Compulsory schooling in Turkey was increased in 1997 from five years to eight years. We examine the effect of this change on educational attainment, and in particular investigate whether there was a differential effect of this change on females relative to males.
Turkey is a middle-income country, with a population of about 70 million. It is predominantly Muslim, but with a secular system of government and law. There are large differences across regions in both the level of educational attainment and in the gender gap in education. The east is the least developed and it has lower educational attainment and the largest gender gap in education.