RAJIV GANDHI NATIONAL UNIVERSITY OF LAW, PUNJAB

PROJECT REPORT ON
EDUCATIONAL GENDER INEQUALITY AND ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT

SUBMITTED IN THE PARTIAL FULFILMENT OF B.A. LL.B. (HONS.)

6TH SEMESTER

DATE: MARCH 04, 2020

SUBMITTED TO: SUBMITTED BY:

DR. HONEY KUMAR MS. SUBIYAH HAFEEZ

SIDDIQUI

ASSISTANT PROFESSOR-SOCIOLOGY ROLL NO. - 17093

(GROUP- 5)
 ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

Firstly, I would like to take this opportunity to express my profound gratitude and deep
regards to professor (Dr.) Paramjit singh jaiswal, vice chancellor, assistant professor Dr.
Honey Kumar for giving me such a golden opportunity to show my skills, through this
project.

The project is the result of extensive ultrapure study; hard work and labour, put into make
it worth reading.

I wish to acknowledge that I completed this project by receiving help of my friends and
teacher. His class lectures helped me immense to gather relevant information. This
project couldn’t be completed without the help of my university’s internet. I am also very
thankful to my batch mates for supporting me to tackle every stumbling block in my way.

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 TABLE OF CONTENTS

1. INTRODUCTION......................................................................................................3

2. ROLE OF EDUCATION IN ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT.............................5

2.1 Relationship of education and economic development.........................................5

2.2 Gender inequality in education...............................................................................6

2.3 Theories.....................................................................................................................9

2.3.1 Classical theories...............................................................................................9

2.3.2 Feminist Theories:...........................................................................................10

2.4 Impact of women education on human capital and economic development....12

3. CONCLUSION.........................................................................................................14

4. BIBLIOGRAPHY....................................................................................................15

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1. INTRODUCTION

“Education is the most powerful weapon you can use to change the world.” Nelson
Mandela.  
Gender is an important aspect of social and economic stratification. Regardless of one‘s
socioeconomic class, there are systematic gender differences in material well-being,
although the degree of inequality varies across countries and over time. The importance
of gender equality, women‘s empowerment and the realization of women‘s rights in
achieving development has been increasingly recognized in recent decades and it has also
been realized in India1.

Women play an important role in every section of the society. A woman equally
contributes to development of a nation as a man does. Thus, linking gender inequality in
education and economic development is important for several reasons and this paper tries
to highlight some of its reasons. It is an attempt to analyze the role of gender inequality in
India.

Evidence on returns to education indicates that investment in schooling is subject to

diminishing returns, but that the macro marginal return on all education is still
considerable in highly-educated countries. In less-educated countries the marginal macro
returns are much larger, in excess of 50 percent, but since most of this return is indirect,
the magnitude of the marginal returns to education is not generally appreciated.

These very high macro marginal returns to education make it possible for poor countries
to grow very rapidly if they make a major commitment to raising their average level of
schooling2. The evidence also indicates that educated workers raise the marginal
productivity of physical capital and of other workers. In highly educated countries the
spillover effect on other workers is very small, but in less-educated countries this effect
appears to be much larger.

1
Klasen, Stephan, Does Gender Inequality Reduce Growth and Development? Evidence from Cross
Country Regressions, (1999).
2
Prem Vashishtha, Women’s schooling, home teaching, and economic growth, 107 JPE 682-714 1999.

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Finally, all countries the positive effect of rising human capital on the productivity of
physical capital is required to offset the diminishing returns to investment and make
rising investment in physical capital financially viable in the development process.

Finally, the human capital and physical capital are complementary; the education has
both direct and indirect effects on national income.  So the human capital and physical
capital are both required for economic development and that each has a positive external
effect on the productivity of the other3. To end with Education is the key to solve every
problem, no nation could achieve sustainable economic development without substantial
investment in human capital.

3
Supra note 1.

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2. ROLE OF EDUCATION IN ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT

2.1 Relationship of education and economic development

Education in every sense is one of the fundamental factors of economic development. No

country can achieve sustainable economic development without substantial investment in
human capital. Education enriches people's understanding of themselves and world. It
improves the quality of their lives and leads to broad social benefits to individuals and
society. Education raises people's productivity and creativity and promotes
entrepreneurship and technological advances4. In addition it plays a very crucial role in
securing economic and social progress and improving income distribution.

