ABSTRACT
Just by virtue of the fact that you are reading this book, you are likely to be among the better off people in the world – among those in a better economic or financial position; or in more advantageous circumstances. For a start, you are not among the estimated 17 per cent of the world’s adult population classified as functionally illiterate (nearly two thirds of them women, by the way, although this is changing steadily). More than half the teenagers in the world get to stay on at school after 15 (55 per cent in 2008, and almost as many girls as boys); but if, as I expect, you have gone on to tertiary education (college or university), you are in the top 27 per cent, and now marginally more likely to be female than male (UNESCO 2011: 280, 325; UNESCO Statistical Database, table 9, accessed 24 January 2012). This doesn’t guarantee that you are in a better economic or financial position than most, but it makes it very likely, as it puts you, relatively speaking, in very advantageous circumstances. Around 70 per cent of
students in developed countries go into tertiary education, but only one in five (20 per cent) in developing countries, so your chance of having a college or university education is much higher if you grew up in a developed country. But wherever you grow up, your chance of making it to college or university is always better, the better off financially you are. And if you did, you’ll be pleased to know that the longer you stay in education, the more you are likely to earn: in the United States, for example, male and female high school graduates in full-time work were averaging $43,140 and $32,227 per year respectively in 2009, while those with bachelor’s degrees or better averaged $92,815 and $62,198 (US Census Bureau 2012, table 703). As you will quickly work out for yourself, the higher the level of education, the greater the relative disadvantage to women workers.
