Schooling of girls and boys in a West African country: the effects of parental education, income, and household structure

In this paper we investigate gender differences in the determinants of seve ral schooling indicators-grade attainment, current enrollment, and withdraw al from school-in a poor urban environment in West Africa, using ordered an d binary probit models incorporating household-level random effects. Increa ses in household income lead to greater investments in girls' schooling but have no significant impact on schooling of boys. Improvements in father's education raises the schooling of both sons and daughters (favoring the lat ter) but mother's education has significant impact only on daughters' schoo ling; these estimates are suggestive of differences in maternal and paterna l preferences for schooling daughters relative to sons. Domestic responsibi lities, represented for example by the number of very young siblings, impin ge strongly on girls' education but not on boys'. Policies such as subsidiz ed childcare that reduce the opportunity cost of girls' time in the home ma y therefore increase their ability to get an education. JEL 015, I21 (C) 19 99 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.