Prelims

Half Title Page

Gender Inequality and its Implications on Education and Health

Title Page

Gender Inequality and its Implications on Education and Health: A Global Perspective

Edited by

Chandrima Chakraborty

Vidyasagar University, India

And

Dipyaman Pal

Bethune College, India

United Kingdom – North America – Japan – India – Malaysia – China

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Emerald Publishing Limited

Howard House, Wagon Lane, Bingley BD16 1WA, UK

First edition 2023

Editorial matter and selection © 2023 Chandrima Chakraborty and Dipyaman Pal.

Individual chapters © 2023 The authors.

Published under exclusive licence by Emerald Publishing Limited.

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ISBN: 978-1-83753-181-3 (Print)

ISBN: 978-1-83753-180-6 (Online)

ISBN: 978-1-83753-182-0 (Epub)

Dedication

This book is dedicated to our daughter

SHRINIKA

List of Figures and Tables

About the Contributors

Kaushiki Banerjee is Assistant Professor (Economics), Barasat Government College, and Research Scholar, Department of Economics, Jadavpur University, India. She was a UGC NET Junior Research Fellow. Research interest includes gender and social sector/econometrics. She has made paper presentations in national and international conferences, and publications in journals and edited volumes.

Pallabi Banerjee is currently serving at the Directorate of Census Operations, WB, as a Junior Consultant. She also had experience of academic content writing. She has an interest in academic research and presented papers in different seminars.

Marianna Bartiromo holds an MSC in Administration and Public Policies with honors and press dignity from the University of Genoa. She collaborates with the Channel & Retail Lab at SDA Bocconi School of Management in Milan. She works on data analysis from both quantitative and qualitative perspectives, and her research interests focus on sustainability, corporate social responsibility, gender differences, and political participation. She also works on marketing and in particular on the sectors of retail, healthcare, and digital payments.

Antara Bhattacharyya was awarded a Doctoral Degree from Jadavpur University, India. Now she is working as a Lecturer in Humanities at Arambagh Government Polytechnic, India.

Puja Biswas is currently employed as an Assistant Professor in Economics, Prasanta Chandra Mahalanobis Mahavidyalaya under West Bengal State University and is also a Research Scholar, Department of Economics, Jadavpur University, India.

Ananya Chakraborty is Senior Research Analyst with Climate Resilient Practice, World Resources Institute, India. She has a doctorate in Development Studies from Tata Institute of Social Science, Mumbai, and is an alumnus of the German Institute of Development and Sustainability. Her current research looks at gender and climate smart agriculture.

Amrita Chatterjee is an Assistant Professor at the Madras School of Economics since 2016. She obtained her PhD from Jadavpur University, India. Her primary research interest is Development Economics, Financial Inclusion, and the Economics of Gender. She has both contributed to national and international peer-reviewed journal publications.

Dyuti Chatterjee is currently serving as Assistant Professor of Economics at The Heritage College, India. She has academic experience of nearly 15 years. She has taught Economics both at the graduate and postgraduate level in several reputed colleges in Kolkata.

Sangita Choudhury is an Assistant Professor of Applied Economics at Maulana Abul Kalam Azad University of Technology (MAKAUT, WB) and a PhD scholar in the Economics Department, Jadavpur University. She published in reputed book and journals. Her interest area includes econometrics, development economics, and the social sector.

Abhishek Das is an Agricultural Economist at ICRISAT, India. His research focuses on Quantitative and Economic policy-related research in Africa and South Asia. Presently he is working on developing system dynamic models for different agricommodities to identify and leverage opportunities for the policies and institutions targeting market-led innovations.

Pinaki Das is a Professor, Department of Economics, Vidyasagar University. He was awarded with a Gold Medal in MSc in Economics. He has conducted three MRPs funded by DST, UGC, and ICSSR. He has published six books and 50 research papers. He has guided 14 research scholars. He has research interest in Labor Economics, Social Protection, Food Security, Multidimensional Poverty, and Women Empowerment.

