Missed Opportunities: The High Cost of Not Educating Girls

This study is part of a series of notes at the World Bank on the potential cost of not educating girls globally. Despite substantial progress over the last two decades, girls still have on average lower levels of educational attainment than boys in many countries, especially at the secondary and tertiary levels. As documented by the World Development Report 2018, when it comes to actual learning, while girls tend to outperform boys in reading, they score lower in math and science tests in many countries. Together with occupational segregation and social norms that discourage women to take full advantage of labor market opportunities, this leads to large gaps in earnings between men and women. In addition, low educational attainment for girls has potential negative impacts on a wide range of other development outcomes not only for the girls themselves, but also for their children, families, communities, and societies. The objective of the series of notes is to document these potential impacts and their economic costs.

Low educational attainment affects girls’ life trajectories in many ways. Girls dropping out of school early are more likely to marry or have children early, before they may be physically and emotionally ready to become wives and mothers. This may affect their own health. It may also affect that of their children. For example, children of mothers younger than 18 face higher risks of dying by age five and being malnourished. They may also do poorly in school. Other risks for girls and women associated with a lack of education include intimate partner violence and a lack of decision-making ability in the household.