Societal Inequalities Amplify Gender Gaps in Math

Thomas Breda (), Elyès Jouini () and Clotilde Napp

No 12436, IZA Discussion Papers from Institute of Labor Economics (IZA)

Abstract: While gender gaps in average math performance are close to zero in developed countries, women are still strongly underrepresented among math high performers. Using data from five successive waves of the Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA), we show that this underrepresentation is more severe in more unequal countries. This relationship holds for a wide range of societal inequalities that are not directly related to gender. It is also observed in other parts of the performance distribution and among various sets of countries, including developing countries. Similar relationships are found in science and reading. Such findings highlight how differences in socio-economic and cultural factors can affect gender gaps in performance.

Keywords: income inequality; societal inequality; culture; gender gap in math; top math performers (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I24 J16 Z1 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Pages: 62 pages
Date: 2019-06
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-eur and nep-gen
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Published - published in: Science Magazine, 2018, 359 (6381), 1219-1220

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Related works:
Working Paper: Societal inequalities amplify gender gaps in math (2018)
Working Paper: Societal inequalities amplify gender gaps in math (2018)
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