Is There an Early Gender Gap in School Readiness Among 3-4-year-old Children? Evidence from Ghana
Gender inequalities in education persist in developing countries, but comprehensive policies to address them are often lacking. Using microlevel data from Ghana’s Multiple Indicator Cluster Survey (MICS), we investigated the presence of an early gender gap in school readiness among 3-4-year-old chil...
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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Istanbul University Press
2025-02-01
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| Series: | İktisat Politikası Araştırmaları Dergisi |
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| Online Access: | https://cdn.istanbul.edu.tr/file/JTA6CLJ8T5/5250D651E157422D8BD9348265F5CB68 |
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| author | Jean Louis Bago Moussa Ouédraogo Marie Madeleine Ouoba |
| author_facet | Jean Louis Bago Moussa Ouédraogo Marie Madeleine Ouoba |
| author_sort | Jean Louis Bago |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Gender inequalities in education persist in developing countries, but comprehensive policies to address them are often lacking. Using microlevel data from Ghana’s Multiple Indicator Cluster Survey (MICS), we investigated the presence of an early gender gap in school readiness among 3-4-year-old children. First, we built two multidimensional indexes of school readiness that account for children’s ability to read, count, recognise numbers, interact with peers and others, follow rules and be independent for their health outcomes and physical skills. Second, we estimated the gender gap while controlling for factors affecting school readiness using regional fixed effects. We found no evidence of a gender difference in children’s school readiness. This result is robust to several specifications and sensitivity tests. In contrast, the results showed that a mother’s education, a father’s involvement and the fact of living in an urban area are positively associated with school readiness for both boys and girls. Based on these findings, we argue that the educational gender gap in Ghana most likely reflects the unequal access to schooling opportunities between boys and girls. Hence, policy makers should target the barriers in school access for both boys and girls to achieve educational gender equity. |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj-art-0effdf8cddbe456fa097a8c3f8de4715 |
| institution | Kabale University |
| issn | 2148-3876 |
| language | English |
| publishDate | 2025-02-01 |
| publisher | Istanbul University Press |
| record_format | Article |
| series | İktisat Politikası Araştırmaları Dergisi |
| spelling | doaj-art-0effdf8cddbe456fa097a8c3f8de47152025-08-20T03:52:47ZengIstanbul University Pressİktisat Politikası Araştırmaları Dergisi2148-38762025-02-01121284410.26650/JEPR1329603123456Is There an Early Gender Gap in School Readiness Among 3-4-year-old Children? Evidence from GhanaJean Louis Bagohttps://orcid.org/0000-0002-9395-7391Moussa Ouédraogo0https://orcid.org/0000-0003-0427-2276Marie Madeleine Ouoba1https://orcid.org/0000-0002-5346-9326Anadolu Üniversitesi, Eskişehir, TürkiyeUniversité virtuelle du Burkina Faso, Ouagadougou, Burkina-FasoGender inequalities in education persist in developing countries, but comprehensive policies to address them are often lacking. Using microlevel data from Ghana’s Multiple Indicator Cluster Survey (MICS), we investigated the presence of an early gender gap in school readiness among 3-4-year-old children. First, we built two multidimensional indexes of school readiness that account for children’s ability to read, count, recognise numbers, interact with peers and others, follow rules and be independent for their health outcomes and physical skills. Second, we estimated the gender gap while controlling for factors affecting school readiness using regional fixed effects. We found no evidence of a gender difference in children’s school readiness. This result is robust to several specifications and sensitivity tests. In contrast, the results showed that a mother’s education, a father’s involvement and the fact of living in an urban area are positively associated with school readiness for both boys and girls. Based on these findings, we argue that the educational gender gap in Ghana most likely reflects the unequal access to schooling opportunities between boys and girls. Hence, policy makers should target the barriers in school access for both boys and girls to achieve educational gender equity.https://cdn.istanbul.edu.tr/file/JTA6CLJ8T5/5250D651E157422D8BD9348265F5CB68gender gapschool readinessghana |
| spellingShingle | Jean Louis Bago Moussa Ouédraogo Marie Madeleine Ouoba Is There an Early Gender Gap in School Readiness Among 3-4-year-old Children? Evidence from Ghana İktisat Politikası Araştırmaları Dergisi gender gap school readiness ghana |
| title | Is There an Early Gender Gap in School Readiness Among 3-4-year-old Children? Evidence from Ghana |
| title_full | Is There an Early Gender Gap in School Readiness Among 3-4-year-old Children? Evidence from Ghana |
| title_fullStr | Is There an Early Gender Gap in School Readiness Among 3-4-year-old Children? Evidence from Ghana |
| title_full_unstemmed | Is There an Early Gender Gap in School Readiness Among 3-4-year-old Children? Evidence from Ghana |
| title_short | Is There an Early Gender Gap in School Readiness Among 3-4-year-old Children? Evidence from Ghana |
| title_sort | is there an early gender gap in school readiness among 3 4 year old children evidence from ghana |
| topic | gender gap school readiness ghana |
| url | https://cdn.istanbul.edu.tr/file/JTA6CLJ8T5/5250D651E157422D8BD9348265F5CB68 |
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