What is the Effect of Mass Education on Women's Status? Evidence from the Global South

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Abstract

School expansion reforms have been a critical state-sponsor policy in developing countries. Among its benefits, demographers and policy-makers have asserted that schooling would increase women's autonomy and decision-making in families (Caldwell 1980, Easterlin 1983, Inkeles 1972). However, there is still scant evidence that causally identifies the impact of schooling on women's status in households. This paper addresses this challenge by leveraging the implementation of school expansion reforms in contexts of high gender inequality in the global south–––Colombia, Malawi, Peru, and Uganda. Using Demographic Health Surveys, I implement a fuzzy regression discontinuity design that compares female cohorts young enough to be affected by these reforms with cohorts that were just too old to have been impacted by these laws. Findings indicate that education hurts women's decision-making and autonomy in households. This negative effect is present in all countries, with stronger and significant effects in Uganda and Peru. Together, this analysis suggests that women's schooling in contexts of high-gender inequality may generate gender-backlash effects among the first cohorts of more educated women.

Author

• Daniela R. Urbina, Princeton University