Inequality of Opportunity

 

To what extent is income inequality reflected in early childhood development? Explore our working papers to delve deeper into the persistence of inequality of opportunity in the region in the links below:

Gender inequality in Latin America and the Caribbean 

Racial and ethnic inequality in Latin America

Spatial inequalities in Latin America: mapping aggregate to micro-level disparities

Inequality of Opportunity and Intergenerational Persistence in Latin America

Family Change in Latin America: Schooling and Labor Market Implications for Children and Women

 

Some Key Findings:

• Women, irrespective of their employment status, spend over twice as much time on non-market work (housework and care activities) than men, leading them to work a greater number of hours overall on average (Berniell et al., 2023).
• In LAC, black, indigenous, and dark skin disadvantage occurs independently of social class or parental origins and other social characteristics such as age, gender, and region. These disadvantages seem to be largely due to discrimination (Bailey et al., 2023).
• Smaller cities exhibit a pronounced level of inequality. Hence, addressing poverty rates requires as much attention as the larger metropolitan areas (Gomez-Lobo & Oviedo, 2023).
• On average, over half of all inequality in the region today can be attributed to inherited characteristics, such as sex, race, place of birth and family background (Ferrerira et al., 2023).
• Children in non-nuclear households tend to have poorer school attendance and progress outcomes compared to those living with married parents. This negative association is particularly pronounced in rural areas and when the mother is absent (Esteve et al., 2023).