AbstractSocio-economic changes have been identified to alter demographic behaviour, most especially fertility desires. Cameroon just like most Sub Saharan African countries started experiencing decline in its fertility rates not too long ago. A couple of factors have been identified to influence women’s childbearing. Education has been pinpointed as one of the pivotal factors that play a role in influencing female fertility desire. Discussion on education in this paper is made in reference to educational attainment. This research had the aim of examining whether education level attainment (i.e. primary, secondary and university) influences women’s desire to have another child in Cameroon. The target group of the study was women who had at least one child, and their ages ranged from 15 to 45 years. To be able to conduct the study the 2011 demographic health survey (DHS) was used. The demographic theory and demand for children concept were used to provide theoretical framework on the topic. The study was based on the contention that the higher the education level of women, the lesser the desire to have children. From the logistic regression performed, the results portrayed that educational level does influence women’s decision to have another child especially for women with primary and secondary education. Women with no education are more likely to want to have another child than women with education. Women with primary and secondary education are significantly less likely to want another child than those with higher education. This result tends to be fall in line to what was expected. The results showed that although education shapes fertility desires, the number of living children, husband employment and household status tend to play more significant role in women’s desire to have another child in Cameroon. Keywords; fertility, Cameroon, female education, demographic health survey, logistic regression

The study aimed at establishing the relationship between household socio-economic characteristics and young female education participation and success in Zomba (Malawi). The main objective of the study emanated from huge concern regarding obstacles being faced by young females in education in most developing countries, especially in sub-Saharan Africa, which continues to contribute to young female school drop outs. The study had set empirical and theoretical objectives as guidance. The theoretical objectives were: to review the literature on the trends of young female education in sub-Saharan Africa and in Malawi; to review theoretically the relationship between household socio-economic characteristics and young female education participation and success in Malawi; to review the literature on cultural practices and gender biases that hinder young female education participation and success in sub-Saharan Africa and Malawi; to document the economic benefits of young female education; and to review gender disparities in education in Malawi. The empirical objectives were set as follows: establish if there is a gender bias in the households perceptions in terms of education support; establish if there is a statistically significant difference in the perceptions of young female education across different categories of heads of households; establish if there exists a statistically significant relationship between household Socio-economic characteristics and young female education participation in Malawi; and establish if there exists a statistically significant relationship between household socio-economic characteristics and girl success for those in school. The literature of the study was based on the theoretical objectives relating to what other studies have done on female education. A comparison across the world was conducted on factors hindering girls’ education and some of the trends on girls’ education in Malawi were reviewed from the past decade or so. It was observed that there is a gender bias in education, boys being given more precedence over girls, that from the factors that hinder children’s ability to attend, school girls seemingly had more share of the problems. The empirical portion of the study was based on data that were collected from random households in Zomba district. A total of 327 households with school aged children were interviewed. The study adopted a quantitative analysis where different quantitative methods were used such as descriptive analysis (cross tabulation, frequencies and means) and a logistic regression analysis was used to analyse the relationship between household characteristics and girls’ education. Overall, the descriptive and cross tabulations analysis showed that there is a gender bias in education with boys receiving more benefits compared to girls, and more girls than boys either repeat classes more or even drop out of school. Most girls dropped out of school because of pregnancy-related issues. It was also discovered that parental perceptions that were based on cultural norms hindered girls’ education participation, where most parents, especially from the rural areas, do not regard female education as important, and where given a choice, they would rather have their girl child drop out of school and get married. The regression analysis was based more on the relationship between household characteristics and girls’ education. Two regressions were used, one having success and the other school participation as the dependent variables and household characteristics like income, distance to water point, distance to school, age of child, age of parents and location as the independent variables. Overall, it was observed that children that came from rural areas had a higher probability of dropping out of school, and if the household was located in areas far from the water point and school, their girl child had a higher probability of dropping or repeating a class. In addition, the age of child and parents played a role in girls’ education. The study recommends that the government, in collaboration with the non-governmental organisation that deal with girls’ education in Malawi, should continue to explore other ways of dealing with the problems faced by girls in schools. There is need to educate parents, especially those in the rural areas, about the importance of girls’ education and this could be done through village-by-village campaigns through the chiefs. Government should also look into some of the cultures practised in different communities and maybe set by-laws stopping girls from attending for The relationship between household socio-economic characteristics and young female education participation and success in Zomba (Malawi) Page vi example initiation ceremonies during school days. Lastly, it should be every woman’s duty who has benefited from education to give back to the community by helping young girls who are having difficulties in accessing quality education.

