Abstract: The objective of this paper is to examine the relationship between girls' education and

women's income. The question is whether or not girls education attainment rates are higher in
areas where women have a greater degree of labor participation, as dependent on their wages.
Simply put, do girls attain higher rates of education where women have more income possibility
This question is derived from the wor! of "ensen, who arrives at the conclusion that labor mar!et
opportunities increase girls enrollment in school. To ta!e this further, this paper would examine
a brea!down of girls education attainment dependent on women's income. #n order to do this,
the paper will loo! towards the data for #ndia in $%%& from #'ums. This data set will give a
variety of information including( average income for women, average education for boys, and
average education for girls. )sing this information, the paper will examine whether the average
income of women effects the average education for girls and comparing those calculations to the
effects that average income of women have on the average education for boys. The comparison
of the data will suggest whether or not girls education is more susceptible to changes depending
on the average income of women. The data and calculations from this analysis suggests that in
fact, the average income of women does have an effect on the average education of girls, and in
comparison to the effects on the average education of boys, the data implies that the effect is
slightly greater for girls than boys.
. Introduction (
* rising issue of development challenges comes from girl's education. The spectrum of girl's
education varies greatly dependent on an individual country's development. #n many developing
countries, literature and statistics suggests that girls are at a disadvantage in comparison to boys
when it comes to education attainment, and the gap between education attainments is more
prevalent in rural areas than in urban areas. #t is reported that +%& million children aged ,-++ are
in school each year . ,% million are girls, nearly &% percent of these out-of-school children live
in sub-Saharan *frica/ 01 percent live in South *sia 2)34S56, $%%07&8. This fact illustrates,
that wor! needs to be done on examining factors that contribute to the disadvantageous position
of girls in attaining education, and what development policies need to incorporate in order to
increase girls education attainment. 9urthermore, across the developing world, the gender gap
between boys and girls in primary school completion is greater than +% percentage points
2)3#549, $%%08. :eveloping countries exemplify the disparity between girls and boys education
and in doing so ac!nowledge that effective development policies need to begin at the basic
education level. That in order for a country to sustain economic growth, it must first develop a
sustainable system of education where a convergence of girls and boys average education
attainment occurs. ;iterature about the subject regards reform in girls education as an investment
that delivers high returns not only for female educational attainment, but also for maternal and
children's health, more sustainable families, women's empowerment, democracy, income growth,
and productivity 2<er=, $%%&, +8. >irl's education is an issue that many if not all developing
countries face. *ny strategy or policy implementation that promotes development thus needs to
address the issue of girl's education. #n analy=ing the issues concerning girl's education,
development policies would be more effective in dealing with issues within the developing
countries that would better promote economic growth and sustainability, and in turn allow
developing countries to continue on a progressive scale.
This paper will ta!e the literature and statistics available and narrow the scope of the
information to a specific country, #ndia. #ndia is a prime example of a developing country, where
one can examine girl's education. #n #ndia, the trends suggest that on average education
attainment has increased. <owever, a gender disparity still exists/ a gender parity index of
primary education gross inta!e of %.?& in #ndia, still suggests that the system favors boys over
girls 2)34S56, $%%07&8. @ore recent data of #ndia from the $%++ regional average the gross
enrollment rate is ++%A, with males accounting for +++A and females accounting for +%BA. The
same data calculates that the net enrollment rate is ?BA, where males account for B%A and
females account for ??A 2)34S56, $%++8. <owever, even though these are high numbers, there
are an alarming number of out-of-school primary school age children. *ccording to Corld Dan!
education statistics, that number is +,0?E,0E& 2Corld Dan!, $%++8. #t is important to note, that a
general trend in developing countries does suggesting that on average education rates have been
increasing. <owever, it is important to note, that these changes may not always be reflection of
an educational system where both the average education of boys and girls increases. Since, the
average education of girls in comparison to the average education of boys is lower/ the question
of development policies becomes what changes can bring about an increase in girl's education.
