Cognitive and Non‑cognitive Gender Gap among Children: Evidence from Ethiopia

Abstract

This study aims to trace the roots of the cognitive and non‑cognitive gender gap among children in Ethiopia. It is keen to answer what gender gap exists in skills among boys and girls in the diverse socioeconomic and cultural settings of the country. The data comes from the Young Lives Project, a longitudinal study tracking the lives of children in four developing countries. The rich list of variables from the data is framed by the bioecological model of Bronfenbrenner that best explains the development of gender inequalities from childhood to adolescence. The results indicate the existence of gender difference between boys’ and girls’ cognitive and non‑cognitive scores. It is also evident that this difference in achievement scores is heterogeneous in that it differs with different personal characteristics (such as age and gender) in different processes and contexts (socioeconomic status, place of residence, household composition and parental literacy) at different points in time.

Keywords

• cognitive
• non‑cognitive
• gender gap
• bioecological model
• Ethiopia