The study aimed at establishing the relationship between household socio-economic characteristics and young female education participation and success in Zomba (Malawi). The main objective of the study emanated from huge concern regarding obstacles being faced by young females in education in most developing countries, especially in sub-Saharan Africa, which continues to contribute to young female school drop outs. The study had set empirical and theoretical objectives as guidance. The theoretical objectives were: to review the literature on the trends of young female education in sub-Saharan Africa and in Malawi; to review theoretically the relationship between household socio-economic characteristics and young female education participation and success in Malawi; to review the literature on cultural practices and gender biases that hinder young female education participation and success in sub-Saharan Africa and Malawi; to document the economic benefits of young female education; and to review gender disparities in education in Malawi. The empirical objectives were set as follows: establish if there is a gender bias in the households perceptions in terms of education support; establish if there is a statistically significant difference in the perceptions of young female education across different categories of heads of households; establish if there exists a statistically significant relationship between household Socio-economic characteristics and young female education participation in Malawi; and establish if there exists a statistically significant relationship between household socio-economic characteristics and girl success for those in school. The literature of the study was based on the theoretical objectives relating to what other studies have done on female education. A comparison across the world was conducted on factors hindering girls’ education and some of the trends on girls’ education in Malawi were reviewed from the past decade or so. It was observed that there is a gender bias in education, boys being given more precedence over girls, that from the factors that hinder children’s ability to attend, school girls seemingly had more share of the problems. The empirical portion of the study was based on data that were collected from random households in Zomba district. A total of 327 households with school aged children were interviewed. The study adopted a quantitative analysis where different quantitative methods were used such as descriptive analysis (cross tabulation, frequencies and means) and a logistic regression analysis was used to analyse the relationship between household characteristics and girls’ education. Overall, the descriptive and cross tabulations analysis showed that there is a gender bias in education with boys receiving more benefits compared to girls, and more girls than boys either repeat classes more or even drop out of school. Most girls dropped out of school because of pregnancy-related issues. It was also discovered that parental perceptions that were based on cultural norms hindered girls’ education participation, where most parents, especially from the rural areas, do not regard female education as important, and where given a choice, they would rather have their girl child drop out of school and get married. The regression analysis was based more on the relationship between household characteristics and girls’ education. Two regressions were used, one having success and the other school participation as the dependent variables and household characteristics like income, distance to water point, distance to school, age of child, age of parents and location as the independent variables. Overall, it was observed that children that came from rural areas had a higher probability of dropping out of school, and if the household was located in areas far from the water point and school, their girl child had a higher probability of dropping or repeating a class. In addition, the age of child and parents played a role in girls’ education. The study recommends that the government, in collaboration with the non-governmental organisation that deal with girls’ education in Malawi, should continue to explore other ways of dealing with the problems faced by girls in schools. There is need to educate parents, especially those in the rural areas, about the importance of girls’ education and this could be done through village-by-village campaigns through the chiefs. Government should also look into some of the cultures practised in different communities and maybe set by-laws stopping girls from attending for The relationship between household socio-economic characteristics and young female education participation and success in Zomba (Malawi) Page vi example initiation ceremonies during school days. Lastly, it should be every woman’s duty who has benefited from education to give back to the community by helping young girls who are having difficulties in accessing quality education.

According to the different studies, there is a strong correlation between (GDP) per capita as the index of economic growth and indicators of human development such as life expectancy, infant mortality, adult literacy, political and civil rights. Based on Millennium Development Goals, which is a program made by UN to reduce extreme poverty and improve human development in developing countries, we can find the indicator of which has key role and affect the other goals of human development directly and clearly. Considering the concept of education accurately we also would be faced with subject of literacy for both genders in a society. Recent empirical research reveals the benefit of women's education and describes the importance of this subject for the economic development.Therefore the main object of this paper is the relation between human development and economic growth and the effect of education on human capital accumulation and thereby on the economic growth, especially the case of female literacy rate and its consequences for human development. This paper will analyze the effect of the human development on the economic growth and well being with special attention to the female education concept related to the MDG in developing countries generally. It will consider mainly the sub Saharan countries as developing countries. For this purpose we will verify the theoretical literature via comparing statistic and charts for the region under consideration.