This paper proposes the question, can labor mar!et opportunities and an increase in income
potential of women lead to an increase in girl's education. The question is reflective of Fobert
"ensen's wor! in G:o ;abor @ar!et 6pportunities *ffect Houng Comen's Cor! and 9amily
:ecisions 4xperimental evidence from #ndiaI. 9urthermore, the question that the paper
proposal attempts to answer is whether a relationship between girls education levels and average
education attainment is dependent on the availability of post-education labor mar!et
opportunities for women. 9ollowing this line of thin!ing, the hypothesis is that as a woman's
income level increases within a specific region, girl's education in that region will also increase.
This means that parts of #ndia that have a higher average income for women will relay to a
higher average education of girls. The results of this question are essential because they will
exemplify that different regions in #ndia have different girl's education rates because of the
average income of women in that specific region. @oreover, regions in #ndia where the average
income of women is relatively low will be suggestive of the fact that girl's in this region are
disadvantaged in their right to basic education. 9urthermore, the question will try to address the
concern posted in "ensen's wor! and analysis that in developing countries the investments made
in human capital through education is higher if the anticipated marginal return is relatively high.
#n "ensen's wor!, the increase in women's opportunity to be employed in the business process
outsourcing industry resulted in an increase in girls enrollment in school as well as an increase
in training programs. Thus, it is significant that this paper examine whether employment in the
future, in terms of income is an enough incentive to increase girls enrollment into
school7education attainment, or that the areas that have higher average income for women will
result in higher education attainment for girls because there is more money available to invest.
*n underlying question of the paper is to determine whether more girls go to school in areas
where women have better outcome, because there is a greater incentive for future potential
returns, or whether girls go to school in areas where women have better outcomes simply
because there is more income to invest, and thus families will choose to allow girls to go to
school, because there is no means to prioriti=e boys v. girls getting education. Defore any further
discussion on the research question and hypothesis at hand, it is important to examine the
literature and analysis that exists on this topic. 'rior literature and wor! on the topic of girl's
education as a means of future income potential suggests that there is a positive relationship. The
next section will set up the necessary framewor! for understanding the positive relationship, and
will attempt to draw attention to why increasing girl's education is important to the entirety of
development projects.
II. Literature Review and Theorized Pathways of Effect :
A) Literature Review
The most significantly related wor! to the research proposal at hand comes from Fobert
"ensen, and his wor! in #ndia observing the effects of business process outsourcing opportunities
for women has on the enrollment rates of girls into training programs or school. "ensen's wor! is
critical in that the current state of women in #ndia reflects women usually leaving school at a
young age, getting married, and beginning to have children at a young age. "ensen notes that
women's paid labor force participating rates in #ndia are relatively low, at $%A 2"ensen, $%+$8.
<is wor! tests, whether an increase in employment opportunities for women, can affect the
transition within a lifestyle of wor! and family in rural #ndia 2"ensen, $%+$8. *n important aspect
of "ensen's wor! is that he notes that increasing social and economic progresses for women have
implication for individual well-being and economic growth. <e also draws the parallel that
economic models suggest that labor mar!ets play a pivotal role in determining the outcomes.
"ensen's wor! employs a randomi=ed trial using recruiters for the D'6 industry. They pic!
specific treatment villages, where the D'6 holding recruiting sessions. #n these sessions they
ma!e it apparent that requirements for the job include( secondary school degree, 4nglish
experience, and experience with computers. The objective of these recruiting sessions is to bring
awareness to the treatment villages about the job opportunities available to women, and thus
exposing information that was not available before, and in turn attempting to increase
employment opportunities for women. The results of the wor! suggests that, in treatment
villages, women ages +?-$& were $.? percentage points more li!ely to be enrolled in training
programs and girls ages ,-+E were 1.% percentage points more li!ely to enrolled in school
2"ensen, $%+$8. "ensen concludes that this is a large gain in absolute terms, and closes about ,%A
of the baseline boy-girl gap in enrollment at this age. *dditionally, the data suggests, that
families are willing to invest in a girl's human capital through education if they can see that the
marginal returns in the future is high enough. The threshold of income possibility that will allow
families to be more willing to invest in girls education is not apparent in the article, and can be a
factor that the research could possibly examine.
"ensen's article establishes that there is a positive relationship between future returns and
the investments made towards girls education. <owever, some critiques of this wor! would best
illustrate why this paper's research question would add to the discussion of the topic and provide
further answers. 6ne critique of the wor! is the claim that higher income levels lead to greater
education, this simply means that those who have more money will be able to allocate a larger
portion of their money towards educating their children, and more specifically their daughters.
