Gender differences in educational attainment at the primary and secondary education levels in Turkey

Due to its importance for economic and social development, studies on the education of children, particularly decisions about the education of girls, have been growing in the literature. This study investigates the determinants of the educational attainment of girls and boys at the primary and secondary education levels in Turkey using the 2003 Household Budget Survey. This study differs from most of the other studies by considering both the censoring problem and unobserved common family characteristics in the analysis. The educational attainment and the potential factors that are associated with gender gap in schooling are found to differ by the level of education. In particular, parental education and community characteristics are the main factors for the schooling of girls, particularly at the secondary school level, whilst having a self-employed father or having a father working in agriculture are among the key determinants of the primary school educational attainment of boys.