Civil Liberties and Gender Disparity in Educational Attainment

Abstract

This study examines the relationship between civil liberties and gender disparity in educational attainment. We perform a dynamic panel data analysis using a unique panel dataset constructed from the Barro and Lee’s data on educational attainment and Freedom House’s data on civil liberties. The panel dataset covers 146 countries at five-year intervals from 1975 to 2015. One of the key findings is that, ceteris paribus, countries with higher levels of civil liberties tend to exhibit smaller levels of gender disparity in educational attainment. This implies that civil liberties may promote greater gender equality in educational attainment. It is observed also that gender disparity in educational attainment appears to follow a slight U-shaped pattern in relation to educational expansion, suggesting that the gender disparity initially decreases, but after reaching its lowest point at the mean years of education of around 8.6, it may begin to rise with further educational expansion