IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/wbk/wbrwps/10472.html

The Gendered Impacts of COVID-19 on Adolescents’ School Attendance in Sub-Saharan Africa

Author

Listed:
  • B Kis,Anna
  • Boxho,Claire Elise
  • Gaddis,Isis
  • Koussoube,Mousson Estelle Jamel
  • Rouanet,Lea Marie

Abstract

As the COVID-19 pandemic led to a historic and widespread shutdown of schools across theworld, including in Sub-Saharan Africa, there were general concerns that girls would be disproportionately affected.This study analyzes the effects of the pandemic on the school attendance of adolescent girls and boys in sixAfrican countries. The study uses individual-level data on children’s school attendance collected as part ofhigh-frequency phone surveys. Contrary to expectations, the study reveals that there is no evidence to suggest thatgender gaps widened during the pandemic. If anything, gender gaps appear to have narrowed in some countries. Furtherin-depth analysis shows that while being a descendent of the household head, having parents with at least primaryeducation, and above-median household wealth were associated with a higher probability of school attendance amongadolescents before the pandemic, these factors lost their salience in explaining school attendance in the aftermath ofthe pandemic. These results suggest that some traditionally protective forces were eroded during the COVID-19 crisis.

Suggested Citation

  • B Kis,Anna & Boxho,Claire Elise & Gaddis,Isis & Koussoube,Mousson Estelle Jamel & Rouanet,Lea Marie, 2023. "The Gendered Impacts of COVID-19 on Adolescents’ School Attendance in Sub-Saharan Africa," Policy Research Working Paper Series 10472, The World Bank.
    • Handle: RePEc:wbk:wbrwps:10472
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://documents.worldbank.org/curated/en/099553506072319192/pdf/IDU0a66625020dc1a04aa60a121069c7f9d1ca37.pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Maryam Akmal & Susannah Hares & Megan O’Donnell, 2020. "Gendered Impacts of COVID-19 School Closures: Insights from Frontline Organizations," Policy Papers 175a, Center for Global Development.
    2. Bundervoet, Tom & Dávalos, Maria E. & Garcia, Natalia, 2022. "The short-term impacts of COVID-19 on households in developing countries: An overview based on a harmonized dataset of high-frequency surveys," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 153(C).
    3. Kaul, Tara, 2018. "Intra-household allocation of educational expenses: Gender discrimination and investing in the future," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 104(C), pages 336-343.
    4. Roby, Jini L. & Erickson, Lance & Nagaishi, Chanel, 2016. "Education for children in sub-Saharan Africa: Predictors impacting school attendance," Children and Youth Services Review, Elsevier, vol. 64(C), pages 110-116.
    5. João Pedro & Amer Hasan & Diana Goldemberg & Koen Geven & Syedah Aroob Iqbal, 2021. "Simulating the Potential Impacts of COVID-19 School Closures on Schooling and Learning Outcomes: A Set of Global Estimates [Tackling Inequity in Education during and after COVID-19]," The World Bank Research Observer, World Bank, vol. 36(1), pages 1-40.
    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. Dang, Hai-Anh H. & Oseni, Gbemisola & Abanokova, Kseniya, 2025. "Educational inequalities during COVID-19: Results from longitudinal surveys in Sub-Saharan Africa," International Journal of Educational Development, Elsevier, vol. 112(C).
    2. Kóczán, Zs., 2024. "Lasting scars: The long-term effects of school closures on earnings," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 176(C).
    3. Kim, Seil & Ogawa, Keiichi, 2024. "Who is able or unable to return to school? Exploring the short-term impact of the COVID-19 school closures on students' returning to school in Nigeria," International Journal of Educational Development, Elsevier, vol. 108(C).
    4. Jiajia Li & Shiyu Yang & Changju Chen & Houjian Li, 2022. "The Impacts of COVID-19 on Distance Education with the Application of Traditional and Digital Appliances: Evidence from 60 Developing Countries," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(11), pages 1-19, May.
