Intra-household Gender Disparity in Private Tuition: Evidence from West Bengal

Abstract

The article focuses on intra-household gender disparity in private tuition in West Bengal. By employing Engel curve framework and hurdle model with household-level data from NSS 71st Round (2014–2015), the article establishes that there is significant gender bias in favour of girls for the age group 15–20 years. This is contrary to the general perception of gender bias against girls. It has also been found that at the same age group, there is a significant difference in enrolment of girls and boys in private schools where boys are mostly enrolled in private schools. This finding suggests that girls are discriminated at the decision of formal schooling, but there is an attempt to compensate for it at a later stage when credentials become important to signal in the labour market or marriage market.