Who Gets Primary Schooling and Why? Evidence of Gender Inequalities Within Families in Guinea

Abstract

This paper examines family-level determinants of schooling for boys and girls in Guinea using bivariate and multivariate analyses on data collected from school surveys. The results indicate that parents’ education and household wealth are two important determinants of school attendance and completion, particularly for girls. Mothers’ formal education is found to be a significant determinant of girls’ school attendance, increasing the probability of attendance by 18 per cent. In contrast, fathers’ formal education has no significant effect on children’s schooling. Non-formal education appears to have a different impact on the chances of currently being in school for boys and girls. Mothers’ non-formal education increases the chances of boys attending school and decreases those of girls, whereas fathers’ non-formal education reduces the chances of both boys and girls attending primary school.