Ramesh Chandra Das, PhD, is presently a Professor at the Department of Economics of Vidyasagar University, India. Dr Das has teaching and research experience of 25 years and a list of articles published in internationally reputed journals and books.

Srimoyee Datta is currently working as an Assistant Professor in the Department of Business Administration, Sidho Kanho Birsha University. Her research area incorporates Financial Inclusion, Microfinance Institutions, and Women Empowerment. She has published various research articles in various reputed national and international journals including Taylor & Francis, Inderscience, Sage, Springer, etc.

Arpita Ghose is Professor of Economics, Jadavpur University, and Chair Professor (Honorary), Planning and Development Unit, JU(NITI-Aayog), Government of India. She was former Dean (Arts) and Head (Economics), JUA PhD of ISI. She authored and edited books and published many journal papers from renowned International publishers, completed renowned national and international Institution's funded projects, supervised PhDs, with research interest in Econometrics, Macroeconomics, Productivity, Efficiency, Empirical Studies on International Trade, Applied Development Economics, and the Social Sector.

Tanushree Gupta is currently working as an Assistant Professor in the School of Commerce and Management Studies, Sandip University, Maharashtra, India. She is the review member of the International Journal of Research and Analytical Reviews (Peer-reviewed, Referred Journal) and also the member of an editorial board in the International Journal in Management and Social Science (international peer-reviewed journal). She has in her credit many research papers/publications of national and international repute.

Sushil Kr. Haldar is a Professor of Economics at the Department of Economics, Jadavpur University. He has numerous publications in different reputed national and international journals. He has published many papers in different reputed international and national journals of Economics.

Enrico Ivaldi is a researcher in Social Statistics at the Department of Political Science, University of Genoa. He is on the Editorial Board of the “Revista de Estudios Andaluces” (REA), the Centro de Investigaciones en Econometría of the Universidad de Buenos Aires, Argentina, and the Pontificia Accademia Mariana Internazionale, Vatican City.

Sebak K. Jana is currently Professor of Economics at the Department of Economics, Vidyasagar University, Midnapore, West Bengal, India.

Asim K. Karmakar is Assistant Professor in Economics, School of Professional Studies, Netaji Subhas Open University, Kalyani, Nadia, West Bengal, India. He is currently Joint Secretary of the Indian Economic Association.

Kavitha Kasala is a Nutrition and Gender Researcher at the International Crops Research Institute for the Semi-Arid Tropics. She has academic training in Nutrition and has two decades of experience in interdisciplinary research related to human nutrition and gender, project management, and training experience both at field and program level.

Gizem Kaya Aydin was a Research Assistant; she was a member of Istanbul Technical University. She has an MSc in Economics from Istanbul Technical University and a PhD in Econometrics from Marmara University. Her research area includes income distribution and consumer economics.

Satyanarayan Kumbhakar is an ICSSR doctoral fellow pursuing his PhD from the Department of Economics, Vidyasagar University. He is actively publishing in national and international peer-reviewed journals. He has expertise in field investigation and data processing. His research interests embrace Heath Economics, Development Economics, and Social welfare Economics.

Amit Kundu is working as Professor in the Department of Economics, Jadavpur University, India. His area of research interests includes Economics of Education, Economics of Public Policy, Labor Economics, Economics for Rural Development, and Agricultural Economics. He has already published more than 55 papers in different international and national journals of Economics.

Susobhan Maiti is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Economics, School of Humanities and Social Sciences (SHSS), Jain (Deemed-to-be University), Bangalore, India. He has published many research papers in the area of industry, efficiency, and productivity in both national and international journals.

Chayanika Mitra is Assistant Professor of Economics in St. Xavier's University, Kolkata. She completed her PhD in Economics from ISI, India. She has published in several reputed national and international journals. Her areas of research include Economics of education, Time series forecasting, Gender Economics, and Family Economics.

