discussion Papers 1031, Institute for the Study of Labor (IZA). [Downloadable!]
Other versions:
- Abu-Ghaida, Dina & Klasen, Stephan, 2003. "The Costs of Missing the Millennium Development Goal on Gender Equity," Discussion Papers in Economics 2, University of Munich, Department of Economics. [Downloadable!]
- Abu-Ghaida, Dina & Klasen, Stephan, 2004. "The Costs of Missing the Millennium Development Goal on Gender Equity," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 32(7), pages 1075-1107, July. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
Michael A. Clemens, 2004. "The Long Walk to School: International education goals in historical perspective," Development and Comp Systems 0403007, EconWPA. [Downloadable!]
Other versions:
- Michael Clemens, 2004. "The Long Walk to School: International Education Goals in Historical Perspective," Working Papers 37, Center for Global Development. [Downloadable!]
Wendy Janssens, 2005. "Measuring Externalities in Program Evaluation," Tinbergen Institute Discussion Papers 05-017/2, Tinbergen Institute, revised 30 Mar 2006. [Downloadable!]
Coady, David & Xinyi Dai & Limin Wang, 2001. "Community programs and women's participation : the Chinese experience," Policy Research Working Paper Series 2622, The World Bank. [Downloadable!]
Filmer, Deon, 2000. "The structure of social disparities in education : gender and wealth," Policy Research Working Paper Series 2268, The World Bank. [Downloadable!]
Wang, Limin, 2002. "Health outcomes in poor countries and policy options : empirical findings from demographic and health surveys," Policy Research Working Paper Series 2831, The World Bank. [Downloadable!]
Hallman, Kelly & Lewis, David & Begum, Suraiya, 2003. "An integrated economic and social analysis to assess the impact of vegetable and fishpond technologies on poverty in rural Bangladesh:," EPTD discussion papers 112, International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI). [Downloadable!]

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