The Effect of Gender Inequality in Education on Health: Evidence from Turkey
Year: 2012
Type: article
Abstract: One of the main variables affecting the level of human capital positively is the improvements in health. The reduction in infant and under-five mortality rates and increase in life expectancy at birth are the basic indicators of improvements in health. One of the major sources of improvements in these variables is education. Theoretical literature by using various indicators shows that there is a long-term relationship between education and health levels. In this paper gender inequality in education has been used as an indicator of education. For, gender inequality in education has a potential strong effect on infant and under-five mortality rates. This paper deals with the relationship between gender inequality in education and health indicators especially for Turkey. The annual data for 1968-2006 periods were tested by Johansen Cointegration method. According to the result of empirical analysis, the effect of gender inequality in education on health is positive in the long run.Key WordsGender Inequality, Education, Health, Johansen Cointegration Test, Error Correction Model.(ProQuest: ... denotes formulae omitted.)In 2000, 189 member countries of United Nations adopted The Millennium Development Goals to be achieved by 2015. Five out of these eight goals are about education and health. Improvements in these two are essential for development. Health, especially infant and child health receives more attention as key indicators for economic development in the last two decades. The achievement of these goals should not be considered as independent from each other. Education can improve health as well as physical and mental health can increase the possibility of education for an individual. Polices that will lead to an improvement in both education and health should be considered for further development (UNDP, 2000b).Education level can affect health in many ways. First of all, education leads to more job opportunities, more skilled work and thus a higher income. Also education improves the knowledge of a healthy life (Arendt, 2005, p. 149). People that have higher education level earn more than less educated ones and this affects health. The higher income is, the more people consume goods that improve health like health insurance (Cutler & Lleras-Muney, 2010, p. 7). An increase in person's own schooling is suggested to increase his/her own health and also health of their children (Grossman, 2005, p. 18).Besides, education affects the next generations' health through educated parents, especially women. Mother's schooling is more significant than father's schooling in child health, but both have a positive and significant effect. This is because mothers are more involved with children's health (Grossman, 2005, p. 58). Schultz states that the education of mothers can affect child health in five ways: 1- education may increase the effectiveness of health inputs in child health; 2- education may affect the allocation of health resources. For example more educated mothers will have better information on optimal allocations and as a result they will have healthier children; 3- education years of parents will increase the total family income. Even if mothers do not work in the market, they marry men with higher incomes; 4- the time of more educated mothers have a higher value i.e. opportunity cost of time is higher, and because of this the time devoted to child care decreases by tears of education; 5-given total income, prices and technology, education affect parents' preferences about child health and family size (Schultz, 1984, pp. 221-222).One of the World Bank's priorities for development is the education of the girls, because one additional year of schooling of girls reduces the under-five child mortality significantly (World Bank, 1990, p. 81). Women's education ends up with healthier children, for they have better health themselves, better knowledge about health care and nutrition, healthier behaviors (Chen & Li, 2009, p. …
Language: English
Subfield: Education
Field: Social Sciences
Domain: Social Sciences
Open Access status: diamond
OpenAlex ID: W237797879