Childhood Illness and the Gender Gap in Adolescent Education in Low- and Middle-Income Countries

BACKGROUND: Achieving gender equality in education is an important development goal. We tested the hypothesis that the gender gap in adolescent education is accentuated by illnesses among young children in the household. METHODS: Using Demographic and Health Surveys on 41 821 households in 38 low- and middle-income countries, we used linear regression to estimate the difference in the probability adolescent girls and boys were in school, and how this gap responded to illness episodes among children <5 years old. To test the hypothesis that investments in child health are related to the gender gap in education, we assessed the relationship between the gender gap and national immunization coverage. RESULTS: In our sample of 120 708 adolescent boys and girls residing in 38 countries, girls were 5.08% less likely to attend school than boys in the absence of a recent illness among young children within the same household (95% confidence interval [CI], 5.50%-4.65%). This gap increased to 7.77% (95% CI, 8.24%-7.30%) and 8.53% (95% CI, 9.32%-7.74%) if the household reported 1 and 2 or more illness episodes, respectively. The gender gap in schooling in response to illness was larger in households with a working mother. Increases in child vaccination rates were associated with a closing of the gender gap in schooling (correlation coefficient = 0.34, P = .02). CONCLUSIONS: Illnesses among children strongly predict a widening of the gender gap in education. Investments in early childhood health may have important effects on schooling attainment for adolescent girls.