publication

enGENDER IMPACT: Shrinking Education and Skills Gaps


Image

One of the main implications of the World Development Report on Jobs (WDR2013) is that investments in basic human capital are a prerequisite for a policy environment conductive to growth. Despite broad gains in girls’ and young women’s education, gaps still persist in some countries and regions in terms of education participation, attainment, and outcomes.

Girls often face unique constraints to school, such as son-biases, domestic responsibilities at home, inadequate access to sanitary facilities and resources, and inability to travel as far. Even where gender parity is reached in terms of enrollment, girls and boys are often "streamed" into different fields and opportunities, and this pattern starts the trajectory for women to end up in less productive and lower paying work later on. There are also gender gaps in non-cognitive skills—such as motivation, aspirations, emotional skills, communication skills, and interpersonal skills—that play a role in determining outcomes later in life.

Building on its large portfolio of work on education, the World Bank has evaluated a wide variety of programs to reduce gender disparities in education, including scholarship programs that increase female enrollment, cash transfer programs that reduce child labor and increase attendance, school management interventions that increase community participation in schools, and school feeding programs that increase attendance and improve cognitive development.

Issue brief: Leveling the Playing Field: Lessons from World Bank Group Gender Impact Evaluations on Education

Issue brief: Preventing Child Marriage: Lessons from World Bank Group Gender Impact Evaluations

Relevant outcomes: Educational or training enrollment, attainment, attendance, or performance; literacy or numeracy; vocational knowledge or skills; cognitive skills; non-cognitive skills; child labor


IE Title & Author(s)

Country

Gender Outcome(s)

Intervention Category

The Use and Misuse of Computers in Education: Evidence from a Randomized Controlled Trial of a Language Arts Program
Barrera-Orsorio & Linden

Colombia

Gender disaggregated school performance

Education

5 Years in Juntos: New Evidence on the Program's Short and Long-Term Impacts
Perova & Vakis

Peru

Consumption, income, use of healthcare services, child labor, school enrollment, school attendance

Cash Transfer

An Impact Evaluation of Education, Health, and Water Supply Investments by the Bolivian Social Investment Fund
Newman, et al.

Bolivia

Child mortality, use of healthcare services, school performance

Social Fund

Anemia and School Participation
Bobonis, et al.

India

Gender disaggregated nutrition, school enrollment, school attendance

Iron Supplements

Business Training and Female Enterprise Start-up, Growth, and Dynamics Experimental Evidence from Sri Lanka
De Mel, et al.

Sri Lanka

Women's vocational knowledge and skills, job performance, property, access to credit, earnings

Training

Can Conditional Cash Transfer Programs Serve as Safety Nets in Keeping Children at School and From Working when Exposed to Shocks?
De Janvry, et al.

Mexico

Gender disaggregated school enrollment, child labor

Cash Transfer

Can Student Loans Improve Accessibility to Higher Education and Student Performance? An Impact Study of the Case of SOFES, Mexico
Canton & Blom

Mexico

Gender disaggregated school enrollment, school performance

Cash Transfer

Cash or Condition: Evidence from a Cash Transfer Experiment
Baird, et al.

Malawi

Female school attainment, cognitive skills, decision making over family formation

Cash Transfer

Cash Transfers, Behavioral Changes, and Cognitive Development in Early Childhood: Evidence from a Randomized Experiment
Macours, et al.

Nicaragua

Children's Nutrition, access to healthcare, cognitive skills, non-cognitive skills, Women's labor force participation, psychological agency

Cash Transfer

Cash Transfers, Behavioral Changes, and Cognitive Development in Early Childhood: Evidence from a Randomized Experiment
Macours, et al.

Nicaragua

Boys and girls health, nutrition, non-cognitive skills

Cash Transfer, Training

Cash transfers, conditions, school enrollment, and child work: evidence from a randomized experiment in Ecuador
Schady & Araujo

Ecuador

Gender disaggregated school enrollment

Cash Transfer

Changing Households' Investment and Aspirations through Social Interactions: Evidence from a randomized transfer program
Macours & Vakis

Nicaragua

Women's Aspirations, motivation, school attendance, income, property

Cash Transfer

Children's Schooling and Work in the Presence of a Conditional Cash Transfer Program in Rural Colombia
Attanasio, et al.

Colombia

Gender disaggregated school enrollment, child labor

Cash Transfer

Combining Longitudinal Household and Community Surveys for Evaluation of Social Transfers: infrastructure rehabilitation projects in rural Georgia
Lokshin & Yemtsov

Georgia

Female labor force participation, school enrollment, school attendance, health risks

Infrastructure Projects

Conditional Cash Transfers and Female Schooling: The Impact of the Female School Stipend Program on Public School Enrollments in Punjab, Pakistan
Chaudhury & Parajuli

Pakistan

Female school enrollment

Cash Transfer

Credit Constraints, Occupational Choice and the Process of Development: Long Run Evidence from Cash Transfers in Uganda
Blattman, et al.

