|
Abstract:
|
Parental attitudes regarding the importance of educating girls may contribute to the education gender gap in rural India. This thesis presents an empirical analysis of the determinants of parental attitudes regarding girls' education. It draws upon household survey data collected in Bihar, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh, and Himachal Pradesh in 1996. Results obtained by this survey and discussed in the Public Report on Basic Education in India (PROBE Report, 1999) find a positive relationship between parental attitudes and girls' educational attainment. Yet the PROBE Report also reveals a significant minority of parents do not value girls' education. Using a binary probit model, this thesis tests the relationship between parental attitudes of the importance of educating a girl on individual and household characteristics. It finds that no parental education variables are significant indicators of a household asserting the importance of educating a girl. The main determinants are ownership of a small amount of land, the number of rooms in the house, the girl-child being enrolled in school, and the belief that education is important for girls' marriage prospects. Meanwhile, ownership of at least one goat is a detractor to girls' education. These results demonstrate that there are income and substitution effects involved in household decisions of the allocation of education among children. They also demonstrate the importance of the relationship between girls' schooling and marriage in rural India. Policy implications gained from this study could include the continued support for programs that offset costs of schooling for rural families, and that account for the opportunity costs of girls attending school. |