Removing Cultural Barriers to Education: State-run Religious Schools and Girls’ Education in Turkiye

Tolga Benzer
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Tolga Benzer: Turku School of Economics, University of Turku

No 170, Discussion Papers from Aboa Centre for Economics

Abstract: This paper studies the impact of access to state-run religious schools on girls’ outcomes in T\"urkiye. These schools, offering religious instruction and a conservative school environment, became accessible to girls following a 1976 court ruling. Exploiting variation in exposure to religious schools across district centers and cohorts, I find that access increased secondary school completion among girls—with more pronounced effects observed in conservative areas—while having negligible effects on boys. Treated women later had lower fertility and higher labor force participation. The findings show that removing cultural barriers to education can promote schooling and public life integration for culturally marginalized groups.

Keywords: Culture; Religion; Education; Women's Empowerment; Islam (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I24 I25 J13 J16 J22 Z12 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Pages: 122
Date: 2025-08
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-edu, nep-his and nep-lab
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