Sovik Mukherjee is Assistant Professor in Economics at the Department of Commerce (Morning Section) under the Faculty of Commerce and Management at St. Xavier's University, India.

Debarati Nandigrami has an MSc in Economics from Vidyasagar University, India. Her research interests lie in social sectors, women studies, agricultural economics, etc.

Ebele Stella Nwokoye teaches Economics at Nnamdi Azikiwe University, Nigeria. She has membership in the Nigerian Economic Society and Young Scholars Initiative of the Institute of New Economic Thinking.

Kingsley Chike Okoli is a doctoral student of Development Economics. He teaches Economics at Nnamdi Azikiwe University, Nigeria, and has a master’s degree in Human Resource Economics.

Mgbodichimma K. Okoro is a graduate assistant as well as a master’s degree candidate in Alex-Ekwueme Federal University, Nigeria. She obtained her bachelor’s degree in Economics from Ebonyi State University.

Bishal Rai is currently pursuing his PhD from the University of North Bengal. Presently he is teaching in the Department of Economics, St. Joseph's College, Darjeeling. He has published papers in journals and edited volumes. His teaching and research interest includes Development Economics, Regional Economics, Education, Human Capital, and Econometric Analysis.

Govind Singh Rajpal is an eminent legal scholar and researcher. He completed his postgraduation from the University of Bikaner and a Postgraduate Diploma in Criminal Law. He earned his PhD from the University of Bikaner. He is currently employed as a Professor at School of Law, Sandip University, Nashik. He supervises a number of PhD research scholars, and four of them have already been awarded doctorates. He has more than 20 research papers published in national and international journals of repute.

Rudra Prosad Roy is a Doctoral Research Scholar at the Department of Economics, Jadavpur University, India. His research interests lie in the areas of macroeconomics, financial economics, and applied econometrics. He has published in journals of international repute such as Economic Modeling, International Review of Economics and Finance, Journal of Economic Asymmetries, and several edited volumes.

Ali Saha is a Researcher and Sessional Lecturer in the field of Media Studies and Social Science at Monash University, Australia. She also teaches at the University of Melbourne and Swinburne University, and frequently serves as a guest lecturer at other universities. Her research interests and expertise are in the field of media sociology, and she frequently works with interdisciplinary subjects such as sociology, communication design, and journalism.

Tarak Nath Sahu is currently working as an Associate Professor and Head, Department of Business Administration, Vidyasagar University, Midnapore. His research publications are in the areas of corporate finance, corporate governance, CSR, corporate sustainability, stock markets, etc. Presently he is working as Director in a research program sponsored by the ICSSR. Under his supervision seven researchers have been awarded their PhDs. Dr Sahu has published more than 100 research articles in reputed national and international journals published by different reputed publishers, including Springer, Wiley-Blackwell, Emerald, Taylor & Francis, SAGE, Palgrave MacMillan, Inderscience, etc.

Indrani Sengupta is Assistant Professor of Economics in Xavier Law School, St. Xavier's University, India. She completed her MA in Economics from Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi, and MPhil in Social Sciences from the Centre for Studies in Social sciences, India. Her research interests include Economics of education, Sociology of education, Gender, and Economic Sociology.

Sreerupa Sengupta is Assistant Professor in Healthcare Management at the Goa Institute of Management. Her areas of interest include public policy, health communication, and gender and development. She holds a PhD in Women's Studies, a Master's in Sociology, and is an alumnus of the German Institute of Development and Sustainability.

Gamze Yildiz Şeren is an Associate Professor at Namık Kemal University, Public Finance Department Tekirdag, Turkey. She holds a master's degree in Public Economics from Marmara University and a PhD in Public Finance from Marmara University. Her main research fields focus on public finance, taxation, budgeting, and gender.

Begum Sertyesilisik is a Professor. She has been awarded her PhD at the Middle East Technical University and her MSc, MBA, and BSc degrees at the Istanbul Technical University. She has been specialized in the fields of sustainable construction project management, construction project management, sustainability, and sustainable built environment.