"ensen's wor! does not address the effects of different income levels on education attainment.
<owever, the research question proposed in this paper would be able to do that. This can be
done, because the data ta!en from #')@S can be put into ST*T*, and the data can be brac!eted
from different income percentiles and from there one would be able to compare the average
education for girls given specific income percentiles. This would address the critique at hand
because, the data would be stratified more narrowly towards percentiles, whether or not families
with higher income allocate funds to educating their daughters, or if a correlating argument can
be made that more girls enroll in school and attain education because they perceive the future to
hold benefits 2in terms of income8, and though family income may play a role, the paper is not
examining that specific factor.
The second set of literature out there addresses how increasing girl's education can
increase the economic development of a country, and draws significance to why girl's education
is matter that needs to be addressed in order to influence development policies. 9irst, ta!e the
case example of 3igeria in Fisi!at :auda's wor!. :auda's ac!nowledges that education leads to
an acceleration of social and economic development 2:auda, $%%E8. :auda's wor! notes that
3igeria's attempt to develop education for girls has resulted 3igeria's economic development.
:auda's wor! collects data for( +. ration of female to male enrollment, $. gender gap, and 0. the
gender ratio, designated as a gender parity index. 3oting this data he sees that from +B?,-$%%&,
3igeria's attempt to decrease the gender gap and bring about improvements in girl's education
has resulted in positive economic development within the country. The importance of :auda's
wor! is that it establishes that women's human capital plays a role in economic growth, and
moreover in the development process because increased education of women creates a spillover
effect. The research proposal question will attempt to initially establish that comparing boys
average education to girls average education that a disparity exists. 9rom establishing that a
disparity exists, one can ma!e the argument that future returns effects girls average education
more than they effect boys average education. 9rom here, one can ma!e arguments as to why
education promotes greater economic growth, and the benefits expand beyond just that.
>oldin's wor! establishes how women's role in the labor force has changed, and how this
impacts education and employment of women. >oldin emphasi=es hori=ons and identity. The
importance of hori=ons and identity is that women are loo!ing to be a part of the labor force. #n
doing this, it recogni=es that in order for women to enter the labor force, education is an essential
factor. >oldin's results suggest that more women go to school today, and earn higher level of
degrees than they have in years prior. The rationale is that the demand of women has changed,
before they were to be set into home production, while men were part of the labor mar!et
production. 3ow, women invest in their human capital just li!e men in order to be labor mar!et
productive. #n essence, the research question would use the information given by >oldin to see
whether the changes in womens role in economics, specifically in terms of employment and
occupation have created a demand for education. Thus, when women are confronted with
opportunities of future income they tend to respond to this by attaining the necessary
requirements in order to get the job.
Similarly, Schult= also establishes a framewor! as to why investments in girls education
need to increase. #n his analysis Schult= notes that opportunities available to men and women
seem to be equal, but the issue becomes of wages. This analysis relies on the assumption that if a
man and woman had the same level of education they would have the same opportunities
available to them/ however, the difference in wages of the opportunities is what deters women
from attaining higher levels of education. The argument here is that, even though women who
earn a higher level of education would be able to receive income that is higher than what they
would in the absence of education, steer away from enrolling in education because the returns
from their investments are lower compared to men's returns from investments. The flaw is that,
women do not recogni=e the importance of the significant increase in marginal returns they will
receive from higher education. 9or the purposes of this research proposal, it would be interesting
to note the gap that exists between boys and girls who attend school given specific income levels
and who it impacts more.
B) Dependent and Independent Variables
#n this research proposal, the topic at hand deals with the effects that average income of
women has on the average education of girls. The independent variable for the research question
is the average income of the women within #ndia. The dependent variable for the research
question then is the average education of girls. The assumption here is that a positive relationship
will exists between the independent variable and the dependent variable. This means that as the
average income of women increases, so do the average education of girls. <ere, it would be
important to insert the process through which is this assumption is held true. >iven the wor!
conducted by "ensen, there is a positive relationship between labor mar!et opportunities and
enrollment of girls into training programs and school. Similarly, then the data would illustrate a
positive relationship that when the average income of women is larger, these areas will also have
a higher average education of girls. The underlying assumption is that families want to invest in
girls education because they believe that incurring the costs will payoff in the long-run because
the girls will be able to obtain a higher level of income. Thus the possibility of the income in the
future is what drives the education of girls in the status quo.
