Trade-offs of Girls' Schooling in Rural Pakistan: Influences of Gender, Poverty and Community

Zeba A. Sathar, Population Council
Christine Callum, Independent Consultant
Minhaj Ul Haque, Population Council--Islamabad

Wide community differences in rural Pakistan, depending on resource allocation and service availability, lead to significant variation in opportunities for education and work for children and young people. At the same time, households have a huge influence on the social mores and demand for schooling and the pressures to enter employment for children especially in situations of poverty. We examine community and household effects on school enrollment and attainment level. We focus in particular on the impact of expanding educational opportunities for girls. We utilize the “Adolescent and Youth in Pakistan 2001-02”, a nationally representative sample survey of 8,074 young people aged 15 – 24 - 4,803 adolescents. Data sourced at three levels are linked - the individual, household/ parental attitudes, and the context of the community in which they reside – and analyzed using multilevel modeling.