Solutions Inventory

Creating a gender-equitable school index to understand pass rates of girls

Higher schooling attainment for girls is associated with improved maternal and child health outcomes. In LMICs, girls drop out of school at higher rates than boys beginning in early adolescence due to factors such as son preference and lack of access to menstrual supplies. As a result, a gender-equitable school (GES) index was created with data from 159 secondary schools in Nepal to measure school-level factors that may influence girls’ secondary school pass rates.