Centuries ago, Adam Smith identified, “the acquired abilities of all the inhabitants are a
kind of capital,” what is now called “human capital,” as one of the four types of fixed
capital that contribute to production in a national economy. Some economists began to
wonder if poor countries might be poor because they lacked human capital. They deduced
that rich countries devastated in World War II were able to quickly employ massive
amounts of new physical capital, while the poorest countries seemed unable to
successfully utilize even small amounts5. They theorized that a nation’s capability to
productively use physical capital is a function of its level of human capital and that if
human capital does not increase along with physical capital, then economic development
cannot proceed. In addition, it is notified that human capital is more likely to be the
constraint to development because foreign investors are eager to invest in physical
capital, but not in human capital.

Economists now accept that investment in education, or human capital, is an important

element in the economic development process. Econometric studies provide very strong
and consistent evidence that more educated workers are more productive and that they
earn higher salaries. There is also no doubt that average levels of education and national

4
Mohammad Zahir Akbari, Role of Education in Economic Development, Daily Outlook, 2016.
5
Adelman I. & C.T. Morris, Economic Growth and Social Equity in Developing Countries, Stanford
University Press 1973.

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income rise simultaneously6. So, this idea not only support Adam Smith’s view that
acquired abilities are a form of capital but also proves that education plays a large and
critical role in the economic development process and that it most likely is the limiting
factor in this process.

The relationships between the two capitals (human capital and physical capital) are
complementary. If human capital and physical capital are complementary, then
historically either type of capital or both could have been the factor limiting investment in
the other type of capital.

2.2 Gender inequality in education

Gender inequality in education is a persistent problem in Indian society, especially for

girls from rural areas and lower socioeconomic backgrounds. During the past several
decades, India has achieved success in moving toward universal school enrollment and in
enacting policies to address educational inequalities such as those based on gender.
However, education gaps still exist.

The factors through which educational gender inequality operates and the social contexts
that are associated with those girls who may be left behind academically are identified. It
is analyzed how social background factors, access to learning resources, time devoted to
formal learning activities, and cultural attitudes regarding the education of girls may
contribute to ongoing gender gaps in learning 7. An attempt has been made to go beyond
more commonly found descriptive studies of country-wide achievement and attainment
patterns by measuring a more diverse set of indicators newly available.

A primary aim is to identify statistical interactions among key variables. We hope the
results will provide increased insight into the current status of educational inequality in
India, offer useful information to policymakers as they develop targeted policies to
address persistent gender inequality, and identify areas for further study using more fine-
grained analyses among a narrower range of variables 8. Prior research reveals educational

6
id.
7
A. Nihlen, Schooling and the Reproduction of Patriarchy, in M.W.Apple (Ed.) Cultural and Economic
Reproduction in Education, 1982.
8
id.

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disparities by various demographic and school related factors such as gender, social
background, and access to educational resources.

Education is the right of each and every child despite gender. Education is the main factor
that contributes to the overall development of a nation. For a nation to grow one must
make assure that everyone in the country have got proper education. Only then we can
say a country to be developed9. Over the past decades there have been large and
successful efforts to extend primary education to all children, including girls in India.

Despite such efforts gender inequality can be seen in matters of education. A large
number of girls in India have not even seen a school in their life. Many societies think
that girls are not meant to go to school. According to them they are only meant to do
household works.

UN has taken various steps to promote education to everyone around the globe. And it is
our duty too that we must make every girl in our country to provide education. Little girls
face the debilitating discrimination of all few chances of attaining any education. Either
girls are not sent to school or at an early age their education is discontinued. In India,
very conspicuous gender disparities persist in all educational indicators, especially with
regard to enrolment and retention at the primary, upper primary and higher levels of
school education10. The situation is much worse in rural and tribal areas due to social
attitudes, poor access to education and family-oriented role and responsibilities of the girl
child. Girls form more than half of the illiterate children in the age group of 5-9 years.
Although girl’s enrollment at various levels of school education has improved
appreciably, girls account for only 43.2% of enrollment at the primary stage and 39% at
the upper primary stage.

