IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/injoed/v83y2021ics0738059321000353.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Boys lagging behind: Unpacking gender differences in academic achievement across East Africa

Author

Listed:
  • Buhl-Wiggers, Julie
  • Jones, Sam
  • Thornton, Rebecca

Abstract

We estimate the current magnitude of gender gaps in literacy and numeracy in Kenya, Tanzania and Uganda, using large-scale nationally representative data of children ages 6–16. Using a household fixed effects approach, we document that girls outperform boys in all three countries; in numeracy by 0.03 SDs (Uganda) to 0.05 SDs (Kenya and Tanzania) and literacy by 0.06 SDs (Uganda and Tanzania) to 0.09 SDs (Kenya). However, the gender gap in achievement is highly geographically clustered, reversing in sign in some districts. In highlighting the heterogeneity of gender disparities in academic performance in these three countries in East Africa, this study show that systematic female disadvantage in schooling is no longer the norm.

Suggested Citation

  • Buhl-Wiggers, Julie & Jones, Sam & Thornton, Rebecca, 2021. "Boys lagging behind: Unpacking gender differences in academic achievement across East Africa," International Journal of Educational Development, Elsevier, vol. 83(C).
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:injoed:v:83:y:2021:i:c:s0738059321000353
    DOI: 10.1016/j.ijedudev.2021.102382
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0738059321000353
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.ijedudev.2021.102382?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. 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.
    2. Lai, Fang, 2010. "Are boys left behind? The evolution of the gender achievement gap in Beijing's middle schools," Economics of Education Review, Elsevier, vol. 29(3), pages 383-399, June.
    3. Dickerson, Andy & McIntosh, Steven & Valente, Christine, 2015. "Do the maths: An analysis of the gender gap in mathematics in Africa," Economics of Education Review, Elsevier, vol. 46(C), pages 1-22.
    4. Nava Ashraf & Natalie Bau & Nathan Nunn & Alessandra Voena, 2020. "Bride Price and Female Education," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 128(2), pages 591-641.
    5. Sam Jones & Youdi Schipper & Sara Ruto & Rakesh Rajani, 2014. "Can Your Child Read and Count? Measuring Learning Outcomes in East Africa," Journal of African Economies, Centre for the Study of African Economies, vol. 23(5), pages 643-672.
    6. Alkire, Sabina & Foster, James, 2011. "Counting and multidimensional poverty measurement," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 95(7), pages 476-487.
    7. 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.
    8. Charlotta Mellander & José Lobo & Kevin Stolarick & Zara Matheson, 2015. "Night-Time Light Data: A Good Proxy Measure for Economic Activity?," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 10(10), pages 1-18, October.
    9. Pritchett, Lant & Beatty, Amanda, 2015. "Slow down, you’re going too fast: Matching curricula to student skill levels," International Journal of Educational Development, Elsevier, vol. 40(C), pages 276-288.
    10. Vernon Henderson & Adam Storeygard & David N. Weil, 2011. "A Bright Idea for Measuring Economic Growth," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 101(3), pages 194-199, May.
    11. Karthik Muralidharan & Ketki Sheth, 2016. "Bridging Education Gender Gaps in Developing Countries: The Role of Female Teachers," Journal of Human Resources, University of Wisconsin Press, vol. 51(2), pages 269-297.
    12. Heath, Rachel & Mushfiq Mobarak, A., 2015. "Manufacturing growth and the lives of Bangladeshi women," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 115(C), pages 1-15.
    13. Johannes Hoogeveen & Mariacristina Rossi, 2013. "Enrolment and Grade Attainment following the Introduction of Free Primary Education in Tanzania," Journal of African Economies, Centre for the Study of African Economies, vol. 22(3), pages 375-393, June.
    14. Pitt, Mark M & Rosenzweig, Mark R, 1990. "Estimating the Intrahousehold Incidence of Illness: Child Health and Gender-Inequality in the Allocation of Time," International Economic Review, Department of Economics, University of Pennsylvania and Osaka University Institute of Social and Economic Research Association, vol. 31(4), pages 969-980, November.
    15. Tessa Bold & Deon Filmer & Gayle Martin & Ezequiel Molina & Brian Stacy & Christophe Rockmore & Jakob Svensson & Waly Wane, 2017. "Enrollment without Learning: Teacher Effort, Knowledge, and Skill in Primary Schools in Africa," Journal of Economic Perspectives, American Economic Association, vol. 31(4), pages 185-204, Fall.
    16. Thomas S. Dee, 2007. "Teachers and the Gender Gaps in Student Achievement," Journal of Human Resources, University of Wisconsin Press, vol. 42(3).
    17. Alcott, Benjamin & Rose, Pauline, 2017. "Learning in India’s primary schools: How do disparities widen across the grades?," International Journal of Educational Development, Elsevier, vol. 56(C), pages 42-51.
