Education, Gender, and Migration in Rural Nepal

Nathalie Williams, University of Michigan

Although sociologists have identified education as a catalyst of social change, the exact mechanisms through which education works are unclear. For example, research has reported disparate results for the effects of education on migration. In this paper, I construct a theoretical framework that identifies economic, social, and ideational pathways through which education may affect migration, and how these relationships differ by gender. Using life history calendar data from the Chitwan Valley Family Study from Nepal, I create separate event history models for men and women, including measures of educational achievement, enrollment, and community-level proximity to schools. Results indicate that educational achievement has positive effects and enrollment has negative effects on out-migration. The positive effects of achievement are stronger for men. The effect of access to schools and other community services is mixed.