ABSTRACT
Bowman and Anderson explores whether, as economic development proceeds, women tend to receive educational parity with men. Girls' education is now valued in many circles as a positive factor in the securing of husbands of high status, as reported by 65 percent of persons interviewed in an Indian study, or of high marriage settlements, as in Africa. Bowman and Anderson reviews a number of other factors that must also be considered: early marriage, seclusion of girls at puberty, and the opportunity costs of schooling relative to more traditional forms of training for adulthood at home. A parallel study in India by Gail Minault shows how indigenous groups often had a similar view of women's education. Research on the outcomes of women's education has concentrated on women's participation in the labor force. Countries and rural groups within countries where low literacy prevails are the populations in which women's education increases fertility.