    18. World Bank, 2018. "World Development Report 2018 [Rapport sur le développement dans le monde 2018]," World Bank Publications - Books, The World Bank Group, number 28340.
    19. Daniel Suryadarma, 2015. "Gender differences in numeracy in Indonesia: evidence from a longitudinal dataset," Education Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 23(2), pages 180-198, April.
    20. Jaegeum Lim & Jonathan Meer, 2017. "The Impact of Teacher–Student Gender Matches: Random Assignment Evidence from South Korea," Journal of Human Resources, University of Wisconsin Press, vol. 52(4), pages 979-997.
    21. Acharya, Avidit & Blackwell, Matthew & Sen, Maya, 2016. "Explaining Causal Findings Without Bias: Detecting and Assessing Direct Effects," American Political Science Review, Cambridge University Press, vol. 110(3), pages 512-529, August.
    22. Bold,Tessa & Filmer,Deon P. & Martin,Gayle & Molina,Ezequiel & Rockmore,Christophe & Stacy,Brian William & Svensson,Jakob & Wane,Waly, 2017. "What do teachers know and do ? does it matter ? evidence from primary schools in Africa," Policy Research Working Paper Series 7956, The World Bank.
    23. Tessa Bold & Mwangi Kimenyi & Germano Mwabu & Justin Sandefur, 2011. "Does Abolishing Fees Reduce School Quality? Evidence from Kenya," CSAE Working Paper Series 2011-04, Centre for the Study of African Economies, University of Oxford.
    24. Robert Jensen, 2012. "Do Labor Market Opportunities Affect Young Women's Work and Family Decisions? Experimental Evidence from India," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 127(2), pages 753-792.
    25. Roland G. Fryer & Steven D. Levitt, 2010. "An Empirical Analysis of the Gender Gap in Mathematics," American Economic Journal: Applied Economics, American Economic Association, vol. 2(2), pages 210-240, April.
    26. Adrienne M. Lucas & Isaac M. Mbiti, 2012. "Does Free Primary Education Narrow Gender Differences in Schooling? Evidence from Kenya -super-†," Journal of African Economies, Centre for the Study of African Economies, vol. 21(5), pages -722, November.
    27. Jakiela,Pamela & Ozier,Owen & Fernald,Lia C. & Knauer,Heather Ashley, 2020. "Big Sisters," Policy Research Working Paper Series 9454, The World Bank.
      • Pamela Jakiela & Owen Ozier & Lia Fernald & Heather Knauer, 2020. "Big Sisters," Working Papers 559, Center for Global Development.
    28. Devin G. Pope & Justin R. Sydnor, 2010. "Geographic Variation in the Gender Differences in Test Scores," Journal of Economic Perspectives, American Economic Association, vol. 24(2), pages 95-108, Spring.
    29. Tansel, Aysit, 2002. "Determinants of school attainment of boys and girls in Turkey: individual, household and community factors," Economics of Education Review, Elsevier, vol. 21(5), pages 455-470, October.
    30. Prashant Bharadwaj & Giacomo De Giorgi & David Hansen & Christopher A. Neilson, 2016. "The Gender Gap in Mathematics: Evidence from Chile," Economic Development and Cultural Change, University of Chicago Press, vol. 65(1), pages 141-166.
    31. Lincove, Jane Arnold, 2012. "The influence of price on school enrollment under Uganda's policy of free primary education," Economics of Education Review, Elsevier, vol. 31(5), pages 799-811.
    32. Peter Glick & David E. Sahn, 2010. "Early Academic Performance, Grade Repetition, and School Attainment in Senegal: A Panel Data Analysis," The World Bank Economic Review, World Bank, vol. 24(1), pages 93-120, January.
    33. Nakajima,Nozomi & Jung,Haeil & Pradhan,Menno Prasad & Hasan,Amer & Kinnell,Angela & Brinkman,Sally Ann, 2016. "Gender gaps in cognitive and non-cognitive skills in early primary grades : evidence from rural Indonesia," Policy Research Working Paper Series 7833, The World Bank.
    34. Tesssa Bold, 2011. "Does Abolishing Fees Reduce School Quality? Evidence from Kenya," Economics Series Working Papers CSAE WPS/2011-04, University of Oxford, Department of Economics.
    35. World Bank, 2012. "World Development Report 2012 [Rapport sur le développement dans le monde 2012]," World Bank Publications - Books, The World Bank Group, number 4391.
    36. Deininger, Klaus, 2003. "Does cost of schooling affect enrollment by the poor? Universal primary education in Uganda," Economics of Education Review, Elsevier, vol. 22(3), pages 291-305, June.
    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. Rebekka Rühle, 2022. "Mind the gap – an analysis of gender differences in mathematics and science achievement in South Africa," Working Papers 04/2022, Stellenbosch University, Department of Economics.
    2. 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.
    3. Chunhan Huang & Junyun Shi & Xiaodong Zeng, 2023. "Personality Traits, Student-Teacher Relationships and Boys’ Academic Crisis in China: Evidence From the Least Developed Regions," SAGE Open, , vol. 13(4), pages 21582440231, December.
