IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/cysrev/v79y2017icp263-273.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Do separate female toilets in primary and upper primary schools improve female enrollment? A case study from India

Author

Listed:
  • Ray, Rita
  • Datta, Rajlakshmi

Abstract

The Total Sanitation Campaign (TSC), initiated by the Indian Government, and UNESCO's School Sanitation and Hygiene Education (SSHE) Program started providing gender-specific toilets in government schools in the late nineties. This paper examines the connection between separate female toilets and the gender parity indices of enrollment and participation in the primary (grades I–V) and upper primary (grades VI–VIII) levels of education for 28 states and four union territories of India between 2007 and 2015. Additionally, this paper investigates whether separate female toilets improve the gender parity index of education for scheduled-caste students. The results show that separate female toilets in schools are positively associated with the gender parity indices of enrollment and participation at the upper primary level only for all castes combined. This paper finds no evidence to suggest that separate female toilets can improve the gender parity indices of enrollment and participation for scheduled-caste students at the upper primary level. Additionally, separate female toilets in schools are negatively associated with the gender parity index of enrollment for scheduled-caste students at the primary level, which indicates tremendous caste-related discrimination in Indian society.

Suggested Citation

  • Ray, Rita & Datta, Rajlakshmi, 2017. "Do separate female toilets in primary and upper primary schools improve female enrollment? A case study from India," Children and Youth Services Review, Elsevier, vol. 79(C), pages 263-273.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:cysrev:v:79:y:2017:i:c:p:263-273
    DOI: 10.1016/j.childyouth.2017.06.020
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S019074091730484X
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.childyouth.2017.06.020?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. repec:pri:cheawb:tscjeff2013%20paper.pdf is not listed on IDEAS
    2. Kevane, Michael & Levine, David I., 2003. "Are Investments in Daughters Lower When Daughters Move Away?," Center for International and Development Economics Research, Working Paper Series qt5xv3g4sd, Center for International and Development Economics Research, Institute for Business and Economic Research, UC Berkeley.
    3. Anjali Adukia, 2017. "Sanitation and Education," American Economic Journal: Applied Economics, American Economic Association, vol. 9(2), pages 23-59, April.
    4. Lucia Nixon & Michael Robinson, 1999. "The educational attainment of young women: Role model effects of female high school faculty," Demography, Springer;Population Association of America (PAA), vol. 36(2), pages 185-194, May.
    5. G. Gandhi Kingdon, 2002. "The Gender Gap in Educational Attainment in India: How Much Can Be Explained?," Journal of Development Studies, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 39(2), pages 25-53.
    6. Alberto Alesina & Paola Giuliano & Nathan Nunn, 2013. "On the Origins of Gender Roles: Women and the Plough," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 128(2), pages 469-530.
    7. Robert Jensen & Emily Oster, 2009. "The Power of TV: Cable Television and Women's Status in India," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 124(3), pages 1057-1094.
    8. Fred Arnold & Sunita Kishor & T. K. Roy, 2002. "Sex‐Selective Abortions in India," Population and Development Review, The Population Council, Inc., vol. 28(4), pages 759-785, December.
    9. Geeta Gandhi Kingdon, 2007. "The progress of school education in India," Oxford Review of Economic Policy, Oxford University Press and Oxford Review of Economic Policy Limited, vol. 23(2), pages 168-195, Summer.
    10. Nancy Qian, 2008. "Missing Women and the Price of Tea in China: The Effect of Sex-Specific Earnings on Sex Imbalance," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 123(3), pages 1251-1285.
    11. Levine, David & Kevane, Michael, 2003. "Are Investments in Daughters Lower when Daughters Move Away? Evidence from Indonesia," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 31(6), pages 1065-1084, June.
    12. Rohini Pande, 2003. "Selective gender differences in childhood nutrition and immunization in rural India: The role of siblings," Demography, Springer;Population Association of America (PAA), vol. 40(3), pages 395-418, August.
    13. Handa, Sudhanshu, 2002. "Raising primary school enrolment in developing countries: The relative importance of supply and demand," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 69(1), pages 103-128, October.
