This study investigates how households in Cameroon deal with the schooling of 15-24 year old girls and boys on the basis of sex and age distribution using the 1987 Census data. The results obtained show that: (1) More equitable schooling opportunities for boys and girls are available in households led by women than those headed by men, even though there still exists a comparative preference for boys. (2) The presence and number of 0-5 year old children is likely to reduce the schooling of girls and particularly in households led by women; (3) The number of children (girls and boys) of school age especially when they are bachelors, is rather very positively correlated to the schooling of both girls and boys in households led by men as well as by women. This tends to invalidate the theory of "quantity/quality trade-off" which sustains that households with a lot of children invest less in each child (human capital) than those with less children; (4) The presence and number of adult and old women tends to encourage systematically the schooling of boys and girls and are a proof of the "substitutability" between women and children, specifically girls in taking up domestic works. On the contrary, the presence and number of men only tends to encourage the schooling of male children to the disadvantage of girls, except when the households are headed by women. Therefore, Cameroonian households tend to make gender considerations when educating their children. (author's)