The role of maternal education in reducing gender bias in children’s education: evidence from Bangladesh

We examined the effect of maternal education on the gender gap in children’s education in Bangladesh, exploiting geographical and temporal variation in a female stipend program. Using OLS, intent-to-treat, and instrumental variable approaches, we found that each additional year of maternal education increased children’s grade completion by up to 9 percentage points and educational spending by 8 percent. Interaction-based gender analysis revealed a pro-son bias in both secondary-level grade completion and education expenditure. Controlling for father’s education confirmed a distinct maternal effect. In the stipend-exposed subsample, mothers’ lower-secondary completion was descriptively associated with a narrower pro-son gap in educational investment.