Great start to the day today listening to @DaveEvansPhD talk about girls' education around the world. I summarize two main sections of his presentation below (What do we know & how can we help girls gain more education)

@CREB_Pak #ADE2020 #education #gendergap #Educatethegirls

Dave and co-authors use the Barro-Lee data from 1960-2010 to establish facts about #gender gap in #education

1. Women are more educated today than any point in history (dark blue- Women aged 15+ in 2010, light blue- Women aged 15+ in 1960)

This is true for all countries and regions. Biggest change in UAE, smallest in Senegal (nonetheless doubles). For #Pakistan #women move from 0.35 years in 1960 to 3.76 in 2010, men move from 1.5 to 6.25 over the same period

However, #gender gap still persists.(negative value indicates women are less educated than men)

Interestingly, #gender gap widens before it narrows in 3/4ths of the countries. We see this where both genders had low levels of ed. When households start investing in ed, they first invest in boys worsening the gap. Hardest hit is South Asia. Gap for #Pakistan was worst in 2005

Girls catch up as countries become more educated. Most clear in Ghana and Iraq here

Countries with low education levels and high gaps often have other problems (high infant mortality, conflict) and need investment in multiple fronts not just education. See the ones in red below

With these facts, what can we do about learning gaps? How can we increase educational attainment and learning for girls?
Are interventions targeting girls most helpful in increasing access for girls? Not necessarily the average impact is very similar to general interventions

Similar trend for interventions for learning. General interventions can be just as effective as girl-targeted interventions and give policy makes a larger menu to draw from, are easier to deal with in terms of political pressure- use both #targeted and #non-targeted. Top ten

A lot of these interventions are about reducing cost of schooling, they work through the household rather than the school. So the binding constraint in a lot of countries is the HH budget constraint. So to improve access, cut the cost.