Inequalities, exacerbated by global crises, are impacting children’s skills development and life chances in global south countries, according to the latest research from Oxford’s 20-year-old Young Lives survey.

Skills learnt in childhood, open up life chances. But, new research from a study following 12,000 children in – Peru, India, Ethiopia and Vietnam – found skills development is severely affected by persistent poverty, entrenched gender inequalities, and global crises, such as climate shocks. 

The benefits of completing secondary education, and the importance of improving basic skills, such as mathematics or reading, is well documented. But Young Lives took a deeper look into how skills develop throughout childhood, and what that means for children’s futures.  Researchers found:

• Early life circumstances matter – poverty and inequality affect children’s skills development from an early age; we also found exposure to climate shocks - droughts and flooding - negatively affect children’s cognitive skills, with long term impacts for education and employment;

• Social protection programmes can support better foundational cognitive skills in children, including their long-term memory and ability to concentrate on a specific task, with potential long-term benefits for learning and better life chances

• Girls and boys have similar skills in the early years, but gender differences open up in adolescence, particularly in social and emotional skills; adolescent girls have significantly lower skills related to empowerment across all four study countries;

• By the age of 19, young women with strong cognitive skills – assessed by maths and literacy tests – are more able to secure paid work, helping to close the gender employment gap, particularly in Ethiopia and Peru;

• However, even young women with higher skills are not securing good jobs and equal pay in India and Vietnam, where entrenched gender norms continue to present significant barriers.

Young Lives research shows children who are exposed to early shocks – drought or flooding -  have significantly lower cognitive skills, with long term consequences.

This happens because climate shocks can drive down nutrition and poor nutrition undermines early child development. Researchers found lower early childhood skills can have long-term consequences – as far reaching as affecting the completion of secondary school in Ethiopia and enrolment in university in Peru.   As the climate crisis intensifies, the consequences for the next generation may be significant.

Skills learnt very young, such as long-term memory and the ability to concentrate on a specific task, are the foundational cognitive skills on which we develop later learning.

Ground breaking new evidence from Ethiopia and Peru shows social protection programmes, designed to support poor families, can help children catch up on gaps in foundational skills

In Ethiopia, children whose families are supported by a social programme called the Productive Safety Net Programme, showed better foundational cognitive skills, including their long-term memory.  With this support, families are able to feed children better, fuelling catch up on earlier scarcity. Freeing up the need for unpaid work also releases more time for studying.

Girls and boys have similar skills in the early years, but gender differences open up in adolescence, particularly in social and emotional skills. Even with higher cognitive skills, young women are not securing equal pay and good jobs

In childhood, girls’ and boys’ socioemotional skills sets are broadly similar. Yet with adolescence more marked gender differences emerge, especially around skills related to empowerment, which are significantly lower amongst adolescent girls in in Ethiopia and India.

Young Lives evidence also shows that despite girls scoring well on cognitive skills and often having similar education results to boys, they continue to face significant barriers as they move into the workforce, failing to secure equal pay and good jobs. Young women building higher skills can help to close the gender earnings gap, particularly in Ethiopia and Peru. .

What can better support women’s employment and achieve gender equality?

• Improving adolescent girls’ skills and supporting them to stay in education, including in higher education and vocational training, remain key goals.
• However, this may not translate into better access to decent work for young women without addressing the barriers of gender discrimination; this includes relieving the burden of unpaid care work, increasing access to affordable childcare and reducing early marriage.

A number of the research papers and policy briefs from this work are available to download from Young Lives publications page here. 

This research has been funded by Echidna Giving and NIH. Follow the links to our research project pages where you can find further published research papers.

Education and skills is a core research theme for Young Lives - read more here.