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The period effect: the effect of menstruation on absenteeism of school girls in Limpopo

Author

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  • Chloé van Biljon

    (Research on Socio-Economic Policy, Stellenbosch University)

  • Cobus Burger

    (Research on Socio-Economic Policy, Stellenbosch University)

Abstract

This paper will aim to answer three questions: (1) Are girls absent from school during their periods? (2) If so, how large is the effect of menstruation on absenteeism? (3) Do the effects differ by socio-economic status (SES)? A large body of research examines the barriers that girls face to schooling, yet little is known about menstruation in particular as an obstacle for school attendance. The few existing studies indicate that menstruation does have repercussions for girl’s school attendance. This paper contributes to the literature by using a large provincial dataset to estimate the influence of menstruation on the school attendance of girls in Limpopo. The data, school administration data of the Department of Basic Education (SA-SAMS data), is collected quarterly from schools as part of the Data Driven Districts (DDD) initiative, which resulted from a partnership between the Department of Basic Education and the Michael and Susan Dell Foundation. The DDD programme aims to provide access to high quality, visualised education performance data across the country. Research on Socio-Economic Policy (ReSEP) has been asked to undertake some analysis of this underlying data to illustrate its potential use for research. The SA-SAMS data includes detailed data on absenteeism for most schools in Limpopo, one of South Africa’s poorest provinces. Reasons for absenteeism are not reported, and it is therefore unclear when absenteeism is menstruation-related. In this paper, we develop a structural model to identify whether there are patterns in older girls’ absenteeism that could be explained by menstruation. The model is estimated with maximum likelihood methods and is applied to two control groups: girls before they have reached menarche, and boys. The results of the model are compared across these three groups and by school socio-economic status The results indicate that menstruation causes absenteeism for young girls (12-13 year olds in the poorest 60% of schools and 10-11 year olds in the richest 40%), but that older girls do not have a higher probability of being absent during their menses. These results imply that encountering menstruation for the first time presents challenges for girls in relation to school attendance.

Suggested Citation

  • Chloé van Biljon & Cobus Burger, 2019. "The period effect: the effect of menstruation on absenteeism of school girls in Limpopo," Working Papers 20/2019, Stellenbosch University, Department of Economics.
    • Handle: RePEc:sza:wpaper:wpapers334
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    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Servaas van der Berg, 2006. "How effective are poor schools? Poverty and educational outcomes in South Africa," Working Papers 06/2006, Stellenbosch University, Department of Economics.
    2. Abusaleh Shariff & Namkee Ahn, 1995. "Mother's Education Effect on Child Health: An Econometric Analysis of Child Anthropometry in Uganda," Indian Economic Review, Department of Economics, Delhi School of Economics, vol. 30(2), pages 203-222, July.
    3. Andrea Ichino & Enrico Moretti, 2009. "Biological Gender Differences, Absenteeism, and the Earnings Gap," American Economic Journal: Applied Economics, American Economic Association, vol. 1(1), pages 183-218, January.
    4. Emily Oster & Rebecca Thornton, 2012. "Determinants Of Technology Adoption: Peer Effects In Menstrual Cup Take-Up," Journal of the European Economic Association, European Economic Association, vol. 10(6), pages 1263-1293, December.
    5. Mariesa A. Herrmann & Jonah E. Rockoff, 2012. "Does Menstruation Explain Gender Gaps in Work Absenteeism?," Journal of Human Resources, University of Wisconsin Press, vol. 47(2), pages 493-508.
    6. Sommer, M. & Sahin, M., 2013. "Advancing the global agenda for menstrual hygiene management for schoolgirls," American Journal of Public Health, American Public Health Association, vol. 103(9), pages 1556-1559.
    7. Colin Sumpter & Belen Torondel, 2013. "A Systematic Review of the Health and Social Effects of Menstrual Hygiene Management," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 8(4), pages 1-15, April.
    8. Emily Oster & Rebecca Thornton, 2011. "Menstruation, Sanitary Products, and School Attendance: Evidence from a Randomized Evaluation," American Economic Journal: Applied Economics, American Economic Association, vol. 3(1), pages 91-100, January.
    9. Servaas van der Berg & Megan Louw, 2007. "Lessons learnt from SACMEQII: South African student performance in regional context," Working Papers 16/2007, Stellenbosch University, Department of Economics.
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    Cited by:

    1. Servaas van der Berg & Chris van Wyk & Rebecca Selkirk & Kate Rich & Nicola Deghaye, 2019. "The promise of SA-SAMS & DDD data for tracking progression, repetition and drop-out," Working Papers 17/2019, Stellenbosch University, Department of Economics.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    school attendance; education; menstruation; South Africa;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • B54 - Schools of Economic Thought and Methodology - - Current Heterodox Approaches - - - Feminist Economics
    • C55 - Mathematical and Quantitative Methods - - Econometric Modeling - - - Large Data Sets: Modeling and Analysis
    • I20 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Education - - - General
    • J13 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demographic Economics - - - Fertility; Family Planning; Child Care; Children; Youth
    • J16 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demographic Economics - - - Economics of Gender; Non-labor Discrimination

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