On the origins of gender gaps in education: stereotype as a self-fulfilling prophecy

Mingxing Huang (), Hongmei Yi () and Scott Rozelle ()
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Mingxing Huang: Peking University
Hongmei Yi: Peking University
Scott Rozelle: Stanford University

Journal of Population Economics, 2025, vol. 38, issue 2, No 9, 30 pages

Abstract: Abstract Using reading performance data from a randomized controlled trial of 5224 fifth-grade students in East China, this paper provides a novel test of the hypothesis that evoking a gender stereotype creates gender gaps in education through self-fulfilling prophecies. We found that without intervention, boys performed worse than girls did in reading tests. Evoking a gender stereotype by indicating the expected outperformance of girls over boys in reading had a significantly negative effect on boys and an insignificant effect on girls. As a result, the net effect on the gender gap in reading performance was economically important but statistically insignificant. We also found evidence that increased anxiety was likely the underlying mechanism. Finally, a heterogeneous analysis showed that boys from environments with biased gender role beliefs were more susceptible to the intervention.

Keywords: Gender gaps in education; Gender stereotypes; Reading performance; Randomized controlled trial (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I21 I24 J16 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2025
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DOI: 10.1007/s00148-025-01102-6

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