| A great deal of quantitative research in Sociology of Education involves questions about change. However, cross-sectional data analysis can obscure valuable information about change over time. My dissertation capitalizes on the ever-expanding international databases of country level statistics, to examine the worldwide expansion of female enrollment in higher education. The investigation relies on regression models and utilizes two dependent variables; the female 20-24 age cohort in higher education, and the female share of higher education. In this paper, I measure enrollment growth both as a function of the proportion of age appropriate females that attend tertiary institutions, and as a function of the proportion of existing tertiary spaces occupied by women. In the empirical analysis, I test the effects of a select group of explanatory variables on these two indicators of female enrollment. In general, the results show that whether using cohorts or shares as the dependent variable, the increase in women's participation is best predicted by initial levels of female enrollment, by socio-economic development as gauged by gross domestic product per capita, the human development index, the human poverty index, and to a lesser extent, by women's status. What is more, in contrast to perspectives that predict competition between the sexes, this study finds overall expansion of higher education systems, such that growth in male enrollment positively affects female enrollment, and has no effect on female share of higher education. Based on this evidence, I argue for the broad institutionalization of beliefs about education for all, and education expansion for national development. In particular, I posit that the remarkable growth in women's enrollment has been supported by these global norms which uphold formal schooling as a key component in the process of nation-building. |
PDF Full Text Request