    14. Monazza Aslam & Geeta Gandhi Kingdon, 2008. "Gender and household education expenditure in Pakistan," Applied Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 40(20), pages 2573-2591.
    15. Diane Coffey & Michael Geruso & Dean Spears, 2018. "Sanitation, Disease Externalities and Anaemia: Evidence From Nepal," Economic Journal, Royal Economic Society, vol. 128(611), pages 1395-1432, June.
    16. Hammer, Jeffrey & Spears, Dean, 2013. "Village sanitation and children's human capital : evidence from a randomized experiment by the Maharashtra government," Policy Research Working Paper Series 6580, The World Bank.
    17. Dean Spears & Sneha Lamba, 2016. "Effects of Early-Life Exposure to Sanitation on Childhood Cognitive Skills: Evidence from India’s Total Sanitation Campaign," Journal of Human Resources, University of Wisconsin Press, vol. 51(2), pages 298-327.
    18. Spears, Dean, 2012. "Height and cognitive achievement among Indian children," Economics & Human Biology, Elsevier, vol. 10(2), pages 210-219.
    19. Cameron, Lisa & Shah, Manisha & Olivia, Susan, 2013. "Impact evaluation of a large-scale rural sanitation project in Indonesia," Policy Research Working Paper Series 6360, The World Bank.
    20. Monica Das Gupta & Jiang Zhenghua & Li Bohua & Xie Zhenming & Woojin Chung & Bae Hwa-Ok, 2003. "Why is Son preference so persistent in East and South Asia? a cross-country study of China, India and the Republic of Korea," Journal of Development Studies, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 40(2), pages 153-187.
    21. Avani Kapur & Anirvan Chowdhury, 2011. "Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan, GOI 2010-11," Working Papers id:3679, eSocialSciences.
    22. Paul Gertler & Manisha Shah & Maria Laura Alzua & Lisa Cameron & Sebastian Martinez & Sumeet Patil, 2015. "How Does Health Promotion Work? Evidence From The Dirty Business of Eliminating Open Defecation," NBER Working Papers 20997, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    23. Gunther, Isabel & Fink, Gunther, 2010. "Water, sanitation and children's health : evidence from 172 DHS surveys," Policy Research Working Paper Series 5275, The World Bank.
    24. repec:pri:cheawb:tscjeff2013%20paper is not listed on IDEAS
    25. Arvind Panagariya & Vishal More, 2014. "Poverty by social, religious and economic groups in India and its largest states," Indian Growth and Development Review, Emerald Group Publishing Limited, vol. 7(2), pages 202-230, November.
    26. Jeffrey Hammer & Dean Spears, 2013. "Village sanitation externalities and children's human capital: Evidence from a randomized experiment by the Maharashtra government," Working Papers 1443, Princeton University, Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs, Center for Health and Wellbeing..
    27. Kingdon, Geeta Gandhi, 2005. "Where Has All the Bias Gone? Detecting Gender Bias in the Intrahousehold Allocation of Educational Expenditure," Economic Development and Cultural Change, University of Chicago Press, vol. 53(2), pages 409-451, January.
    28. David Branham, 2004. "The Wise Man Builds His House Upon the Rock: The Effects of Inadequate School Building Infrastructure on Student Attendance," Social Science Quarterly, Southwestern Social Science Association, vol. 85(5), pages 1112-1128, December.
    29. Michael Kremer & Nazmul Chaudhury & F. Halsey Rogers & Karthik Muralidharan & Jeffrey Hammer, 2005. "Teacher Absence in India: A Snapshot," Journal of the European Economic Association, MIT Press, vol. 3(2-3), pages 658-667, 04/05.
    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. Abbas A. Gillani & Sana Khan & Sadia Nasir & Salwa Niaz, 2022. "The effectiveness of installing solar panels at schools in Pakistan to increase enrolment," Journal of Environmental Studies and Sciences, Springer;Association of Environmental Studies and Sciences, vol. 12(3), pages 505-514, September.
    2. Kim, Hyoungjong & Rhee, Dong-Eun, 2019. "Toilets for education: Evidence from Kenya’s primary school-level data," International Journal of Educational Development, Elsevier, vol. 70(C), pages 1-1.
    3. Evan Plous Kresch & Molly Lipscomb & Laura Schechter, 2020. "Externalities and Spillovers from Sanitation and Waste Management in Urban and Rural Neighborhoods," Applied Economic Perspectives and Policy, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 42(3), pages 395-420, September.
    4. Gillani, Abbas A., 2021. "The association between presence of sanitation facilities and school enrolment in Pakistan," World Development Perspectives, Elsevier, vol. 21(C).
    5. Hoque, Nurzamal & Mahanta, Ratul & Sarkar, Dipanwita, 2022. "Does free education reduce early school dropouts? Evidence from a legislative reform in India," Economic Analysis and Policy, Elsevier, vol. 74(C), pages 657-665.

