Figure 2 shows how the benefits of girls' education accrue from one generation to the next. Poverty, both at state and household level, is a major factor, but so too are cultural and social constraints that interact with poverty to set up barriers to girls' education. Supply-side factors Shortage of places and poor physical infrastructure Shortages of school places, the remoteness of rural schools and poor physical infrastructure are major problems in many developing countries. Such deficiencies are often due to lack of resources, especially in highly indebted countries. Zambia, for instance, spent four times as much on debt servicing than education between 1993-1996.
Girls tend to suffer more than boys do from such deficiencies.
The poor quality of school facilities in the developing world also militates against girls' attendance. The quality of the education offered in developing countries is often very poor. This is particularly so for girls, with curricula and textbooks frequently reinforcing limiting and demeaning stereotypes about women's roles. Where there is little educational benefit to be gained, it is not surprising if poverty-stricken parents decide it is not worth incurring the costs of sending a girl to school. In many developing countries, a woman's role is still defined in terms of marriage and child rearing, and girls' education is seen as less important than boys'.