One of the very interesting demographic features in the US over the last several decades is the persistent racial educational gap between blacks and whites and the reverse gender education gap as a result of the rapid rise in women's educational attainment. This dissertation is to investigate the reasons behind it. I first investigated the educational gap between blacks and whites. I propose a new model to identify if and how much the educational attainment gap between blacks and whites is due to the difference in their neighborhoods. In this model, individuals belong to two unobserved types: the endogenous type who may move in response to the neighborhood effect on their education; or the exogenous type who may move for reasons unrelated to education. The Heckman sample selection model becomes a special case of the current model in which the probability of one type of individuals is zero. Although I cannot find any significant neighborhood effect in the usual Heckman sample selection model, I do find heterogeneous effects in our type-consistent model. In particular, there is a substantial neighborhood effect for the movers who belong to the endogenous type. No significant effects exist for other groups. On average, I find that the neighborhood variable, the percentage of high school graduates in the neighborhood, accounts for about 37.7% of the education gap between blacks and whites. This dissertation sheds some insight about women?s educational attainment by studying the motivations of education for women: to pursue higher wages and to find highly educated spouses. The identification strategy is that the college education is exogenous to the partner choice if education is driven by pursuing higher job market return (the type of marry-for-romance), and is endogenous if the education decision is driven by marriage market return (the type of marry-for-money). I find that the marry-for-romance type has higher education than the other type and given everything else the same, with the same education level, the women who marry for money have a higher probability of finding a highly educated husband than those marrying for romance. Therefore, the reversal educational gap could be the result of more marry-for-romance women.

During the nineteenth century middle and upper-class women in Nashville and the surrounding region occupied a clearly defined place within society, and their social and academic education was designed to prepare them for that place. Even as female education gradually became more progressive in the later nineteenth-century, its scope was still limited by gender roles and expectations. Parents wanted their daughters to learn proper social graces, and “ornamental” studies such as music, needlework, and painting were a large part of their education. As the nineteenth gave way to the early twentieth-century, the focus of women’s education began to shift, with more scholarly subjects added to the list of studies and more career choices open to women. Women became empowered in new ways through the women’s suffrage movement and sought to use their new freedom to pursue higher education and academic careers. Female education mirrored the changing status of women in general, and music, in particular, provides a unique perspective on the changing role of women in American society during this time. This study focuses on three schools in Nashville, Tennessee, a city which provides an excellent example of the formation and development of women’s education in female academies and seminaries, as well as being a cultural center of the South. The music programs at the Nashville Female Academy, Ward’s Seminary for Young Ladies, and the Ward-Belmont School for Girls are studied in order to demonstrate how the level of instruction changed over time, mirroring similar changes in society as a whole. Recital programs, instruction books, and biographies of faculty members all help to develop a picture of the music education students received. As changes in repertoire, faculty, and coursework from the mid-nineteenth-century into the twentieth century are discovered, connections emerge between female music education in Nashville and the status of women across America.

Here we show the extent to which the expected world population growth could be lowered by successfully implementing the recently agreed-upon Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). The SDGs include specific quantitative targets on mortality, reproductive health, and education for all girls by 2030, measures that will directly and indirectly affect future demographic trends. Based on a multidimensional model of population dynamics that stratifies national populations by age, sex, and level of education with educational fertility and mortality differentials, we translate these goals into SDG population scenarios, resulting in population sizes between 8.2 and 8.7 billion in 2100. Because these results lie outside the 95% prediction range given by the 2015 United Nations probabilistic population projections, we complement the study with sensitivity analyses of these projections that suggest that those prediction intervals are too narrow because of uncertainty in baseline data, conservative assumptions on correlations, and the possibility of new policies influencing these trends. Although the analysis presented here rests on several assumptions about the implementation of the SDGs and the persistence of educational, fertility, and mortality differentials, it quantitatively illustrates the view that demography is not destiny and that policies can make a decisive difference. In particular, advances in female education and reproductive health can contribute greatly to reducing world population growth.

