Authors
ABSTRACT
This study evaluated the level and distribution of educational attainments among male and female household heads in the Philippines. Estimates of average years of schooling (AYS) and education Gini coefficients show that the level and distribution of educational attainments for both subgroups were improving from 1991 to 2012. The study particularly found that females are becoming more educated than their counterparts at the turn of the millennium. Education Gini decomposition analysis then identified the within-males educational disparity as the main contributor (about 59–73% contribution) to the country’s overall education inequality.
Sex-disaggregated effects of education on the economic growth of Philippine provinces were also explored using panel and instrumental-variable (IV) regression analyses. Results suggest that improving both male and female schooling is growth-enhancing, while it is growth-retarding for provinces with widening male-female AYSgap. And since the AYSgap has reversed in 2000, it is seen that the country would further reap economic benefits from a more-educated female workforce.
