Children's school attendance, work, health and rainfall shocks in Ethiopia

The relationship between rainfall and primary-school-age children's school attendance, school absence, work and health in rural Ethiopia is investigated. The focus is on how these relationships may differ by children's gender. An increase in rainfall relative to longer-term average rainfall is associated with increased school attendance by girls and decreased school attendance by boys. An increase in rainfall is associated with increased probability of working by boys and decreased probability of working by girls; no significant change in weekly hours worked by boys and decreased work hours by girls. The implication for boys is that more of them work when there is more rainfall, but those already working work fewer hours. An increase in rainfall frees girls' time, so they can potentially devote more attention to their schooling. An increase in rainfall is associated with lower school enrolment by boys but fewer hours of work for those already working. In terms of human capital acquisition, these two forces work in opposite ways for boys. An implication of these findings is that policies that offset income shocks arising from reduced rainfall are expected to result in increase in girls' human capital and potentially reduce future gender economic disparities.