Educational Opportunities for Boys and Girls in Thailand

Abstract

Within individual countries, the paths towards increasing educational attainment are not always linear and individuals are not equally affected. Differences between boys' and girls' educational attainments are a common expression of this inequality as boys are more often favored for continued schooling. We examine the importance of birth cohort, sibship size, migration, and school accessibility for explaining both the gender gap and its narrowing in secondary schooling in one district in Northeast Thailand between 1984-1994. Birth cohort is a significant explanation for the narrowing of the gender gap. Migration, sibship size, and remote village location are important explanations for limited secondary education opportunities, especially for girls.

The Impact of Remittances on Child Education in Pakistan

“…Other variables -the number of siblings, household size, the gender of the household head, the age and gender of the individual, and the quality of education -also determine schooling outcomes (see Wolfe & Behrman, 1984;Deolalikar, 1997;De Serf, 2002;Curran, Chung, Cadge & Varangrat, 2003;Sherpa, 2011). Ersado (2005) finds that younger siblings (under five years of age) have no impact on children's schooling in rural Nepal and Peru and in urban Zimbabwe, but report a significantly negative impact on schooling for urban Peru.…”

Parental Migration and Education of Left‐Behind Children: A Comparison of Two Settings

“…Earlier research has often demonstrated a negative outcome of parental migration in Mexico and in the context of international migration (Creighton et al, 2009; Halpern-Manners, 2011; McKenzie & Rapoport, 2006; Nobles, 2011), whereas the association tends to be less adverse and may even turn positive in more resource-constrained settings such as Africa, as well as in cases of internal migration (Adams et al 2008; Curran et al, 2004; Lu & Treiman, 2011; Macours & Vakis, 2010). Results from these earlier studies seem to support the main findings of a difference between internal and international out-migration and across different contexts underlying migration.…”

“…Indeed, the growing body of scholarship has found mixed effects. Some studies have found that out-migration positively affects children’s schooling and improves academic performance (Adams et al, 2008; Curran, Cadge, Varangrat, & Chung, 2004; Hanson & Woodruff, 2003; Lu & Treiman, 2011; Macours & Vakis, 2010). Others contradict this view and have demonstrated either a deleterious impact (Creighton, Park, & Teruel, 2009; Halpern-Manners, 2011; Lahaie et al, 2009; Lopez-Cordoba, 2005; McKenzie & Rapoport, 2006; Nobles, 2011) or a neutral impact of parental migration on children’s school enrollment and completion (Arguillas & Williams, 2010; Borraz, 2005).…”

Economic Shock and Migration

“…This data collection effort was also repeated in 2000. There were two main reasons for migrating in this context and during this period—schooling and work (Curran et al 2004; Curran et al 2005; Keyes 1984; VanWey 2005). Migration for marriage was rare, especially for women, given the matrilineal and matrilocal settlement patterns (Keyes 1984).…”

“…These characteristics are observed measures of their own characteristics, their household characteristics, and their village’s characteristics. We chose 13 years old as the lower bound because it marks the end of primary schooling and the beginning of exposure to the risk of moving as an independent adult (Curran et al 2004). We transform each person-year record into a person-year-move record, since the life history data allow for up to six moves in a year, and these moves are recorded in sequence (year t (1984, .…”