Gender-preferential Intergenerational Patterns in Primary Education Attainment: A Quantitative Analysis of a Case of Rural Mindanao, the Philippines
Discussion Papers
No.479
by OKABE Masayoshi
September 2014
ABSTRACT
The Philippines has achieved a relatively high standard of education. Previous researches, most of which deal with Luzon Island, have indicated that rural poverty alleviation began partly due to the increased investment in education. However, the suburban areas beyond Luzon Island have rarely been studied. This study examines a case from rural Mindanao, and investigates the determinants and factors associated with children’s education, with a special focus on delays in schooling, which may be a cause of dropout and holdover incidences, as well as exploring gender-specific differential patterns. The result shows that after controlling other socioeconomic attributes, (1) delays in schooling, as well as years completed, are more favorable for girls than boys; (2) the level of maternal education is equally associated with the child(ren)’s education level regardless of their gender; and (3) paternal education is preferentially and favorably influential to the same-gender child(ren), i.e., son(s). To reduce the boy-unfriendly gender bias in primary education, this study suggests two future tasks, i.e., providing boy-specific interventions to enhance the magnitude of the father-son educational virtuous circle, and comparing the magnitude of gender-equal maternal education influence and boy-preferential paternal education influence to specify which effect is larger.
Keywords: Delays in years of schooling; Gender-preferential and intergenerational effect; Primary
education; Poverty; Limited dependent variable regression; Rural Mindanao; The Philippines
JEL classification: I20, I21, I24, I25, I29, O53
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