The gender gap in education in India: a fresh exploration

Suddhasil Siddhanta, Kalyain College and United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF)

Equal access to educational opportunity is a basic human right essential to well being. Yet educational gap at attainment levels between male and female in India is staggering. Latest Indian 2001 population census and NSSO 2000 indicate considerable gender differences in educational achievement at all India as well as state level. In this paper we employ Educational Lorenz distribution and Gini coefficient to grasp the distributive dimension of gender inequality in education. Considering equitable educational development as a function of average years of schooling and education Gini coefficient, we have undergone decomposition of gender gap in equitable educational development, both at the national and at the sub – national level. Finally we analyse the relationship between gender gap in equitable educational development and monthly per capita expenditure to examine the relationship between economic affluence and gender equality in education. The study concludes that prosperity alone can not ensure gender equality in education in Indian societies. .