Manjit Das
Professor
Economics, Bodoland University
District – Kokrajhar, Assam (India)
Roselin Basumatary
Assistant Professor
Economics, Kokrajhar Govt. College
District – Kokrajhar, Assam (India)
Abstract
The state of being male or female especially when considered with reference to social and cultural differences rather than biological ones is called gender. Education seeks to nourish the good qualities and draw out the best in an individual. Gender inequality in education refers to the inequality in education between females and males. The paper aims to examine the gender inequality in literacy rate, Never Attended Rate (NAR) and investigate the impact of gender inequality in education on economic development in India. To examine the gender inequality in literacy rate across India, gender gap in literacy rate is examined for the period 1991-2011 using secondary data. To examine the gender inequality in NAR for the different age groups i.e. 7-14, 15-19, 2-24, 25-29, 30-34, 35-59, 60+ and ANS (Age not stated), gender gap of NAR for 2011 is examined using secondary data. Using a regression model, the paper investigate the impact of gender inequality in education on economic development in India. For the purpose, secondary data for Human Development Index of 2015 for different states and Union Territories (UTs) and gender parity index of literacy rate for the year 2011 of different states and UTs are used. The study finds that gender inequality in literacy rate where females lag behind males exist in India as a whole and in all its states and UTs. It is also found that male NAR is lower than female NAR in all the age groups in India as a whole and in almost all the States and UTs. The regression result reveals that gender inequality in education has a negative impact on economic development in India.
Key words: Gender, Inequality, Education, Impact, Development.
