Empowerment and Education. A historical study into the determinants of global educational participation of women, ca. 1850-2010

Abstract

The research ‘Empowerment and Education’ focuses on global inequalities in the progress of education in relation to empowerment of women in the period 1850 to 2010. My thesis starts with a number of broader reasons for differences in education (including school attendance laws, child labor laws and family size), but then delves into the differences between the education of boys and girls. Legislation and income have a significant impact on global schooling participation worldwide for the entire period. In addition, I empirically test the argument that the degree of female self-determination within the family (how much 'agency' someone has, measured eg. by marriage ages), and family composition (how big is your family? Who lives with whom?) are important factors in these global differences.