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Education and women's empowerment: evidence from Uganda

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  06 September 2023

Thao Bui
Thao Bui*
Affiliation:
Department of Economics, Queens College CUNY, 65-30 Kissena Boulevard, Queens, NY 11367
*
Email: thao.bui@qc.cuny.edu
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Abstract

The government of Uganda introduced an education reform that eliminated school fees for primary school-age children in 1997. This paper finds that an increase in education, generated by the reform, has a positive impact on women's empowerment. Specifically, an increase in schooling, due to the reform, improves women's involvement in decision making within the household by increasing their likelihood of having a final say on issues related to their own health, about large household expenses, and regarding visits to family or relatives. Education enhances women's cognitive ability but has no impact on women's labor market opportunities and attitudes toward gender-based violence.

Keywords

Educationremoval of primary school feessub-Saharan AfricaUgandawomen's empowerment

JEL classification

I12: Health Behavior I25: Education and Economic Development J16: Economics of Gender • Non-labor Discrimination

Information

Type
Research Paper
Information
Journal of Demographic Economics , Volume 91 , Issue 2 , June 2025 , pp. 263 - 298
Copyright
Copyright © Université catholique de Louvain 2023

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