New Global Study Finds a Closing Gender Gap in Education Is Not Closing the Economic Gender Gap

A new study authored by Stephanie Seguino, a professor of economics at the University of Vermont, finds that worldwide women are closing the gender gap in education. But the study establishes that these educational gains have failed to close the gender gap in income, employment, or political representation.

Dr. Seguino examined data from more than 150 countries. She found that women have reached 91 percent of the education that men have — but only 70 percent of their rate of employment, and just 25 percent of political representation.

“Clearly, education alone is not enough to solve this problem,” says Professor Seguino. “We need concrete policy tools to break down gender barriers, because the market’s ‘invisible hand’ is not working.”

“Worldwide women actually likely earn much less than 77 percent of what men make,” Dr. Seguino says. “Right off the bat, men have more of the high paying jobs, so women are squeezed into lower-paid positions. And female unemployment continues to be about 30 percent higher than men’s, worldwide, so those women are not able to earn their own livelihood.”

Professor Seguino joined the faculty at the University of Vermont in 1995 and was promoted to full professor in 2007. She holds a bachelor’s degree in international affairs and a master’s degree in economics from the University of Maine. Dr. Seguino earned a Ph.D. in economics at American University in Washington, D.C.

The study, “Global Trends in Gender Equality,”  was published in the Journal of African Development. It may be downloaded by clicking here.