Mind The Gap: Public Education Expenditures and Gender Employment in Europe

Reducing gender-based employment gaps is vital for sustainable development and equitable economic growth. Education policies are among the key tools for increasing women's human capital and facilitating their access to the labor market. The impact of public education expenditures on the gender gap in employment rates may vary depending on both the type of expenditure and the targeted level of education. In this context, the study analyzes the effects of public education expenditures on the gender-based employment gap in European countries using the Panel ARDL method. The study analyzes data from 30 European countries between 2014 and 2022. The findings reveal that public spending on secondary and higher education, in particular, has a significant and statistically strong effect on reducing the gender-based employment gap in the long term. In contrast, the long-term effect of education subsidies was not found to be statistically significant. The results indicate that public education policies should not only focus on the total amount of spending but also consider the quality of spending, the target audience, and the level of education. In this context, the study aims to fill the gap in the literature on the disaggregated effects of public education spending on gender equality and to provide evidence-based contributions to the design of gender-sensitive public policies.