IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/injoed/v98y2023ics0738059322001729.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

The attainment of gender education equality: A preliminary assessment of country performance in sub-Saharan Africa

Author

Listed:
  • Bennell, Paul

Abstract

The research literature on girls’ education in low and middle income countries focuses almost exclusively on ‘what works?’ which is confined mainly to relatively small scale experimental interventions, particularly randomised control trials This evidence is important but it provides few insights about the overall (especially more recent) progress made by individual countries and the overall effectiveness of the national strategies and specific policies in promoting girls’ education. This article is an initial attempt to redress this research imbalance. It has three principal objectives. Firstly, it outlines a broad conceptual framework which provides the basis for a holistic analysis of country-level performance in improving girls’ education. Secondly, it presents an initial, tentative assessment of country performance in improving girls’ education across sub-Saharan Africa. And thirdly, it explores some of the potentially key national characteristics and policy interventions which may help to explain the considerable variability in country performance during the last two decades in redressing gender inequalities in education in this region.

Suggested Citation

  • Bennell, Paul, 2023. "The attainment of gender education equality: A preliminary assessment of country performance in sub-Saharan Africa," International Journal of Educational Development, Elsevier, vol. 98(C).
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:injoed:v:98:y:2023:i:c:s0738059322001729
    DOI: 10.1016/j.ijedudev.2022.102722
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0738059322001729
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.ijedudev.2022.102722?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Katy Bergstrom & Berk Özler, 2023. "Improving the Well-Being of Adolescent Girls in Developing Countries," The World Bank Research Observer, World Bank, vol. 38(2), pages 179-212.
    2. Harounan Kazianga & Dan Levy & Leigh L. Linden & Matt Sloan, 2013. "The Effects of "Girl-Friendly" Schools: Evidence from the BRIGHT School Construction Program in Burkina Faso," American Economic Journal: Applied Economics, American Economic Association, vol. 5(3), pages 41-62, July.
    3. David Evans & Fei Yuan, 2019. "What We Learn about Girls' Education from Interventions that Do Not Focus on Girls," Working Papers 513, Center for Global Development.
    4. Moussa P Blimpo & Ousman Gajigo & Todd Pugatch, 2019. "Financial Constraints and Girls’ Secondary Education: Evidence from School Fee Elimination in The Gambia," The World Bank Economic Review, World Bank, vol. 33(1), pages 185-208.
    5. Alice Evans, 2019. "How Cities Erode Gender Inequality: A New Theory and Evidence from Cambodia," CID Working Papers 356, Center for International Development at Harvard University.
    6. Talan B. İşcan & Daniel Rosenblum & Katie Tinker, 2015. "School Fees and Access to Primary Education: Assessing Four Decades of Policy in Sub-Saharan Africa," Journal of African Economies, Centre for the Study of African Economies, vol. 24(4), pages 559-592.
    7. Nguyen, Vy T. & King, Elizabeth M., 2022. "Should school fee abolition be comprehensive? An evaluation of Mozambique," International Journal of Educational Development, Elsevier, vol. 88(C).
    8. Caitlin Wall & Terezie Tolar-Peterson & Nicole Reeder & Marina Roberts & Abby Reynolds & Gina Rico Mendez, 2022. "The Impact of School Meal Programs on Educational Outcomes in African Schoolchildren: A Systematic Review," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(6), pages 1-13, March.
    9. Harold Alderman & Daniel O. Gilligan & Kim Lehrer, 2012. "The Impact of Food for Education Programs on School Participation in Northern Uganda," Economic Development and Cultural Change, University of Chicago Press, vol. 61(1), pages 187-218.
    10. Robert Jensen, 2010. "The (Perceived) Returns to Education and the Demand for Schooling," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 125(2), pages 515-548.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Simplice A. Asongu & Jean R. F. K. Bouanza & Armand F. Akpa, 2024. "Governance and Structural Transformation in Africa: Thresholds of Lifelong Gender Inclusive Education," Working Papers of the African Governance and Development Institute. 24/037, African Governance and Development Institute..
    2. Delprato, Marcos, 2023. "Children and adolescents educational gender gaps across the lifecourse in sub-Saharan Africa: On the role of mothers' lack of empowerment as a barrier for girls' educational performance," International Journal of Educational Development, Elsevier, vol. 103(C).