Le système scolaire du Mali, l’un des pays les plus pauvres du monde, connaît de graves difficultés (d’origine économique, socioculturelle, politique…) auxquelles le gouvernement tente de faire face pour relancer le développement. Dans ce pays, la situation de la fille et de la femme est problématique et préoccupante. La sous-scolarisation des filles, une des caractéristiques de l’éducation en Afrique, tend à se réduire mais les inégalités persistent entre les filles et les garçons. Dans les études réalisées en France, l’école apparaît comme le lieu de reproduction de structures idéologiques figées mettant les femmes et les filles dans une position d’infériorité. Les rapports sociaux de sexe qui sont en jeu dans la société façonnent les interactions en classe et réciproquement. Notre étude a comme fondement les sciences du langage, elle s’inspire également de travaux en sciences de l’éducation. Elle a pour objet de décrire, d’une part, les représentations sociales des enseignants et des filles et, d’autre part, les phénomènes langagiers et interactionnels qui se produisent dans la classe. Nous chercherons à déterminer si le fonctionnement de la classe reflète celui de la société, en ce qui concerne le rôle et la place de la fille et de la femme au Mali. Nous nous appuierons sur un corpus, collecté au Mali et comportant des entretiens réalisés avec des enseignants et des filles de 4e et de 9e année, ainsi que des vidéos de classe, filmées dans deux villes du Mali : N’Kourala, village rural, et Bamako, la capitale. / The education system in Mali, one of the poorest countries in the world, suffers from severe difficulties (stemming from socioeconomic, socio-cultural and political problems) which the government has been trying to address to foster economic development. In this country, the situation of girls and women is problematic and a cause of concern. Although female under-education, a characteristic of Africa, tends to decrease, gender inequalities prevail. Research conducted in France has shown that school appears as the place where fossilized ideological structures placing girls and women in an inferior position are reproduced. In that sense, gender interactions at stake in society shape interactions in the classroom and vice versa. The present study is rooted in linguistics and also relies on research in education. Its aim is to describe on the one hand the girls’ and teachers’ social representations, and on the other hand the linguistic and interactional phenomena that occur in the classroom. The purpose of this research is to determine whether the way the classroom works reflects society, as regards the role and place of girls and women in Mali. This study relies on a corpus collected in Mali, which includes interviews with teachers and 4th-year and 9th-year girls, as well as videos filmed in class in two Malian towns – N’Kourala, a rural village, and Bamako, the capital city of Mali.

O presente trabalho é resultado de investigação sobre o acesso da mulher no ensino superior na Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Sul (UFRGS), no período de 1970 a 2015/1. A análise do percurso histórico trilhado pelas mulheres em sua luta pelo direito à educação revela que elas permaneceram por um longo tempo à margem dos processos educacionais, sobretudo no que se refere ao ensino superior no Brasil, historicamente caracterizado como um espaço de formação exclusivamente masculino. Inúmeras barreiras, sobretudo políticas, sociais e culturais, tiveram de ser rompidas para que as mulheres pudessem aceder a esse nível de ensino que, num primeiro momento, restringiu a presença feminina a áreas específicas, contribuindo, dessa forma, para a disseminação e reforço de concepções errôneas e estereotipadas, em parte ainda vigentes, de que a capacidade intelectual feminina se reduz a determinadas áreas do saber, principalmente àquelas relacionadas às Ciências Humanas e Sociais. A pesquisa empírica consistiu na coleta, tabulação, representação gráfica e análise dos dados sobre alunos e alunas ingressantes na UFRGS no período de 1970 a 2015/1, obtidos junto à Pró-Reitoria de Graduação (PROGRAD), objetivando confrontar entre si, em termos de acesso ou presença feminina ao longo do período elencado, as oito grandes áreas do conhecimento em que são classificados os cursos de graduação da UFRGS, bem como refletir sobre as desigualdades de gênero verificadas nessas diferentes áreas do ensino superior, com atenção também para os possíveis fatores que mantêm homens e mulheres restritos a determinadas áreas do saber. A análise detalhada dos dados revelou que, apesar do crescimento do número de mulheres ingressantes no ensino superior, o acesso da mulher na UFRGS não se deu de forma homogênea, isto é, de forma ampla e de maneira a contemplar todas as áreas do saber. Com efeito, as mulheres ainda permanecem minoria em algumas áreas tradicionalmente ditas “masculinas”, como, por exemplo, as áreas de Ciências Exatas e Tecnológicas. Dessa forma, foi possível perceber que a trajetória escolar diferenciada para meninos e meninas, que foi sendo historicamente construída e reforçada ao longo do tempo, imprime, ainda hoje, fortes marcas na educação superior. / This work is the result of research on women's access to higher education at the Federal University of Rio Grande do Sul (UFRGS), in the period from 1970 to 2015/1. The analysis of the historical path trodden by women in their struggle for the right to education reveals that they remained for a long time on the sidelines of educational processes, especially with regard to higher education in Brazil, historically characterized as an exclusively male training space. Many barriers, especially political, social and cultural rights, had to be broken so that women could access that level of education that, at first, restricted the female presence in specific areas, thereby contributing to the spread and strengthening erroneous and stereotypical conceptions, in part still in force, that female intellectual capacity is reduced to certain areas of knowledge, especially those related to human and social sciences. The empirical research consisted of the collection, tabulation, graphical representation and analysis of data on students and freshmen students at UFRGS from 1970 to 2015/1, obtained from the Pró-Reitoria de Graduação (PROGRAD), aiming to confront each other in terms access or female presence along the part listed period, eight major areas of knowledge that are classified undergraduate courses at UFRGS and reflect on gender inequalities observed in these different areas of higher education, with attention also to the possible factors that keep men and women restricted to certain areas of knowledge. Detailed analysis of the data revealed that despite the growing number of freshmen women in higher education, women's access UFRGS did not occur homogeneously, that is, broadly and in order to cover all areas of knowledge. Indeed, women still remain in some areas traditionally minority said "male", for example, areas of exact science. Thus, it was revealed that the differentiated school life for boys and girls, which has historically been built and strengthened over time, prints, still, strong brands in higher education.

