Tuesday, February 22, 2011

Journal #8: Gender, poverty, family structure, and investments in children's education in Kinshasa, Congo

* Improved economic status does not necessarily resutl in reduced gender difference.
* Family structure (the # of children in the household in different age groups) and a child's relationship to the head of the household are very important influences on investmetns in children's education.
  
 - Greater responsiveness of female enrollement rates to changes in income and prices over time within countries (Schultz, 1989)
 - Children have to go to school, do market work, and help home production.
 - Birth-order effects on educational investments
 - **INT**: gender differences are widest not in the poorest segment of the population but rather in the next poorest group.
 - Female heads of household spend a larger percentage of the household budget on    children than do male heads.
 - More children avilable at home, lower opportunity cost of schooling
 - Among 6-14 ages: 22% and 15-19 ages: 27% children are not the children of the household   head --> Fostering rural children in urban environments
 -  In 1995, 85% of women aged 20 in Kinshasa had never been to school (compared to only 45% of men)
 -  It is still possible that the fostered children are achieving higher levels of schooling than if     they had remained in thier family 
 -  Education of the household head has been found to be a significant determinant of children's schooling --> Circulating Effect
 -  Gender differneces in reaching in 4th grade among children 10-14 are the greatest among the poor 
 -  School enrollment rates have dropped as the economy has continued to deteriorate

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