Pregnancy-related dropouts and gender inequality in education: a life-table approach and application to Cameroon.
In this study, I used a life-table approach to estimate how much hypothetical reductions in pregnancy-related dropouts would help close the gender gap in educational attainment. Using the schooling histories of 6,686 pupils, I partitioned Cameroon's gender gap in education into "pregnancy-related" and "non-pregnancy-related" components and simulated the impact of reductions in pregnancy-related dropouts on this gap. The results suggest that such reductions would have substantial payoffs in this setting, but payoffs would be the greatest where societies also address gender inequities before puberty and outside the realm of pregnancy. Reductions in pregnancy-related dropouts complement but do not replace efforts to reduce gender discrimination in schooling. Recent data from Demographic and Health Surveys should make it possible to extend this analysis to other countries.
Department of Development Sociology, Cornell University, Ithaca, NY 14853, USA. pme7@cornell.edu
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Eloundou-Enyegue
D000293:Adolescent; D002163:Cameroon / Q000453:epidemiology; D003906:Developing Countries; D004522:Educational Status; D005260:Female; D006306:Health Surveys; D006801:Humans; D015993:Life Tables; D011247:Pregnancy; D011253:Pregnancy in Adolescence / Q000517:prevention & control / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D011336:Probability; D012737:Sex Factors; D012923:Social Class; D012959:Socioeconomic Factors; D013332:Student Dropouts / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires