Taking action: achieving gender equality and empowering women

216 Notes
from many different countries found that the level of women’s education associated with a
10 percent decline in the fertility rate varied with the degree of gender stratification (Jejeebhoy
1996). In the most nonegalitarian settings (in Sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia),
a 10 percent decline in fertility was attained only among women with some secondary
education—or not at all—in 73 percent of the studies. In moderately egalitarian settings a
10 percent decline was attained by women with some primary schooling in half the studies.
And in the most egalitarian settings—in Latin America—a 10 percent decline was attained
by women with some primary school in 57 percent of the studies.
4. For lower levels of education the existence of a positive effect varies by type of outcome:
primary education tends to affect the use of prenatal services more than the use of
delivery or postnatal services (Elo 1992; Bhatia and Cleland 1995).
5. This confirms an earlier study in India which found that higher levels of education
among women are associated with a lower lifetime incidence of violence against women
(Duvvury and Allendorf 2001).
6. Although researchers attempted to control for underlying differences between
participants and nonparticipants, this remains a methodological challenge and should be
taken into consideration in interpreting the results.
7. UNESCO (2004) puts the figure at 54 percent, while UNICEF (2003b) estimates
it at 57 percent.
8. Convergence toward parity can be attained through several types of change: declines
in male rates with female rates remaining constant, declines in both female and male rates
with male rates declining faster, or increases in both female and male rates with female rates
increasing faster. Parity is desirable only if it is attained through increases in female rates.
9. These countries are Botswana, Burkina Faso, Burundi, Cameroon, Central African
Republic, Côte d’Ivoire, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Lesotho, Mozambique, Namibia, and Niger.
10. UNESCO defines the completion rate as “the total number of students successfully
completing, or graduating from, the last year of school in a given year, expressed as
a proportion of the total number of children of official graduation age in the population.”
Since national-level completion or graduation data are hard to compile and are not suitable
for cross-country comparisons, UNESCO uses as a proxy completion rate: first time
enrollment to the final grade of a school cycle as a proportion of the total number of children
of official graduation age in the population.
11. In a recent analysis of Demographic and Health Survey data from 24 Sub-Saharan
African countries, Hewett and Lloyd (2004) provide a somewhat more optimistic estimate
than that based on the World Bank data used in this chapter. They note that girls’
primary completion rates have risen from 48 percent to 53 percent over the 1990s in these
24 countries.
12. These countries are Cambodia, China, Lao PDR, Papua New Guinea, and Samoa;
Bulgaria, Estonia, Kazakhstan, and Poland; Turkey; Guyana and Nicaragua; Djibouti,
Iraq, and Israel; India; Benin, Burkina Faso, Chad, Côte d’Ivoire, Ethiopia, Lesotho, Mauritius,
Mozambique, Senegal, Togo, and Uganda.
13. Lloyd and Hewett (2003) also note that gender inequalities in primary school
completion are magnified among the poor.
14. The reason for a female advantage in education among poorer households in these
countries is unclear and could be a result of the underlying data collection methodology.
15. For a discussion of more equitable and efficient financing sources, see Sachs and
others (2004).
Chapter 4
1. Reproductive health is a state of physical, mental, and social well-being in all matters
relating to the reproductive system at all stages of life. Reproductive health implies