Gender gap and spatial disparities in the evolution of literacy in Spain, 1860-1910

Abstract

[EN]This article considers the dynamics of Spanish literacy in the period 1860-1910, characterized by local councils’ responsibility of public elementary education. To this end, it is built a harmonized series of the literacy of the population aged ten or over, disaggregated by sex and province. Marked spatial differences and a very large gender gap can be observed. Five clusters are determined according to the male literacy rates of the provinces in 1860; these clusters prove to have explanatory power all along the period and for both sexes. A parsimonious statistical model of the evolution of male literacy during the period, introducing linguistic variables, shows a considerable temporal stability of the spatial distribution of male literacy. The model of the evolution of female literacy presents similarities with that of male literacy, although now the initial state (in 1860) is not described by female literacy, but yet by male literacy. All in all, the evolution of literacy in Spain between 1860 and 1910 did not follow the spatial pattern of the economic modernization process. Besides, there was no correlation between birth rates and literacy rates of children, for both sexes, and the same can be said of the correlation between urbanization and literacy. Considering the West European context, the Spanish literacy process during the period 1860-1910 was a failure, except for the geographical area of the top cluster.