Gendered Impacts of Colonial Education: the Role of Access and Norms Transmission in French Morocco

Amelie Allegre, Oana Borcan and Christa Brunnschweiler
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Amelie Allegre: School of Economics, University of East Anglia
Oana Borcan: School of Economics, University of East Anglia
Christa Brunnschweiler: Department of Economics, Norwegian University of Science and Technology

No 2025-02, University of East Anglia School of Economics Working Paper Series from School of Economics, University of East Anglia, Norwich, UK.

Abstract: We examine colonial-era primary education as a determinant of modern-day attainment and gender disparities in education. We construct a novel dataset from the French Protectorate in Morocco, combining archival data on colonial school locations in 1931 and 1954 with the most recent Demographic and Health Survey (DHS) data in arbitrary grids. We analyse the influence of colonial schools on the probability of attaining primary and secondary education in 2004. Overall, schools dedicated to Moroccans in 1931 exhibit a persistent positive impact on education outcomes, but only in the absence of nearby schools reserved for Europeans. Stark gender gaps in access during the Protectorate were narrowed in places with schools for Jewish Moroccans. These had a positive impact on girls' contemporary levels of education, but a negative impact on the enrolment for boys following the dismantling of Jewish communities after 1948. DHS measures of preferences for female education point to a social norms transmission mechanism between Jewish and Muslim Moroccan communities.

Keywords: education; colonial legacy; female education; Morocco; French Protectorate (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I21 N37 O15 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2025-02
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