Uganda

Vocational knowledge or skills, labor force participation, productivity, participation or voice in community

Cash Transfer

Decentralization: A Cautionary Tale
Kremer, et al.

Kenya

Gender disaggregated education enrollment, attainment, and performance

School Resources

Did Social Safety Net Scholarships Reduce Drop-Out Rates during the Indonesian Economic Crisis?
Cameron

Indonesia

Gender disaggregated school attainment

Cash Transfer

Does Cash for School Influence Young Women's Behavior in the Longer Term? Evidence from Pakistan
Alam, et al.

Pakistan

Girls school attainment, labor force participation, child labor, decision making over family formation

Cash Transfer

Does Child Labor Displace Schooling? Evidence on Behavioral Responses to an Enrollment Subsidy
Ravallion & Wodon

Bangladesh

Gender disaggregated school enrollment, school attendance

School Fee Reduction

Does Community Management Help Keep Kids in Schools? Evidence Using Panel Data from El Salvador's EDUCO Program
Jimenez & Sawada

El Salvador

Gender disaggregated school attainment

School Management

Does Demand or Supply Constrain Investments in Education? Evidence from Garment Sector Jobs in Bangladesh
Health & Mobarak

Bangladesh

Female school attendance, school enrollment

Factories

Does Money Matter? The Effects of Cash Transfers on Child Health and Development in Rural Ecuador
Paxson & Schady

Ecuador

Gender disaggregated cognitive skills, non-cognitive skill, psychological agency

Cash Transfer

Early Childhood Development through an Integrated Program: Evidence from the Philippines
Armecin, et al.

Philippines

Children cognitive skills, nutrition

Early Childhood Development

Education and HIV/AIDS Prevention: Evidence from a randomized evaluation in Western Kenya
Duflo, et al.

Kenya

Reproductive health, school enrollment, fertility

Reproductive Health

Educational and Health Impacts of Two School Feeding Schemes
Kazianga, et al.

Burkina Faso

Gender disaggregated school enrollment, school attendance, nutrition

Nutrition

Entrepreneurship Training and Self-Employment Among University Graduates: Evidence From a Randomized Trial in Tunisia
Premand, et al.

Tunisia

Gender disaggregated outcomes: entrepreneurship, labor force participation, vocational knowledge or skills, access to credit, aspirations, non-cognitive skills

Training

Evaluating Preschool Programs When Length of Exposure to the Program Varies: A Nonparametric Approach
Behrman, et al.

Bolivia

Cognitive skills, non-cognitive skills disaggregated by mothers' characteristics

Preschool

Expanding Educational Opportunities in Remote Parts of the World: Evidence from a RCT of a Public-Private Partnership in Pakistan
Barrera-Osorio, et al.

Pakistan

School enrollment

Public Private Partnership

Gender Differences in the Effects of Vocational Training: Constraints on Women and Drop-Out Behavior
Cho, et al.

Malawi

Gender disaggregated vocational knowledge or skills

Training

Gender-Targeted Conditional Cash Transfers Enrollment, Spillover Effects and Instructional Quality
Hasan

Pakistan

Girls and boys school enrollment

Cash Transfer

'Getting Girls into School': Evidence from a Scholarship Program in Cambodia
Filmer & Schady

Cambodia

Female school enrollment, school attendance

Cash Transfer

Giving Children a Better Start: Preschool Attendance and School-Age Profiles
Berlinski, et al.

Uruguay

Gender disaggregated school attendance, school attainment

Preschool

Impact evaluation of school feeding programmes in Lao People's Democratic Republic
Buttenheim, et al.

Laos

Gender disaggregated school enrollment, nutrition

School Feeding

Impacts of an Early Stage Education Intervention on Students' Learning Achievement: Evidence from the Philippines
Yamauchi & Liu

Philippines

Gender disaggregated outcomes: School Attainment, wages, migration

Education

Improving primary school education in India: An impact assessment of DPEP Phase 1
Jalan & Glinskaya

India

Gender disaggregated school attendance, school attainment

School Management

Incentives to Learn
Kremer, et al.

Kenya

School performance, motivation

Cash Transfer

Information for Accountability: Impact Evaluation of EGRA and teacher training
No authors

Liberia

Education performance

Education Management

Information, Role Models and Perceived Returns to Education Experimental Evidence from Madagascar
Nguyen

Madagascar

School Achievement, School Attendance, Aspirations

Information Intervention

Labor Market Returns to Early Childhood Stimulation: a 20-Year Follow-up to the Jamaica Study
Gertler, et al.

Jamaica

Gender disaggregated income, labor force participation, school attainment, cognitive skills, non-cognitive skills

Preschool

Long-Term Consequences of Secondary School Vouchers: Evidence from Administrative Records in Colombia
Angrist, et al.

Colombia

Gender disaggregated school attainment, school achievement, school performance

School Voucher

More Time is Better: An Evaluation of the Full-Time School Program in Uruguay
Cerdan-Infantes & Vermeersch

Uruguay

Gender disaggregated Educational Attainment and Performance

School Management

Own and Sibling Effects of Conditional Cash Transfer Programs: Theory and Evidence
Ferreira, et al.