    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. Cameron, Lisa & Chase, Claire & Haque, Sabrina & Joseph, George & Pinto, Rebekah & Wang, Qiao, 2021. "Childhood stunting and cognitive effects of water and sanitation in Indonesia," Economics & Human Biology, Elsevier, vol. 40(C).
    2. Dean Spears, 2012. "How much international variation in child height can sanitation explain?," Working Papers 1438, Princeton University, Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs, Center for Health and Wellbeing..
    3. Tin-chi Lin & Alícia Adserà, 2013. "Son Preference and Children’s Housework: The Case of India," Population Research and Policy Review, Springer;Southern Demographic Association (SDA), vol. 32(4), pages 553-584, August.
    4. Zimmermann, Laura V, 2012. "Remember When It Rained: The Elusiveness of Gender Discrimination in Indian School Enrollment," IZA Discussion Papers 6833, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    5. Zimmermann, Laura, 2018. "It’s a boy! Women and decision-making benefits from a son in India," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 104(C), pages 326-335.
    6. Nandi, Arindam & Sahoo, Soham & Haberland, Nicole & Ngô, Thoại D., 2023. "A glass ceiling at the playhouse? Gender gaps in public and private preschool enrollment in India," International Journal of Educational Development, Elsevier, vol. 103(C).
    7. Kenayathulla, Husaina Banu, 2016. "Gender differences in intra-household educational expenditures in Malaysia," International Journal of Educational Development, Elsevier, vol. 46(C), pages 59-73.
    8. Rashmi Rashmi & Bijay Kumar Malik & Sanjay K. Mohanty & Udaya Shankar Mishra & S. V. Subramanian, 2022. "Predictors of the gender gap in household educational spending among school and college-going children in India," Palgrave Communications, Palgrave Macmillan, vol. 9(1), pages 1-11, December.
    9. Neeraj Kaushal & Felix M. Muchomba, 2018. "Missing time with parents: son preference among Asians in the USA," Journal of Population Economics, Springer;European Society for Population Economics, vol. 31(2), pages 397-427, April.
    10. Sofia Amaral & Siddhartha Bandyopadhyay & Rudra Sensarma, 2015. "Public Work Programs and Gender-based Violence: The Case of NREGA in India," Discussion Papers 15-09, Department of Economics, University of Birmingham.
    11. Bau, Natalie, 2019. "Can Policy Change Culture? Government Pension Plans and Traditional Kinship Practices," CEPR Discussion Papers 13486, C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers.
    12. Augsburg, Britta & Rodríguez-Lesmes, Paul Andrés, 2018. "Sanitation and child health in India," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 107(C), pages 22-39.
    13. Diva Dhar & Tarun Jain & Seema Jayachandran, 2022. "Reshaping Adolescents' Gender Attitudes: Evidence from a School-Based Experiment in India," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 112(3), pages 899-927, March.
    14. Eliana Carranza, 2014. "Soil Endowments, Female Labor Force Participation, and the Demographic Deficit of Women in India," American Economic Journal: Applied Economics, American Economic Association, vol. 6(4), pages 197-225, October.
    15. Fenske, James & Gupta, Bishnupriya & Neumann, Cora, 2022. "Missing Women In Colonial India," CEPR Discussion Papers 17189, C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers.
    16. Alberto Alesina & Paola Giuliano & Nathan Nunn, 2018. "Traditional agricultural practices and the sex ratio today," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 13(1), pages 1-14, January.
    17. Joseph, George & Hoo, Yi Rong & Moqueet, Nazia Sultana & Chellaraj, Gnanaraj, 2023. "Early-life exposure to unimproved sanitation and delayed school enrollment: Evidence from Bangladesh," World Development Perspectives, Elsevier, vol. 32(C).
    18. Brodeur, Abel & Mabeu, Marie Christelle & Pongou, Roland, 2020. "Ancestral Norms, Legal Origins, and Female Empowerment," IZA Discussion Papers 13105, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    19. Olivier Bargain & Jordan Loper & Roberta Ziparo, 2020. "Traditional Norms, Access to Divorce and Women’s Empowerment: Evidence from Indonesia," Bordeaux Economics Working Papers 2020-14, Bordeaux School of Economics (BSE).
    20. Hammer, Jeffrey & Spears, Dean, 2016. "Village sanitation and child health: Effects and external validity in a randomized field experiment in rural India," Journal of Health Economics, Elsevier, vol. 48(C), pages 135-148.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    Separate female toilets; Gender parity index of enrollment; Gender parity index of participation; Caste; Scheduled-caste;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • O11 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Economic Development - - - Macroeconomic Analyses of Economic Development
    • I20 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Education - - - General

    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:cysrev:v:79:y:2017:i:c:p:263-273. 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.elsevier.com/locate/childyouth .

    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.