    4. Evans, David K. & Gale, Charles & Kosec, Katrina, 2023. "The educational impacts of cash transfers in Tanzania," Economics of Education Review, Elsevier, vol. 92(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. Rakshit, Sonali & Sahoo, Soham, 2023. "Biased teachers and gender gap in learning outcomes: Evidence from India," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 161(C).
    2. Atuhurra, Julius F., 2016. "Does community involvement affect teacher effort? Assessing learning impacts of Free Primary Education in Kenya," International Journal of Educational Development, Elsevier, vol. 49(C), pages 234-246.
    3. Gevrek, Z. Eylem & Gevrek, Deniz & Neumeier, Christian, 2020. "Explaining the gender gaps in mathematics achievement and attitudes: The role of societal gender equality," Economics of Education Review, Elsevier, vol. 76(C).
    4. Filmer, Deon, 2023. "Long-lived consequences of rapid scale-up? The case of free primary education in six Sub-Saharan African countries," International Journal of Educational Development, Elsevier, vol. 102(C).
    5. Muñoz, Juan Sebastián, 2018. "The economics behind the math gender gap: Colombian evidence on the role of sample selection," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 135(C), pages 368-391.
    6. Nadir Altinok & Abdurrahman Aydemir, 2015. "The Unfolding of Gender Gap in Education," Working Papers halshs-01204805, HAL.
    7. Buhl-Wiggers, Julie & Kerwin, Jason T. & Muñoz-Morales, Juan & Smith, Jeffrey & Thornton, Rebecca, 2024. "Some children left behind: Variation in the effects of an educational intervention," Journal of Econometrics, Elsevier, vol. 243(1).
    8. Oasis Kodila‐Tedika & Christian S. Otchia, 2022. "The effects of free primary education in the Democratic Republic of Congo: A difference‐in‐differences approach," Review of Development Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 26(4), pages 2109-2120, November.
    9. Doris, Aedín & O’Neill, Donal & Sweetman, Olive, 2013. "Gender, single-sex schooling and maths achievement," Economics of Education Review, Elsevier, vol. 35(C), pages 104-119.
    10. 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.
    11. Chandan Jain, 2019. "Analysing Changes in Gender Difference in Learning in Rural India over Time," Journal of Quantitative Economics, Springer;The Indian Econometric Society (TIES), vol. 17(4), pages 913-935, December.
    12. Roxana Elena Manea; Pedro Naso, 2021. "Heterogeneous Impacts of School Fee Elimination in Tanzania: Gender and Colonial Infrastructure," CIES Research Paper series 64-2020, Centre for International Environmental Studies, The Graduate Institute.
    13. Nguyen, Ha, 2015. "The evolution of the gender test score gap through seventh grade: New insights from Australia using quantile regression and decomposition," MPRA Paper 67586, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    14. Daniel Suryadarma, 2015. "Gender differences in numeracy in Indonesia: evidence from a longitudinal dataset," Education Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 23(2), pages 180-198, April.
    15. Elizabeth M. King & Vy T. Nguyen, 2013. "Intersecting sources of education inequality," Chapters, in: Deborah M. Figart & Tonia L. Warnecke (ed.), Handbook of Research on Gender and Economic Life, chapter 26, pages 421-433, Edward Elgar Publishing.
    16. Huong Thu Le & Ha Trong Nguyen, 2018. "The evolution of the gender test score gap through seventh grade: new insights from Australia using unconditional quantile regression and decomposition," IZA Journal of Labor Economics, Springer;Forschungsinstitut zur Zukunft der Arbeit GmbH (IZA), vol. 7(1), pages 1-42, December.
    17. Jaegeum Lim & Jonathan Meer, 2020. "Persistent Effects of Teacher–Student Gender Matches," Journal of Human Resources, University of Wisconsin Press, vol. 55(3), pages 809-835.
    18. Di Tommaso, Maria Laura & Contini, Dalit & De Rosa, Dalila & Ferrara, Francesca & Piazzalunga, Daniela & Robutti, Ornella, 2024. "Tackling the gender gap in mathematics with active learning methodologies," Economics of Education Review, Elsevier, vol. 100(C).
    19. Aymo Brunetti & Konstantin Büchel & Martina Jakob & Ben Jann & Daniel Steffen, 2021. "Inadequate Teacher Content Knowledge and What to Do About It: Evidence from El Salvador," University of Bern Social Sciences Working Papers 41, University of Bern, Department of Social Sciences.
    20. Lippmann, Quentin & Senik, Claudia, 2018. "Math, girls and socialism," Journal of Comparative Economics, Elsevier, vol. 46(3), pages 874-888.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    Test scores; Education; Gender gap; East Africa;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • O15 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Economic Development - - - Economic Development: Human Resources; Human Development; Income Distribution; Migration
    • I24 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Education - - - Education and Inequality
    • J16 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demographic Economics - - - Economics of Gender; Non-labor Discrimination

    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:83:y:2021:i:c:s0738059321000353. 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.