Sociology
Educating girls in the third world: The demographic, basic needs, and economic benefits
Document Type
Article
Abstract
Building on the widespread recent suggestion that the education of girls may well be one of the best investments that a less-developed country can make, this study presents the results of a series of quantitative, cross-national, panel regression analyses designed to assess the effects of a) level of girls' education (primary and secondary enrollment rates), and b) gender inequality in education (male-female enrollment ratios), on a wide range of demographic, social and economic development outcomes. Both the education of girls in and of itself, and the provision of equal access to education for boys and girls (i.e., gender equality in education) were found to have the following subsequent benefits for societies: lower crude birth rates, longer life expectancies, lower death rates of all sorts, improved basic needs provision, and more rapid rates of economic growth.
Publication Title
International Journal of Comparative Sociology
Publication Date
1-1996
Volume
37
Issue
1-2
First Page
29
Last Page
46
ISSN
0020-7152
DOI
10.1177/002071529603700103
Keywords
life expectancy, lifespan, neonatal infant
Repository Citation
Hadden, Kenneth and London, Bruce, "Educating girls in the third world: The demographic, basic needs, and economic benefits" (1996). Sociology. 80.
https://commons.clarku.edu/faculty_sociology/80