Education Research Gender, Education and Development - A Partially Annotated and Selective Bibliography

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General

CATANZARITE, Lisa (1992) Gender, Education and Employment in Central America:
Whose Work Counts?, in: STROMQUIST, N (ed) (1992) Women and Education in
Latin America. Knowledge, Power and Change, Lynne Rienner, London, 67-84.

This chapter examines the relationship between education and work. Although the
association between them tends indeed to be positive, Catanzarite shows this is true
only of formal. not informal, service occupations. Within the formal sector the
association is not strictly linear; rather a curvilinear pattern emerges as women with
both high and low levels of education tend to participate more than those with in-
between levels.

Theories of female participation tend to assume that women are dependent on men's
wages and that their participation in the labour force is essentially a question of
aspirations and opportunity cost calculations. Catanzarite argues instead that for poor
women work is a necessity for family survival. Therefore, at that level, the association
between education and work is irrelevant. Further, women in the informal sector -
regardless of educational level- are paid less than men. These findings are important
because the informal sector is expanding and women's participation in it is already

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