. Identification Strategy(
The independent variable for the purpose of this research proposal is the average income
of women. >iven the data employed in this paper, the independent variable accounts for the
data report of the person's wages and salary income from the reference wee!. The dependent
variable in terms of this research proposal then is the average education attainment of girls.
<ere, the counterfactual can be those who did not attend school given the specific women's
income percentile. 5omparing these two variables is probable because a strong argument for
correlation can be made.
6nce again, if one is to loo! at "ensen's conclusion it states that there is a positive
relationship between labor mar!et opportunities and education attainment for girls. Ta!ing this
conclusion into consideration, this research paper attempts to further develop whether or not
income7wages of women effect the education attainment of girls. The relationship between the
two variables can be analy=ed if one is to follow the economic theory of cost and benefit
analysis. <ere, the cost would be incurred for sending girls to schools, and the benefits would be
the incomes7wages women ma!e upon attaining a certain level of education. The relationship
under examination assumes that future possibility of income plays a factor in determining
whether or not families decide to send girls to school. This assumption would mean that families
send their daughters to school when they notice that the benefit in the future will outweigh the
cost. Simply, meaning that the family is willing to send daughter's to school because it is an
investment into their human capital. Since human capital theory assumes the greater the
investment the greater the benefit, family decisions to send girls to school follow this same logic.
Send girls to school now, because once they complete school they will have the necessary
requirements to ta!e part in the labor force and the human capital productivity will yield a high
return in terms of income 2wages8.
This paper attempts to analy=e the effects of women's income on girls education
attainment, however/ a problematic aspect of this analysis can be that women's income is not
what effects girls education attainment, but rather general household income attributes to effects
on girls education attainment. #n terms of the data being employed for this paper and analysis,
the data for household income does not exist. @eaning, for this research question, the paper does
not address the household income problem. Thus, the omitted variable is the household income.
#f the data of household incomes existed, it would be interesting to repeat the analysis
comparing the effects that household incomes had on girls education attainment and the effects
of women's income on girls education attainment. 9or the hypothesis of the proposed research
question in this paper to be accurate means that as women's income increased so does the level of
girls education attainment. To thin! of this hypothesis to be accurate means that if one was to
use the data comparing the effects of women's income on girls education to the effects of
women's income on boys education, the data would suggest that a convergence would ta!e
place. Simply, this means that as women's income increase, the gap between girls education
attainment and the boys education attainment would converge. 9urthermore, the girls education
attainment in itself would also increase. This convergence would allow for analysis to ta!e place
that suggests that women's income does indeed effect education attainment for girls. <owever, if
the hypothesis is incorrect, then the comparison of both the effects of the general household
income and women's income would show the same results. @eaning, that as the general
household income increased, so would girls education attainment. #f this occurs, then the
conclusion would suggests that women's income and girls education attainment are simply a
relationship of correlation and not causation. 6ne cannot disprove that household incomes effect
girls education attainment, and that these variables share a positive relationship.
Thus, it is important to ac!nowledge, that this research proposal examines a question in a
narrow scope. The assumption is those womens incomes effects girls education attainment, and
the data being used in this proposal adhere to test the hypothesis of whether or not there is a
positive relationship between women's income and girls education attainment. <owever, there is
an alternative explanation that this proposal has yet to rule out. That explanation deals with the
household income, and because the data does not specify that information, the hypothesis and
conclusion of this paper cannot strictly approve or disapprove of that explanation. Father, this
proposal allows creating a correlation relationship, with potential for a causal analysis given the
current data. Cith different data, it would be possible to rule out on the alternative explanation of
household income.
This paper will loo! at the average school attendance of both boys and girls given each of the
percentile brea!downs of women's income. #n order to address the issues of showing that girls
schooling increases when women's income increases, the data will compare both the boys and
girls schooling. #n showing this, the data will show whether the change of schooling is or isn't
larger for girls as dependent on women's income. <ere, the difference in the average boys and
girls schooling will also suggests whether or not the gap between boys and girls education is
widening or narrowing.
