Gender differences in education

Arbeitspapier

This paper surveys the trends in gender gaps in education, their causes and potential policy implications. I show that female educational attainment has surpassed, or is about to surpass, male educational attainment in most industrialized countries. These gaps reflect male overrepresentation among secondary school drop-outs and female overrepresentation among tertiary education students and graduates. Existing evidence suggests that this pattern is a result of a combination of increasing returns to education and lower female effort costs of education. Widening gender gap in education combined with recent wage and employment polarization will likely lead to widening inequalities and is linked to declining male labor force participation. The paper discusses evidence on educational policies that both widen and reduce gender gaps in educational outcomes.

Object Details

• Language: Englisch

References and Relationships

• Bibliographic citation: Series: IZA Discussion Papers ; No. 6390

Classification and Topics

• Classification: Wirtschaft ; Education and Research Institutions: General ; Economics of Gender; Non-labor Discrimination ; Human Capital; Skills; Occupational Choice; Labor Productivity
• Subject: education ; gender differences ; test scores ; Bildungsniveau ; Bildungsabschluss ; Geschlecht ; OECD-Staaten

Contributors, Places and Time

• Event: Geistige Schöpfung
• (who): Pekkarinen, Tuomas
• Event: Veröffentlichung
• (who): Institute for the Study of Labor (IZA)
• (where): Bonn
• (when): 2012

Further information

• Handle: http://hdl.handle.net/10419/58836
• URN: urn:nbn:de:101:1-201206146661
• Last update: 10.03.2025, 11:41 AM CET