Composition of peer mothers and gender norms: Class randomization and short-run effects

Liwen Chen, Bobby W. Chung and Guanghua Wang

Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, 2025, vol. 234, issue C

Abstract: Increased exposure to gender-role information affects a girl’s educational performance. Leveraging the classroom randomization in Chinese middle schools, we find that the increased presence of peers’ working mothers significantly enhances a girl’s performance in mathematics. The exposure also reduces gendered attitudes toward mathematics and future careers. Long exposure and a distant parent–daughter relationship enhance peer mothers’ influences. As falsification tests against unobserved confounding factors, we find that exposure to peers’ working mothers does not affect boys’ outcomes.

Keywords: Cultural transmission; Gender norms; Role models (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I24 J16 Z13 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2025
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:eee:jeborg:v:234:y:2025:i:c:s0167268125001271

DOI: 10.1016/j.jebo.2025.107008

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