IV. ata and !ean:
9or the purposes of this research proposal the data being used is from #')@S-#nternational.
This database provided by @innesota 'opulation 5enter, )niversity of @innesota is a project
dedicated to collecting and distributing census data from around the world. Therefore, using this
database, the paper restricts the data being used to information about #ndia from the year $%%&.
The database allows selecting data for specific variables such as( sex, education attainment, and
income. These three variables are especially important to the analysis at hand. 9irst, sex variable,
the data needs to be stratified between male and female. This is important because the hypothesis
is to test the specific effects of women's income and girls education attainment. 3ext, the
income variable is important for analysis. #t is important to understand the different levels of
income different women have. This allows establishing different percentiles of women's income
and from there see specifically how increases in women's income effect education attainment.
*8
0
10
20
30
40
50
60
70
10th 25th 50th 75th 90th
Boys
Girls
D8
0.4
0.5
0.6
0.7
0.8
10th 25th 50th 75th 90th
Boys
Girls
V. "onc#usion
Comens #ncome 'ercentile
*verage School
*ttendance 2A8
Comens #ncome 'ercentile
*verage School
*ttendance 2A8
*ccording to the data available, when presented in both a bar graph and line graph, the
evidence allows one to conclude that there is a positive relationship between education and
income. The scope of this research paper proposal is to analy=e the role that girls education
plays on income potential. The data is conducive to the argument that an increase of education in
girls will directly correlate with an increased income potential. The trend in the graph suggests
that the increased availability of education to girls overtime leads to a decrease in the gap
between boys and girls income differences. The data found is not definitive. The research
proposal would allow developing different variables in order to account for the reason this exists.
The evidence suggests that education and income share a positive relationship, however/
it would be beneficial to further the research. To do means to create a research project that
surveys womens labor participation through a spectrum of education levels. 9urthermore,
evidence must be comparative. * research project that surveyed different countries around the
world examining female labor participation and income levels as distributed by education levels
would provide more compelling evidence. Such a project would give a more definitive answer to
the hypothesis that increased education creates larger levels of income potential.
This sort of project and evidence would play a pivotal role for developmental efforts in
developing countries. #t would prove that girls education is an essential aspect to allow for
women to not only enter the mar!et but have sustainable economic standing. Such a project
would be an awa!ening to the traditional concept of women having a comparative advantage in
the home production. Father, developing countries that experience a large gender gap in income
distribution could have access to possible solutions to combat this issue.
$ib#iogra%hy
:auda, Fisi!at S. 6ladoyin. J9emale 4ducation and 3igeria's :evelopment Strategies( ;ots of
Tal!, ;ittle *ction.J Indian Journal of Gender Studies 2$%%E8( &,+-EB. Sage Journals.
Ceb.
>oldin, 5laudia. The uiet Revolution That Transfor!ed "o!en#s $!plo%!ent& $du'ation& and
(a!il%. 3o. w++B10. 3ational Dureau of 4conomic Fesearch, $%%,.
<er=, Darbara Knapp, and >ene D. Sperling. "hat wor)s in girls# edu'ation* $viden'e and
poli'ies fro! the developing world 5ouncil on foreign relations, $%%&.
"ensen, Fobert. J:o ;abor @ar!et 6pportunities *ffect Houng Comen's Cor! and 9amily
:ecisions 4xperimental 4vidence from #ndia.J The uarterl% Journal of $'ono!i's
+$E.$ 2$%+$8( E10-EB$.
@innesota 'opulation 5enter. #ntegrated 'ublic )se @icrodata Series, #nternational( Lersion ,.$
M@achine-readable databaseN. @inneapolis( )niversity of @innesota, $%+0
Schult=, 'aul T. JChy governments should invest more to educate girls.J "orld Develop!ent
0%.$ 2$%%$8( $%E-$$1.
J)#S Statistics in Drief( 4ducation 2all ;evels8 'rofile-#ndia.J +,$S-. Institute for Statisti's.
)34S56, n.d. Ceb. +% @ar. $%+&.
)34S56. $%%0. $du'ation for All Global /onitoring Report 0112345 'aris( )34S56.
)nicef. The State of the "orld#s -hildren 01146Girls& $du'ation and Develop!ent. )3#549,
$%%%.