    5. Elena Ellmeier & Melanie Koch & Thomas Scheiber, 2023. "Saving behavior along the income distribution during the COVID-19 pandemic," Focus on European Economic Integration, Oesterreichische Nationalbank (Austrian Central Bank), issue Q1/23, pages 7-21.
    6. Ishak, Phoebe W. & Gradstein, Mark, 2021. "We Don't Need No Education: The Effect of Persistent Income Shocks on Human Capital," VfS Annual Conference 2021 (Virtual Conference): Climate Economics 242368, Verein für Socialpolitik / German Economic Association.
    7. Harvinder Singh & Angrej Singh Gill & Pradeep Kumar Choudhury, 2023. "Household Expenditure on Secondary Education in Haryana (India): Levels, Patterns and Determinants," Millennial Asia, , vol. 14(4), pages 605-635, December.
    8. Alkire, Sabina & Nogales, Ricardo & Quinn, Natalie Naïri & Suppa, Nicolai, 2021. "Global multidimensional poverty and COVID-19: A decade of progress at risk?," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 291(C).
    9. Sivadasan, Jagadeesh & Xu, Wenjian, 2021. "Missing women in India: Gender-specific effects of early-life rainfall shocks," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 148(C).
    10. Hai-Anh H. Dang & Cuong Viet Nguyen, 2024. "Agricultural Production as a Coping Strategy during the Covid-19 Pandemic? Evidence from Rural Viet Nam," Working Papers DP-2023-23, Economic Research Institute for ASEAN and East Asia (ERIA).
    11. Kuzmanic, Danilo & Valenzuela, Juan Pablo & Claro, Susana & Canales, Andrea & Cerda, Daniela & Undurraga, Eduardo A., 2023. "Socioeconomic disparities in the reopening of schools during the pandemic in Chile," International Journal of Educational Development, Elsevier, vol. 100(C).
    12. Jean Pierre Namahoro & Wu Qiaosheng & Deyun Wang, 2025. "Mineral rents, renewable energy, and real growth nexus: evidence from top-rich countries in minerals across East-Central African regions," Mineral Economics, Springer;Raw Materials Group (RMG);Luleå University of Technology, vol. 38(2), pages 359-375, June.
    13. Iqbal,Syedah Aroob & Patrinos,Harry Anthony, 2023. "Learning during the Pandemic : Evidence from Uzbekistan," Policy Research Working Paper Series 10474, The World Bank.
    14. Liu, Jing & Lee, Monica & Gershenson, Seth, 2021. "The short- and long-run impacts of secondary school absences," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 199(C).
    15. Kim Hua Tan & Poh Phui Chan & Nur-Ehsan Mohd Said, 2021. "Higher Education Students’ Online Instruction Perceptions: A Quality Virtual Learning Environment," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(19), pages 1-24, September.
    16. Heather Congdon Fors & Annika Lindskog, 2023. "Within‐family inequalities in human capital accumulation in India," Review of Development Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 27(1), pages 3-28, February.
    17. Raimundo Atal & Paula Bedregal & José A Carrasco & Felipe González & Rodrigo Harrison & Cecilia Vizcaya, 2024. "The Impacts of COVID-19 Restrictions on Quality Adjusted Life Years (QALY): Heterogeneous effects and post-pandemic recovery," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 19(3), pages 1-12, March.
    18. Julia Bock-Schappelwein & Ulrike Famira-Mühlberger, 2021. "Die COVID-19-Pandemie und Schule. Eine bildungsökonomische Kurzanalyse," WIFO Studies, WIFO, number 67333.
    19. Kibrom A Abay & Nishant Yonzan & Sikandra Kurdi & Kibrom Tafere, 2023. "Revisiting Poverty Trends and the Role of Social Protection Systems in Africa during the COVID-19 Pandemic," Journal of African Economies, Centre for the Study of African Economies, vol. 32(Supplemen), pages 44-68.
    20. Brunckhorst, Ben & Cojocaru, Alexandru & Kim, Yeon Soo & Kugler, Maurice, 2024. "Long COVID: The evolution of household welfare in developing countries during the pandemic," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 175(C).

    More about this item

    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:wbk:wbrwps:10472. 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: Roula I. Yazigi (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/dvewbus.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.