Competitive Pressure Widens the Gender Gap in Performance: Evidence from a Two-Stage Competition in Mathematics

Nagore Iriberri and Pedro Rey Biel
Authors registered in the RePEc Author Service: Pedro Rey-Biel

No 11493, CEPR Discussion Papers from C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers

Abstract: In two-stage elimination math contests participants from four different age groups compete to pass from stage 1 to stage 2 and later to be among the winners. Although female participants have higher Math grades at school the gender gap reverses in the two stages of the contests. More importantly, following the same individual participant across different stages, we find that the gender gap in performance increases from stage 1 to stage 2 of the competition. The increase in female underperformance is attributed to higher competitive pressure and alternative explanations based on selection, discrimination and differences in reaction to increasing difficulty are ruled out.

Date: 2016-09
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Related works:
Journal Article: Competitive Pressure Widens the Gender Gap in Performance: Evidence from a Two-stage Competition in Mathematics (2019)
Working Paper: Competitive Pressure Widens the Gender Gap in Performance: Evidence from a Two-Stage Competition in Mathematics (2016)
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