The incidence of dropout and stagnation for girls is much higher than that of boys at
primary and upper primary stage. It is estimated that every 10 girls who enter class 1st,
only 6 reach to class 5th. Access to education continues to be a major problem especially
for rural girls. In India the literacy rate of women is much lower than men because boys
9
Role Of Education In A Developing Country Like India, Available at:
https://shodhganga.inflibnet.ac.in/bitstream/10603/36053/9/09_chapter%203.pdf, last accessed March 27,
2020 (7:48).
10
G Rao, Quality Parameters of school Education, 10 Edutracks Vol. 21-24.

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receive more schooling than girls. There are parts of India where the literacy rate of
women today is as low as 3 percent. So stark is the gender inequality in India that it is
one of the 43 countries in the world where male literacy rate are at least 15 percent higher
than female rates. As per the census of 2011, an effective literacy rate for men was
82.14% whereas for women it was 65.46% Educational deprivation is intimately
associated with poverty.

No country has ever emerged from poverty without giving priority to education. Low
female literacy rate means an overall sluggish growth of India, as it impacts every arena
of the development. India is struggling hard to stabilize its growing population through
family planning programs. But if females are illiterate, then this has a direct and negative
impact on these initiatives11. When a girl or a woman is not educated, it is not only she
who suffers but the entire family has to bear the consequences of her illiteracy. It has
been found out that illiterate women face more hardships in life than literate ones. They
have high levels of fertility as well as mortality; they suffer from malnutrition and all
other related health problems.

In one of the surveys, it has been found out that infant mortality is inversely related to
mother‘s educational level. In such a scenario not only women but their kids also go
through the same conditions. She, who does not know the importance of education in life,
does not emphasize the same for her kids. This hampers the family as well as the nation‘s
progress as a whole. Lack of education means lack of awareness. Illiterate women are not
aware of their rights. They know nothing about initiatives taken by the government for
their welfare. Illiterate women keep on struggling hard and bear harshness of life, family
and even their husbands12.

2.3 Theories

There are various theories that describe and explain educational inequality across social
space in particular. These are categorized under two heads viz. classical theories and
feminist theories.

11
id.
12
Supra note 9.

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2.3.1 Classical theories

A. Functional theory:

Functional theory is one of the classical theories involved in explaining inequality in

education. According to the functionalist perspective what leads to inequality in
educational attainment is the family background of students and personal characteristics.
The thrust of argument is that family socialization practices shape children's thought
pattern13. While some of these socialization practices are conducive to knowledge
enhancement, others are inhibitive. Implicit in such assumptions is that in affluent
families socialization practices are such that enhance knowledge and infuse aspirations
and as such their children are less likely to face problems in school, a situation of better
school achievement compared to the children of underclass people because underclass
parents fail to provide their children intellectual environment. In a nutshell, educational
attainment of an ·individual is the function of one's class location. Thus, functionalist
does not address the role of gender in educational inequality as they assume that the
experience of men and women in school is the same14.

B. Reproduction theory:

Reproduction theory like the functional theory, 'too, though in a different mode, sees
educational inequality as a function of social class difference. The central premise of the
reproduction theory is that 'cultural capital' in terms of familiarity with dominant values,
tastes and language code all inputs that schools presuppose are differently distributed
across social groups. As schools tend to inculcate or epitomize the dominant value, the
children of the wealthy are inherently privileged by the school system. In other words,
class location of an individual crosscuts other social denominations so far as inequality in
educational opportunities is concerned. Viewed thus, 'the reproduction theory' is also
gender blind in that it does not deal with inequality within the class where gender could
play a part in reproducing and perpetuating educational inequality in society15.
13
Prerona Guhain, Gender Inequality and Development in Indian Scenario: Consequences, Causes,
Challenges and Cures, 21 IOSR 2016.
14
id.
15
Gender Equality And Women Education In India, available at:
https://shodhganga.inflibnet.ac.in/bitstream/10603/61939/11/11_chapter%203.pdf, last accessed March 27,

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2.3.2 Feminist Theories:

Of late, feminist theories have appeared which basically deal with gender issues in
society. Though these theories have their origin in the west, they are relevant to non-
western societies as well. Their application varies across societies in degree rather than in
kind. Nevertheless, feminist theories are not homogeneous. They stem from several
ideological traditional and have several stands although they share a common thread m
that gender constitutes the core of explanation.

