Poverty, women's autonomy, and girls' educational attainment at the higher secondary level: Insight from the Indian states

Abstract

In 2020, the Gross Enrollment Ratio of girls at the higher secondary level in India was 52.4%, down from 98.7% at the elementary level. This difference indicates a serious dropout rate among girls at higher levels of education. This dynamic motivates the twin objectives of this paper. We provide an overview of the scope and determinants of girls' current educational attainment at the higher secondary level for different states in India. In this attempt, we scrutinize the role of poverty and women's autonomy on the educational attainment of girls at the higher secondary level. A self‐developed socioeconomic index is used as a proxy for wealth status which is divided into five quintiles representing the poverty scenario of each state. Women's autonomy is measured by another self‐developed index: the Women's Autonomy Index. The empirical analysis is facilitated by the application of various statistical and econometric tools including multiple regression on the NFHS‐4 data for 28 Indian states. The empirical results suggest that the enhancement of women's autonomy and reductions in poverty enhance girls' educational attainment at the higher secondary level.