Demand-Side Primacy in Female Education
RCTReview
Policymakers frequently assume that low female school enrollment is caused by supply-side poverty or high school fees, ignoring the impact of low perceived economic returns to educating girls.
Picture this
Think of a factory owner who stops making solar panels not because silicon is too expensive, but because no customers are buying them. Once buyers flood the market offering top dollar for solar panels, the factory owner immediately ramps up production without needing a government grant to lower building costs.
What the evidence says
Providing job market information alone increased female school enrollment by 5 percentage points (closing 60 percent of the gender gap) and significantly increased girl BMI without changing financial costs or school supply.
- Who was studied
- 160 rural villages in Haryana, Punjab, Rajasthan, and Uttar Pradesh, India; school-aged girls aged 6 to 17.
- How
- Cluster RCT evaluating school enrollment and child BMI gains following job information provision, without introducing educational subsidies or cash transfers.
What to do
Prioritize communicating market job returns to families to stimulate female educational enrollment before relying solely on financial subsidies or fee waivers.
From the source
"For at least some girls, it is low demand, rather than poverty or high fees, that keeps them from school."
Improving_Labor_Market_Opportunities_to_Increase_Womens_Employment.pdf