A. Liberal feminism:

Liberal feminism attributes gender inequality to sexual division of labour and the
prevalence of separate private and public spheres for social activities. While the private
sphere is considered to be a location exclusively for women, the public sphere for men.
Such a division results in differential socialization of children, which is .meant to prepare
their adult roles and work in the spheres appropriate for their sex. Thus, from this
perspective it could be argued that women's exclusion from educational opportunities and
gender inequality therein as well, is the result of traditional socialization processes which
are biased against women's education as it can be argued that women's education is
inconsistent with their perceived role in their private domain, that is, domestic work and
the task of reproduction16.

B. Radical feminism:

Radical feminism, in brief, maintains that gender inequality in society or women's

subordination springs from power relations based on sexual differences power which is
entrenched in patriarchy as an ideological system that holds men being superior to
women by, amongst other attributes, assigning stereotypical coded behaviour to men and
women. That is, men are solely viewed as breadwinners, women are seen as ·mothers
confined to their homes, as caretakers of children and other domestic chores. This
ideology is defended, maintained and reconfigured through a complex web of
institutions, norms, values and laws. Educational inequality between men and women,

2020.
16
id.

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seen in this perspective, can thus be an outcome of differential role expectations from
women and men in approval to this both17.

Indirectly, the state is indifferent or very slow to respond to the educational problems of
women and not getting involved seriously to transform the society and to espouse the
value of equality of educational opportunities. Directly, the state endorses patriarchy
values by emphasizing sex role socialization in textbooks. However, such theoretical
exposition suffers from a serious weakness as it tends to treat women as a homogenous
social category and defines gender problems solely based on ideological determinants. It
is well established that all women do not have equal chances to participate in the
available educational opportunities, nor are they equally deprived.

C. Socialist feminists:

Socialist feminists argue that though family is a source of oppression, forces of labour
market reinforce this oppression. Women represent both reserve and cheap labour force.
While women have to perform domestic work for the family, as workers they have to
provide cheap labour for the labour market, especially in informal sectors of production,
both patriarchy and capitalism negotiate and reinforce each other 18. This perspective,
when applied to educational inequality, make it possible to argue that the lower
educational attainment of women relative to men lies in women's double roles as
reproducers of children and as workers in informal sectors of the economy pre-empting
education as a pre-requisite.

Hence, gender inequalities in education cannot be held as a function of merely lacking

attributes and resources needed for educational success, but primarily as the expression of
conflicting economic interest in society.

2.4 Impact of women education on human capital and economic development

In India, where majority of the mothers stay at home, they are the ones taking care of
children's health needs. There has been shown, not only in India, but in the whole world,

17
Stephan Klasen, The Impact Of Gender Inequality In Education And Employment On Economic Growth,
15 FE 2009.
18
Supra note 15.

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that mothers who are literate have more nurtured and healthier children, than their
illiterate counterpart. Therefore female education has shown to be both directly (through
women joining the labor force) and indirectly related to a higher human capital, hence
higher economic growth. Good health and nutrition received in early age is an important
condition. Some say a high son-preference lowers population growth due to parity-
specific gender bias which leads to higher abortion rates when expecting a girl 19. This
effect is insignificant and very small compared to the positive association, according to
Drèze and Murthi.

For example, in India, vaccination against polio and malaria increases when a mother is
educated to some extent. However the causality between female education and better
health and attainment in school can be questioned. The poorest women have the least
access to education in India, and therefore do not have access to financial assets as
educated women might have. Healthy children facilitate mother’s ability to go back to
paid or un-paid work much faster than women who have unhealthy children. This means
that the opportunity cost of female education for girls decrease, if mothers and siblings
are healthier20. This might increase female enrollment, and decrease drop-out rate among
girls. Therefore, an increase in knowledge of basic health due to female education
increases human capital in more than one way.

