Gender Differentials in Inequality of Educational Opportunities in India: New Evidence from an Indian Youth Study

Using data from the ‘Youth in India: Situation and Needs’ survey, this paper provides perhaps the first estimates of inequality of opportunity in schooling outcomes for males and females separately for India. The inequality of educational opportunity in completion of primary (and secondary) schooling among females is more than twice (and nearly twice) than that among males. Further, among females only 20% of total schooling opportunities needed for universal completion of secondary schooling are available and equitably distributed; a figure substantially lower than that for males (35%). We also find stark inter-state variations in gender-differential in inequality of educational opportunities.