Browsing by Author "Figueroa, Mark"

Now showing 1 - 5 of 5
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    Female schooling achievement in Jamaica: A market and non-market analysis
    (1998) Figueroa, Mark; Handa, Sudhanshu
    The achievement of females relative to males in the Jamaican educational system is analysed from both an institutional and market perspective. It is found that the evidence available is consistent with the view that both pecuniary and non-pecuniary incentives reinforce each other to produce the distinctive pattern of female performance in Jamaica. It is likely that gender differences in socialization within the household better prepare girls for the skills required to succeed in the Jamaican schooling system. In addition, education is often seen as being more important for a girl’s future success than for a boy’s. In the framework of human capital theory, both these institutional features translate into higher marginal benefit (or demand) curves for girls than for boys, which would suggest both greater investment in schooling for girls and higher equilibrium returns on these investments. The empirical evidence is consistent with the inference: Jamaican women have both more education and higher returns to this education than their male counterparts do.
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    Gender differentials in educational achievement in Jamaica and other Caribbean territories
    (1997) Figueroa, Mark
    This paper sought to review existing research findings with respect to gender differentials in educational achievement in Jamaica and other countries of the English speaking Caribbean. The first section of the paper discusses some of the consequences that flow from the dichotomy inherent in two opposing world-views with respect to gender differentials in education. The first takes the privileges that males have enjoyed within patriarchal societies as a natural right, while the second is firmly rooted in the goal of achieving gender equality. The paper then looks at some of the data from the Caribbean Examinations Council (CXC) and the University of the West Indies (UWI) on gender differentials in academic performance. The following sections discuss the expectations offered by current research for the gender differentials identified and the implications of this research with respect to intervention strategies.
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    Gender privileging and socio-economic outcomes: The case of health and education in Jamaica
    (1997) Figueroa, Mark
    This paper seeks to explore socio-economic consequences of gender privileging. In doing so, it clarifies the different ways in which the concept of gender privileging may be usefully deployed. In particular, it distinguishes between the notion of the privileging of a gender within a particular socio-economic context and the experience of privilege by a gender within that context. It then goes on to indicate the ways in which this has led to an experience of privilege by one or other of the genders. In linking the process of gender privileging to socio-economic outcomes, the process of gender socialization is explored as a mechanism through which socio-economic outcomes are influenced by gender privileging in various socio-economic spheres, in particular health and education.
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    Male privileging and male 'academic underperformance' in Jamaica
    (UWI Press, 2004) Figueroa, Mark
    This chapter seeks to ascertain the extent to which male academic underperformance can be understood in relation to the historical privileging of males, using Jamaica as a case study. Instead of seeing the current underperformance as a result of male marginalization or victimization, the chapter demonstrates how it might be conceptualized as an ironic consequence of historic male privileging. The chapter begins with an examination of some of the statistical evidence available and demonstrates that, although females are often outperforming males in terms of overall numbers, a more detailed analysis of the statistics reveals the footprint of the old male privileging. It then seeks to show how the increasing tendency of males to lose ground in academic fields where they had previously dominated can be seen as part of a process of cumulative causation in which cultural patterns rooted in the historical privileging of the male gender play an important part. The chapter further interrogates the gendered processes that are taking place in the schoolroom and seeks to show that these may be contributing to male underperformance, and also examines the impact of motivational and other factors beyond the school gate. It concludes by indicating how transformation of gender relations and the reform of the educational system might benefit all concerned and provides some suggestions for further research.