Este estudo pretende narrar a história das Filhas da Imaculada Conceição, com ênfase nas táticas utilizadas por elas para formar uma congregação religiosa no sertão de Vígolo (SC), em 1890, a fim de atender idosas doentes, meninas e órfãs. Começa a análise estudando os contextos familiares, religiosos, socioculturais e históricos da fundadora da congregação, Amabile Lucia Visintainer, a qual emigrou da Itália com sua família em 1875. Acompanha o crescimento, a expansão e os processos de institucionalização de sua organização que são consolidados em 1909, no bojo da intervenção romanizada e ultramontana de bispos paulistas e do jesuíta diretor espiritual da congregação. Utiliza como fontes: crônicas das próprias irmãs que viveram a experiência, crônicas de outras irmãs que coletaram e reescreveram sua história, biografias, cartas, entrevistas e outros documentos institucionais que possibilitam investigar o cotidiano dessa antiga comunidade de mulheres que se transformou na quarta congregação a ser fundada no Brasil. Para reler os temas apreendidos das fontes, inspiram-nos as propostas teóricas de Michel de Certeau, as quais subsidiam a reflexão sobre as táticas utilizadas pelas irmãs para inventar sua realidade em Vígolo, Nova Trento e São Paulo. As conclusões apontam, entre outras questões, a relevância para a História da Educação de uma pesquisa voltada para a análise da trajetória e do cotidiano de freiras, possibilitando compreender melhor as razões e os contextos que levam uma congregação feminina a desenvolver um trabalho com meninas e órfãs, o que explica também o sentido da educação que receberam e que ministraram. / This study aims to tell the history of the Daughters of the Immaculate Conception with emphasis on the tactics used by them to initiate a religious congregation in the wilderness of Vigolo (SC) in 1890, in order to care for elderly sick people, girls and orphans. Beginning the analysis by studying the family, religious, socio-cultural and historical backgrounds of the founder of the congregation, Amabile Lucia Visintainer, who emigrated from Italy with his family in 1875. This work follows the growth expansion and institutionalization processes of her organization that is consolidated in 1909, in the course of the intervention of ultramontane and Romanized bishops from Sao Paulo and the Jesuit spiritual director of the congregation. The source of this study are the chronicles of their own sisters who lived through the experience, chronic of other sisters who collected and rewrote their history, biographies, letters, interviews and other institutional documents that enable to investigate the everyday life of this ancient community of women who became the fourth congregation be founded in Brazil. To reread the topics picked up from the sources, we had as inspiration the theoretical proposals of Michel de Certeau, which are the base to reflect on the strategy used by the sisters to invent their reality in Vigolo, Nova Trento and Sao Paulo. The conclusions indicate, among other things, the relevance for the History of Education a survey that aims at analyzing the history and the daily life of nuns, enabling better understand on the reasons and contexts that make a female congregation to develop a working with girls and orphans, which also explains the meaning of education they have received and given.