Please use this identifier to cite or link to this item: https://hdl.handle.net/10419/35375 
Year of Publication: 
2009
Series/Report no.: 
IZA Discussion Papers No. 4108
Publisher: 
Institute for the Study of Labor (IZA), Bonn
Abstract: 
We investigate girls' school dropout rates, bringing forward a novel variable: access to water. We hypothesise that a girl's education suffers when her greater water need for female hygiene purposes after menarche is not met because her household has poor access to water. For testing we use data from rural villages in the China Health and Nutrition Survey. We find that menarche is associated with an increase in the school dropout rate, and indeed the effect is weaker for girls who have good access to water. Water engineering can thus contribute significantly to reducing gender education gaps in rural areas.
Subjects: 
Education
gender gaps
menarche
water
China
JEL: 
I21
J16
O15
L95
Q25
Persistent Identifier of the first edition: 
Document Type: 
Working Paper

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