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Berk Ozler, 2015. "Keeping Girls in School," World Bank Publications - Reports 23866, The World Bank Group.
    2. Stephanie Psaki & Nicole Haberland & Barbara Mensch & Lauren Woyczynski & Erica Chuang, 2022. "Policies and interventions to remove gender‐related barriers to girls' school participation and learning in low‐ and middle‐income countries: A systematic review of the evidence," Campbell Systematic Reviews, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 18(1), March.
    3. Evans David K. & Akmal Maryam & Jakiela Pamela, 2021. "Gender gaps in education: The long view," IZA Journal of Development and Migration, Sciendo & Forschungsinstitut zur Zukunft der Arbeit GmbH (IZA), vol. 12(1), pages 1-27, January.
    4. Esther Duflo & Pascaline Dupas & Michael Kremer, 2021. "The Impact of Free Secondary Education: Experimental Evidence from Ghana," NBER Working Papers 28937, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    5. Harounan Kazianga & Leigh Linden & Ali Protik & Matt Sloan, 2015. "Impact Evaluation of Burkina Faso's BRIGHT Program: Design Report," Mathematica Policy Research Reports c0250cd3f27d448ea70d909c3, Mathematica Policy Research.
    6. Christopher Cotton & Ardyn Nordstrom & Jordan Nanowski & Eric Richert, 2020. "Community Campaigns to Improve Attitudes towards Girls' Education Can Increase Math Scores and Enrollment," Working Paper 1426, Economics Department, Queen's University.
    7. Clair Null & Clemencia Cosentino & Swetha Sridharan & Laura Meyer, "undated". "Policies and Programs to Improve Secondary Education in Developing Countries: A Review of the Evidence," Mathematica Policy Research Reports 516e420e637c4851b15e6a3f6, Mathematica Policy Research.
    8. Gaurav Khanna, 2020. "Does Affirmative Action Incentivize Schooling? Evidence from India," The Review of Economics and Statistics, MIT Press, vol. 102(2), pages 219-233, May.
    9. Brudevold-Newman, Andrew, 2021. "Expanding access to secondary education: Evidence from a fee reduction and capacity expansion policy in kenya," Economics of Education Review, Elsevier, vol. 83(C).
    10. Staffieri, Irene & Sitko, Nicholas J. & Maluccio, John A., 2023. "Sustaining enrolment when rains fail: School feeding, rainfall shocks and schooling in Malawi," Food Policy, Elsevier, vol. 121(C).
    11. Mikal Davis & Nick Ingwersen & Harounan Kazianga & Leigh Linden & Arif Mamun & Ali Protik & Matt Sloan, "undated". "Ten-Year Impacts of Burkina Faso's BRIGHT Program," Mathematica Policy Research Reports 2ecdd42bb503422b802ce20da, Mathematica Policy Research.
    12. Eugenie W. H. Maïga, 2014. "Does Foreign Aid in Education Foster Gender Equality in Developing Countries?," WIDER Working Paper Series wp-2014-048, World Institute for Development Economic Research (UNU-WIDER).
    13. Ahmed Elsayed & Olivier Marie, 2020. "Less School (Costs), More (Female) Education? Lessons from Egypt Reducing Years of Compulsory Schooling," Tinbergen Institute Discussion Papers 20-037/V, Tinbergen Institute.
    14. Richard Akresh & Daniel Halim & Marieke Kleemans, 2023. "Long-Term and Intergenerational Effects of Education: Evidence from School Construction in Indonesia," The Economic Journal, Royal Economic Society, vol. 133(650), pages 582-612.
    15. Katy Bergstrom & Berk Özler, 2023. "Improving the Well-Being of Adolescent Girls in Developing Countries," The World Bank Research Observer, World Bank, vol. 38(2), pages 179-212.
    16. Alejandro J. Ganimian & Richard J. Murnane, 2014. "Improving Educational Outcomes in Developing Countries: Lessons from Rigorous Impact Evaluations," NBER Working Papers 20284, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    17. Giordono, Leanne & Pugatch, Todd, 2015. "Informal Fee Elimination and Student Performance: Evidence from The Gambia," IZA Discussion Papers 9560, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    18. Elijah Kipkech Kipchumba & Catherine Porter & Danila Serra & Munshi Sulaiman, 2021. "Infuencing youths' aspirations and gender attitudes through role models: Evidence from Somali schools," Working Papers 20210224-002, Texas A&M University, Department of Economics.
    19. Stenzel, Alicia G. & Osei Kwadwo, Victor & Vincent, Rose C., 2024. "Free secondary education policy and education attainment," International Journal of Educational Development, Elsevier, vol. 106(C).
    20. van Ours, Jan C. & Williams, Jenny & Ward, Shannon, 2015. "Bad Behavior: Delinquency, Arrest and Early School Leaving," CEPR Discussion Papers 10755, C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers.

    More about this item

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:eee:injoed:v:98:y:2023:i:c:s0738059322001729. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Catherine Liu (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.journals.elsevier.com/international-journal-of-educational-development .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.