Abstract
This chapter is dedicated to the study of educational investments. Both the nineteenth and twentieth centuries were marked by profound improvements in individuals’ endowments in human capital, especially for girls. The massive and widespread access to education occurred gradually from primary education to secondary education, and from secondary education to tertiary education. Long-run trends reveal strong improvements in the quality of the labor force to a larger extent for girls. The inability of gender differences in educational investments to explain the persistence of gender differences in occupation and wage questions the socially established roles, behaviors and activities that the society consider appropriate for women.
When you educate a man, you educate an individual; when you educate a woman, you educate a family. Charles Duncan McIver (1860–1906)
L’admission des femmes à l’égalité parfaite serait la marque la plus sûre de la civilisation, et elle doublerait les forces intellectuelles du genre humain [The admission of women to full equality would be the surest mark of civilization, and it would double the intellectual forces of mankind] Stendhal
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Notes
- 1.
Using a factorial analysis based on French count-level data in 1866, Furet and Sachs (1974) highlight the existence of a strong correlation (0.90) linking the ability to read and to write and the “signature” proxy.
- 2.
Condorcet is considered as a fervent supporter of human rights so as women’s equality with men. He campaigned for women’s suffrage and published notably on the subject: De l’Admission des Femmes au Droit de Cité in 1790.
- 3.
The Commission des Onzes wished to exclude girls from public education considering that girls’ education had to be devoted to domestic parental care and had to go to free education institutions.
- 4.
CAP, BTS and DUT mean respectively Certificat d’Aptitude Professionnelle, Brevet de Technicien Supérieur and Diplôme Universitaire de Technologie.
- 5.
In 1984, 8Â % of boys enrolled in second year of secondary education specialized in Arts, 26Â % in economics-sociology and 66Â % in the scientific division.
- 6.
In 1898–1899, France had thirteen universities. Students from the École d’Alger are also taken into account.
- 7.
The Protestantism has a peculiar relationship with education. Luther insists on the obligation to know the Christian doctrine not by the oral transmission anymore but through the reading of the Bible. Therefrom, he emphasizes the importance of education and the need of a strong classical culture and requires the establishment of schools for the children of ordinary folks (being too children of the people of God).
- 8.
The index has a range from 0, where there is perfect inequality between boys and girls, to 1where there is perfect equality between boys and girls.
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Appendix C
Appendix C
Evolution of educational attainment of the female labor force. Sources: Own calculations based on data from Marchand and Thélot (1997)
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Diebolt, C., Perrin, F. (2017). Increasing Educational Investments. In: Understanding Demographic Transitions. Population Economics. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-44651-6_3
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