Female headship and schooling outcomes in the Philippines
Date
2013-04
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Abstract
This paper contributes to the limited existing literature on female headship in the Philippines by specifically exploring its effects on the schooling outcomes of children. Unlike previous studies,
we explore schooling outcomes rather than educational expenditures and take into account the heterogeneity of female headship. Using nationally representative data from the Annual Poverty
Indicator Survey (APIS) for the years 2008 and 2011, we estimate the effects of household headship on three dichotomous dependent variables measuring schooling outcomes: enrollment,
current attendance and employment. Although the results show that female headship does not necessarily mean better schooling outcomes for children, we find that children in female headed
households are less vulnerable to discrimination or undesirable socio-economic household characteristics compared to children in male headed households. Children from widowed female
households are also less likely to have ever been enrolled and more likely to be working than those from male headed households. These findings support the heterogeneity in female headship
and suggest endogeneity in the headship of widowed females who are subject to restricted access to economic resources due to the loss of a primary income earner.
Description
Keywords
Female headship, Schooling outcome, Philippines