Gender inequality in education: Political institutions or culture and religion?

Arusha Cooray*, Niklas Potrafke

*Corresponding author for this work

    Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

    129 Citations (Scopus)

    Abstract

    We investigate empirically whether political institutions or culture and religion underlie gender inequality in education. The dataset contains up to 157 countries over the 1991-2006 period. The results indicate that political institutions do not significantly influence education of girls: autocratic regimes do not discriminate against girls in denying educational opportunities and democracies do not discriminate by gender when providing educational opportunities. The primary influence on gender inequality in education is through culture and religion. Discrimination against girls is especially pronounced in Muslim dominated countries.

    Original languageEnglish
    Pages (from-to)268-280
    Number of pages13
    JournalEuropean Journal of Political Economy
    Volume27
    Issue number2
    DOIs
    Publication statusPublished - Jun 2011

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