Historically, educational gender gaps in Bangladesh persisted as households
invested more in the education of boys than girls. Recent reports, however, claim that the
educational gender gaps have reversed in favor of girls. Using nationally representative
data and advanced empirical methods, this study finds that urban and rural boys (relative
to urban and rural girls) have a 7.4 percent to 27.4 percent lower likelihood of being
enrolled in school, 0.4 to 1.5 fewer years of educational attainment, and 9.7 percent to
30.8 percent lower likelihood of being literate. These findings draw attention to the
causes of the reversal in the educational gender gap.