Egemen Sertyesilisik has been awarded an undergraduate degree from the Bilkent University. He has been awarded an MA degree from the University of Liverpool, an MBA degree from the Yıldız Technical University, and a PhD from the Marmara University. He has many publications especially on sustainability, political economy, and sustainability policies.

Manisha Subba has a Masters in History and Education, and Doctorate from the University of Delhi. She is presently with the Department of Elementary Education, Mata Sundri College for Women, University of Delhi. Her teaching and research interests include Pedagogy of Social Science, Contemporary India, and History of Education. She has contributed as a consultant in various projects and was a member of Joint Review Mission, 2014, in Teacher Education, Tamil Nadu.

Nkechinyere Rose Uwajumogu teaches Economics at Alex-Ekwueme Federal University, Nigeria. She was a recipient of United Nations University Institute for Natural Resources in an Africa Home-based Scholar Programme.

List of Contributors

Foreword

There is a well-known African proverb which says: “If you educate a man, you educate an individual. But if you educate a woman, you educate a nation.” This can be extended to areas beyond education, such as healthcare, among others. Unfortunately, due to discrimination and other social factors, huge inequalities in gender exist in many countries including India in education, in healthcare, in the labor market, and so on. Purely from an economic point of view, it is highly inefficient as women constitute nearly half of the total population: gross domestic product can be significantly increased if such inequalities are eliminated. The ethical dimension of the problem is even more of concern. The consequences of such inequalities also often have devastating effects on women and young girls in terms of malnutrition and morbidity. A clear manifestation of that can be found in the adverse female-to-male ratios in many South Asian countries.

In the present book, Dr Chandrima Chakraborty, a faculty member in the Department of Economics at Vidyasagar University, India, and Dr Dipyaman Pal, a faculty member at Bethune College, India, have collected 23 research articles on this topic. Most of the contributors are established academics, but there are also some doctoral students among the contributors. The geographic coverage of the contributions is also impressive with contributions from Asia, Australia, Africa, and Europe. The studies included also cover the above continents. The geographic coverage would allow researchers and policymakers to compare different country experiences, and then to see if success in one country can help to formulate policies in other countries. As one would expect, most of the contributions are on gender inequalities in education and in healthcare, but other areas of concern such as gender ratio in population are also present.

This book project must have been painstakingly arduous and challenging because of the complex nature of the broad problem. I congratulate the editors for being successful in the project. They have done a great service to the profession by completing this project.

To summarize, the book is on an extremely important subject, which should be attractive to any scholar and policymaker interested in the issue of gender inequality in emerging countries, and it should be a supplementary reading in any undergraduate and graduate course in development economics.

Sajal Lahiri

Vandeveer Chair Professor in Economics and Distinguished Scholar

Southern Illinois University Carbondale, USA

Acknowledgements

With extensive hard work on the stages from submission of the book proposal to final submission of the proposed book titled Gender Inequality and Its Implications on Education and Health: A Global Perspective, it is an abundant pleasure for the editors as well as the chapter contributors that the book is now published.

In carrying out the entire project, the help and support of different organizations, academicians, and other members of the society who are directly or indirectly associated to the project cannot be forgotten.

First and foremost, we must acknowledge the cooperation and support of the Emerald Publishing Ltd. Team for approving the proposal and continuously guiding us at all stages of developments of the book.

Secondly, we are highly grateful to all the contributing authors for their valuable chapter contribution and adding to the existing literature through this volume. I would like to express my special thanks to the contributors for helping me to complete the project and effectively on time.

Thirdly, we are indebted to our little daughter for her support and sacrifice in carrying out this lengthy project.

At last but not in least, we would like to thank everyone who helped and motivated us to work on this project.

Although all care has been taken, no one other than us, as the editor, discloses to remain entirely responsible for any errors that still stay behind this book.

Chandrima Chakraborty

Dipyaman Pal

The Editors