IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/pra/mprapa/95876.html
   My bibliography  Save this paper

Is there an early gender gap in Ghanaian children development? Evidence from 3-4 years old boys and girls

Author

Listed:
  • Bago, Jean-Louis
  • Souratié, Wamadini M.
  • Ouédraogo, Ernest
  • Lompo, Miaba Louise
  • Ouédraogo, Moussa
  • Perrault, Nicolas

Abstract

Using data from the 2011 round of the Ghana Multiple Indicator Cluster Survey (MICS), we investigate the presence of an early gender gap in child development among children 3-4-year-old. Based on that survey, we built multidimensional indexes of child development that account for children’s ability to read, count, recognize numbers, interact with peers and others, follow rules and be independent for their health outcomes and for their physical skills. This allowed us to estimate the gender gap while controlling for factors affecting child development. Using this approach, we found overall no evidence of gender difference in children’s child development. One index suggests that being female is associated with higher children development. This result is robust to several specifications and sensitivity tests. We also found that a mother’s education, a father’s involvement and the fact of living in an urban area, all increase child development both for boys and for girls. In terms of policy, these findings indicate that the educational gender gap in Ghana most likely reflects unequal access to schooling opportunities between boys and girls.

Suggested Citation

  • Bago, Jean-Louis & Souratié, Wamadini M. & Ouédraogo, Ernest & Lompo, Miaba Louise & Ouédraogo, Moussa & Perrault, Nicolas, 2019. "Is there an early gender gap in Ghanaian children development? Evidence from 3-4 years old boys and girls," MPRA Paper 95876, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    • Handle: RePEc:pra:mprapa:95876
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://mpra.ub.uni-muenchen.de/95876/1/MPRA_paper_95876.pdf
    File Function: original version
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://mpra.ub.uni-muenchen.de/111926/6/MPRA_paper_111926.pdf
    File Function: revised version
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Minh Cong Nguyen & Quentin Wodon, 2014. "Analysing The Gender Gap In Education Attainment: A Simple Framework With Application To Ghana," Journal of International Development, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 26(1), pages 59-76, January.
    2. Monica J. Grant & Jere R. Behrman, 2010. "Gender Gaps in Educational Attainment in Less Developed Countries," Population and Development Review, The Population Council, Inc., vol. 36(1), pages 71-89, March.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    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. David Ansong & Moses Okumu & Travis J. Albritton & Eva Paige Bahnuk & Eusebius Small, 2020. "The Role of Social Support and Psychological Well-Being in STEM Performance Trends across Gender and Locality: Evidence from Ghana," Child Indicators Research, Springer;The International Society of Child Indicators (ISCI), vol. 13(5), pages 1655-1673, October.
    2. Iñaki Permanyer & Diederik Boertien, 2019. "A century of change in global education variability and gender differences in education," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 14(2), pages 1-22, February.
    3. Nadir Altinok & Abdurrahman Aydemir, 2015. "The Unfolding of Gender Gap in Education," Working Papers halshs-01204805, HAL.
    4. Gavin Jones & Divya Ramchand, 2013. "Education and human capital development in the giants of Asia," Asian-Pacific Economic Literature, The Crawford School, The Australian National University, vol. 27(1), pages 40-61, May.
    5. Chris Desmond & Kathryn Watt & Sara Naicker & Jere Behrman & Linda Richter, 2024. "Girls' schooling is important but insufficient to promote equality for boys and girls in childhood and across the life course," Development Policy Review, Overseas Development Institute, vol. 42(1), January.
    6. Dopart, Alethea & Wodon, Quentin, 2012. "Document thématique : L’éducation globale pour tous [Thematic Paper: Comprehensive Education]," MPRA Paper 45352, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    7. Neetu A. John & Kirsten Stoebenau & Samantha Ritter & Jeffrey Edmeades & Nikola Balvin & UNICEF Office of Research - Innocenti, 2017. "Gender Socialization during Adolescence in Low- and Middle-Income Countries: Conceptualization, influences and outcomes," Papers indipa885, Innocenti Discussion Papers.
    8. KUEPIE Mathias & SHAPIRO David & TENIKUE Michel, 2013. "Access to Schooling and Staying in School in Sub-Saharan Africa," LISER Working Paper Series 2013-16, Luxembourg Institute of Socio-Economic Research (LISER).
    9. Jakiela,Pamela & Ozier,Owen, 2018. "Gendered language," Policy Research Working Paper Series 8464, The World Bank.
    10. Sarmiento Espinel, Jaime Andrés & Silva Arias, Adriana Carolina & van Gameren, Edwin, 2019. "Evolution of the inequality of educational opportunities from secondary education to university," International Journal of Educational Development, Elsevier, vol. 66(C), pages 193-202.
    11. Emran, M. Shahe & Jiang, Hanchen & Shilpi, Forhad, 2020. "Gender Bias and Intergenerational Educational Mobility: Theory and Evidence from China and India," GLO Discussion Paper Series 497, Global Labor Organization (GLO).
    12. Raphael J. Nawrotzki & Verena Gantner & Jana Balzer & Thomas Wencker & Sabine Brüntrup-Seidemann, 2022. "Strategic Allocation of Development Projects in Post-Conflict Regions: A Gender Perspective for Colombia," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(4), pages 1-26, February.
    13. Liu, Xiaoying & Hannum, Emily, 2017. "Early poverty exposure predicts young adult educational outcomes in China," China Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 44(C), pages 79-97.
    14. Joerg Baten & Michiel de Haas & Elisabeth Kempter & Felix Meier zu Selhausen, 2021. "Educational Gender Inequality in Sub‐Saharan Africa: A Long‐Term Perspective," Population and Development Review, The Population Council, Inc., vol. 47(3), pages 813-849, September.
    15. Ewa Batyra & Hans‐Peter Kohler & Frank F. Furstenberg, 2021. "Changing Gender Gaps in the Timing of First Union Formation and Sexual Initiation in Sub‐Saharan Africa," Population and Development Review, The Population Council, Inc., vol. 47(2), pages 289-322, June.
    16. Emran, M. Shahe & Jiang, Hanchen & Shilpi, Forhad, 2021. "Is Gender Destiny? Gender Bias and Intergenerational Educational Mobility in India," GLO Discussion Paper Series 807, Global Labor Organization (GLO).
    17. Christian Kweku Darko & Fiona Carmichael, 2020. "Education of Biological and Fostered Children in Ghana: The Influence of Relationships with the Household Head and Household Structure," Journal of International Development, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 32(4), pages 487-504, May.
    18. Jieun Lee & Dong-Eun Rhee & Robert Rudolf, 2019. "Teacher Gender, Student Gender, and Primary School Achievement: Evidence from Ten Francophone African Countries," Journal of Development Studies, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 55(4), pages 661-679, April.
    19. Chen, Shuang, 2018. "Education and transition to work: Evidence from Vietnam, Cambodia and Nepal," International Journal of Educational Development, Elsevier, vol. 61(C), pages 92-105.
    20. Kathryn Yount & Sarah Zureick-Brown & Nafisa Halim & Kayla LaVilla, 2014. "Fertility Decline, Girls’ Well-being, and Gender Gaps in Children’s Well-being in Poor Countries," Demography, Springer;Population Association of America (PAA), vol. 51(2), pages 535-561, April.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    gender gap; child development; Ghana;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • I2 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Education
    • O1 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Economic Development

    NEP fields

    This paper has been announced in the following NEP Reports:

    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:pra:mprapa:95876. 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: Joachim Winter (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/vfmunde.html .

    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.