Pipeline vs. Choice: The Global Gender Gap in STEM Applications

Isaac Ahimbisibwe, Adam Altjmed, Georgy Artemov, Andres Barrios-Fernández, Aspasia Bizopoulou, Martti Kaila, Jin-Tan Liu, Rigissa Megalokonomou, JosŽ Montalban, Christopher Neilson, Jintao Sun, Sebastian Otero and Xiaoyang Ye
Additional contact information
Isaac Ahimbisibwe: Baylor University
Adam Altjmed: Stockholm University
Georgy Artemov: University of Melbourne
Aspasia Bizopoulou: VATT Institute for Economic Research
Martti Kaila: University of Glasgow
Jin-Tan Liu: National Taiwan University
Rigissa Megalokonomou: Monash University
JosŽ Montalban: Stockholm University
Christopher Neilson: Yale University
Jintao Sun: Rice University
Sebastian Otero: Columbia University
Xiaoyang Ye: Amazon

No 2458, Cowles Foundation Discussion Papers from Cowles Foundation for Research in Economics, Yale University

Abstract: Women account for only 35% of global STEM graduates, a share unchanged for a decade. We use administrative microdata from centralized university admissions in ten systems to deliver the first crossnational decomposition of the STEM gender gap into a pipeline gap (academic preparedness) and a choice gap (first-choice field conditional on eligibility). In deferred-acceptance platforms where eligibility is score-based, we isolate preferences from access. The pipeline gap varies widely, from -19 to +31 percentage points across education systems. By contrast, the choice gap is remarkably stable: high-scoring women are 25 percentage points less likely than men to rank STEM first.

Pages: 18 pages
Date: 2025-08-31
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Working Paper: Pipeline vs. choice: the global gender gap in STEM applications (2025)
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