positive associations between psychosocial stimulation and a range of ECD outcomes (Avan et al., 2014; Armstrong-Carter et al., 2021). Yet global survey data that measure psychosocial stimulation— with minimum adequate levels of stimulation represented by the presence of four or more stimulating activities with a child in the past 3 days—suggest that in South Asia, levels of minimum adequate stimulation are low: on average, just 41% of children receive adequate stimulation from maternal caregivers, 12% from paternal caregivers, and 23% from other caregivers, signaling a broader need for increased stimulation for young children (Cuartas et al., 2020).

Few studies from South Asia have examined differences in psychosocial stimulation by child gender. A study in Bangladesh found that girls experienced higher levels of certain aspects of stimulation (i.e., responsiveness, encouragement, emotional, and learning opportunities) relative to boys (Hossain et al., 2018), though children were slightly older (aged 8 years) and authors caution that the magnitude of this association was substantively low.

Even fewer studies have examined whether the strength of the associations between ECD and psychosocial stimulation varies by child gender. Evidence for moderation by child gender from a recent study in rural Sindh is mixed: at age 4 years, home stimulation had a significant positive association with verbal skills for boys, but not for girls. However, there was no significant interaction between child gender and stimulation in predicting executive function skills (Rathore et al., 2023).

# **_Early Childhood Education (ECE) Enrollment_**

There is substantial support indicating that ECE is positively associated with outcomes for children’s early learning and development (Rao et al., 2021). Meta-analytic findings from the US also indicate that ECE is associated with a number of desirable medium- and longer-term outcomes, including reduced special education placement (d=0.33 SD), reduced grade retention (d=0.26 SD), and increased high school graduation (d=0.24 SD) (McCoy et al., 2017).

In Pakistan, ECE enrollment rates are low, with estimates across provinces ranging from 5.2 (Balochistan Province) to 27 percent (Punjab Province) (Tomlinson et al., 2023). Findings from a recent study found that children enrolled in ECE had higher rates of on-track development compared to children who were not enrolled (74 vs 52 percent respectively for Punjab in 20172018) (Tomlinson et al., 2023). There was also evidence of emerging gender disparities in ECE enrollment rates, with lower enrollment rates by one to three percentage points among girls across provinces (Tomlinson et al., 2023).

Despite widespread agreement surrounding the benefits of ECE for children’s development, less is known regarding effects of ECE enrollment by gender. A 2016 meta-analysis synthesizing findings across 36 reports from the US examined differences in the effects of ECE on a range of outcomes and found a statistically significant gender difference in cognitive and achievement outcomes that slightly favored girls (cognitive outcomes: 0.32 SD and 0.29 SD; achievement outcomes: 0.22 SD and 0.18 SD, for girls and boys respectively). However, the study identified larger effects for boys than girls on longer-term school outcomes (e.g., grade retention, special education classification) (-.04 SD for girls and 0.36 SD for boys) (Magnuson et al., 2016). Other evaluations of US-based programs have similarly found variation in the types of longer-term outcomes experienced by boys and girls (McCoy et al., 2017; Heckman et al., 2010; Schweinhart et al., 2005).

**This study**

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