Cambodia

Gender disaggregated school enrollment, child labor

Cash Transfer

Pitfalls of Participatory Programs: Evidence from a Randomized Evaluation in Education in India
Banerjee, et al.

India

Gender disaggregated school performance

Information Intervention

School Governance, Teacher Incentives, and Pupil-Teacher Ratios: Experimental Evidence from Kenyan Primary Schools
Duflo, et al.

Kenya

Gender disaggregated school performance

School Management

School Meals, Educational Achievement and School Competition: Evidence from a Randomized Evaluation
Vermeersch & Kremer

Kenya

Gender disaggregated school enrollment, attendance, performance; nutrition

School Feeding

School-Based Management and Educational Outcomes: Lessons from a Randomized Field Experiment
Blimpo & Evans

The Gambia

Gender disaggregated enrollment, school performance, school attendance

School Management

Should Aid Reward Performance? Evidence from a Field Experiment on Health and Education in Indonesia
Olken, et al.

Indonesia

Maternal health, nutrition, school attendance

Community Driven Development

Split Decisions: Family Finance When a Policy Discontinuity Allocates Overseas Work
Clemens & Tiongson

Philippines

Gender Disaggregated: consumption, access to healthcare, property, savings, school performance, intrahousehold bargaining

Migration Permits

Subsidy to Promote Girls' Secondary Education: The Female Stipend Program in Bangladesh
Khandker, et al.

Bangladesh

School enrollment

Cash Transfer

Teacher and Principal Incentives in Mexico
McEwan & Santibáñez

Mexico

School achievement

School Management

Teacher Performance Pay: Experimental Evidence from India
Muralidharan & Sunderararaman

India

School performance

Teacher Incentives

The Effects of User Fee Reductions on Enrollment: Evidence from a quasi-experiment
Barrera-Orsorio, et al.

Colombia

Gender disaggregated school enrollment

School Fee Reduction

The Impact and Targeting of Social Infrastructure Investments: Lessons from the Nicaraguan Social Fund
Pradhan & Rawlings

Nicaragua

Gender disaggregated school enrollment, child health, sanitation

Infrastructure

The Impact of Alternative Food for Education Programs on Learning Achievement and Cognitive Development in Northern Uganda
Adelman, et al.

Uganda

Performance, Literacy and numeracy

Nutrition

The Impact of Alternative Food for Education Programs on School Participation and Education Attainment in Northern Uganda
Alderman, et al.

Uganda

Gender disaggregated education or training enrollment, attainment, attendance

Nutrition

The Impact of Cash Transfers on School Enrollment: Evidence from Ecuador
Oosterbeek, et al.

Ecuador

The impact of cash transfers to women on child school enrollment

Cash Transfer

The Impact of Distributing School Uniforms on Children's Education in Kenya
Evans, et al.

Kenya

Education attainment, attendance, performance

School Supplies

The Poverty Impact of Rural Roads: Evidence from Bangladesh
Khandker, et al.

Bangladesh

Gender disaggregated labor force participation, school attendance

Infrastructure

The Promise of Preschool in Africa: A Randomized Impact Evaluation of Early Childhood Development in Rural Mozambique
Martinez, et al.

Mozambique

Gender disaggregated nutrition, Educational enrolment, attainment, performance, literacy and numeracy, non-cognitive skills, women's labor force participation, aspirations

Early Childhood Development

The Short-Term Impacts of a Schooling Conditional Cash Transfer Program on the Sexual Behavior of Young Women
Baird, et al.

Malawi

School enrollment, decision making over family formation, fertility

Cash Transfer

Turning a Shove into a Nudge? A "Labeled Cash Transfer" for Education
Benhassine, et al.

Morocco

Gender disaggregated results: School enrollment, school attendance, school performance

Cash Transfer

Vocational Education Voucher Delivery and Labor Market Returns: A Randomized Evaluation Among Kenyan Youth
Hicks, et al.

Kenya

Gender disaggregated vocational training, gender norms

Training

Welfare impacts of Rural Electrification: Evidence From Vietnam
Khandker, et al.

Vietnam

Gender disaggregated school attendance, gender disaggregated property

Infrastructure

Who You Train Matters: Identifying Complementary Effects of Financial Education on Migrant Households
Doi, et al.

Indonesia

Female vocational knowledge or skills, access to credit

Training

Women's Inheritance Rights and Intergenerational Transmission of Resources in India
Deininger, et al.

India

Women's owned property, gender disaggregated school attainment

Legal Reform

Worms: Identifying Impacts on Education and Health in the Presence of Treatment Externalities
Miguel & Kremer

Kenya

Gender disaggregated use of healthcare services, school attendance

Deworming

     

 

 



Related
Image
About the World Bank's work to promote gender equality in developing countries.
Learn more



Welcome