In the majority of cases, fathers join the labor market while mothers stay at home,
especially in rural areas. In India there is a positive relation between educated mothers
and their children’s achievements in school. Studies have shown that a mother’s
education increases not only the health and therefore concentration level of a child in
school, but also the motivation and grades. Once again we can see that educated mothers
have positive effects on their daughters. Educated mothers, especially in urban areas,
encourage their daughters more often to strive for a higher education, than uneducated
ones.

If female schooling raises human capital, productivity, and economic growth as much as
male schooling does, then women's disadvantage in education is economically inefficient.

19
Kirti Shrivas, Role of Women Empowerment In Economic Growth In India, 2 IJRTER 2016.
20
id.

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Research world-wide shows that, in general, the economic benefits from women's
education - calculated as the economic rate of return to education - are comparable to
those from men's education. Thus, from the point of view of economic efficiency, the
gender gap in education is undesirable.

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3. CONCLUSION

Education is the most important way to erase gender inequality. So, steps must be taken
in order to promote education among women. Women should be given free education
upto post-graduate level. Every girl must get the opportunity to go to school. Sufficient
number of seats must be reserved for the eligible women candidates for services in all
autonomous institutions, semi-government and government institutions. Setting up of
large number of training institutions for women and girls in rural areas is essential to
provide them with skills that have a real value in their own environment, and which will
provide them with a steady income. Special health care programmes must be adopted in
order to give special attention to the health of women. Every girl child from their time of
birth should be given proper nutritious foods.

Strict punishments must be given to those who show violence towards women. Some
kind of rehabilitation homes must be established to provide shelter for battered women,
when their lives are threatened. The rehabilitation centers for the battered women should
be linked with some organizations, which can provide women to start some sort of self-
employment. Dowry system should be strictly prohibited. Public awareness must be
created in order to stop the system of dowry. Social education must be provided to the
general public and create an awareness among them about the changing modern values
like value of equality when status of women, role of women, irrelevance of dowry in
modern social system. Educated youth should take initiative in the abolition of dowry.

Sex education should be imparted to adolescents and youths in order to prevent crime
against women. All those who commit crime like rape must be strictly punished. Rape
victims should not be maltreated at the hands of the police. The burden of stigma should
not be attached to the victim and her family, but rather it should be shifted from the
victim to the offender. More police protections should be given around cities and towns
especially during nights so that the employed women can move on freely to complete
their tasks. More political and decision making power must be given in the hands of
women.

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4. BIBLIOGRAPHY

Articles:

 Klasen, Stephan, Does Gender Inequality Reduce Growth and Development?

Evidence from Cross Country Regressions, (1999).
 Prem Vashishtha, Women’s schooling, home teaching, and economic growth, 107
JPE 682-714 1999.
 Mohammad Zahir Akbari, Role of Education in Economic Development, Daily
Outlook, 2016.
 Adelman I. & C.T. Morris, Economic Growth and Social Equity in Developing
Countries, Stanford University Press 1973.
 Nihlen, Schooling and the Reproduction of Patriarchy, in M.W.Apple (Ed.)
Cultural and Economic Reproduction in Education, 1982.
 G Rao, Quality Parameters of school Education, 10 Edutracks Vol. 21-24.
 Prerona Guhain, Gender Inequality and Development in Indian Scenario:
Consequences, Causes, Challenges and Cures, 21 IOSR 2016.
 Stephan Klasen, The Impact Of Gender Inequality In Education And Employment
On Economic Growth, 15 FE 2009.
 Kirti Shrivas, Role of Women Empowerment In Economic Growth In India, 2
IJRTER 2016.

Online Sources:

 Role Of Education In A Developing Country Like India, Available at:

https://shodhganga.inflibnet.ac.in/bitstream/10603/36053/9/09_chapter%203.pdf,
last accessed March 27, 2020 (7:48).
 Gender Equality And Women Education In India, available at:
https://shodhganga.inflibnet.ac.in/bitstream/10603/61939/11/11_chapter
%203.pdf, last accessed March 27, 2020.

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