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A Long‐Run View Of The University Gender Gap In Australia

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  • ALISON L. BOOTH
  • HIAU JOO KEE

Abstract

Australian universities were first established in the 1850s, well before the introduction of compulsory schooling. From the middle of the twentieth century, the introduction of mass secondary school education and the expansion of the number of universities widened student access to universities. Subjects offered in higher education increased in scope and labour market discrimination diminished. These factors, together with supply‐side changes, meant that women were more easily able to shift into investing in skills. By 1987, Australian women were more likely than men to be enrolled at a university. These aggregate figures, however, disguise considerable heterogeneity across fields of study.

Suggested Citation

  • Alison L. Booth & Hiau Joo Kee, 2011. "A Long‐Run View Of The University Gender Gap In Australia," Australian Economic History Review, Economic History Society of Australia and New Zealand, vol. 51(3), pages 254-276, November.
    • Handle: RePEc:bla:ozechr:v:51:y:2011:i:3:p:254-276
    DOI: j.1467-8446.2011.00329.x
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. Andrew Leigh & Chris Ryan, 2006. "How and Why has Teacher Quality Changed in Australia?," CEPR Discussion Papers 534, Centre for Economic Policy Research, Research School of Economics, Australian National University.
    2. Juan D. Barón & Deborah A. Cobb‐Clark, 2010. "Occupational Segregation and the Gender Wage Gap in Private‐ and Public‐Sector Employment: A Distributional Analysis," The Economic Record, The Economic Society of Australia, vol. 86(273), pages 227-246, June.
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    9. Alison L. Booth & Hiau Joo Kee, 2009. "The University Gender Gap in Australia: A Long-run Perspective," CEPR Discussion Papers 610, Centre for Economic Policy Research, Research School of Economics, Australian National University.
    10. Borland, Jeff, 1999. "Earnings Inequality in Australia: Changes, Causes and Consequences," The Economic Record, The Economic Society of Australia, vol. 75(229), pages 177-202, June.
    11. Andrew Leigh & Chris Ryan, 2008. "How and Why Has Teacher Quality Changed in Australia?," Australian Economic Review, The University of Melbourne, Melbourne Institute of Applied Economic and Social Research, vol. 41(2), pages 141-159, June.
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    Cited by:

    1. Peter Siminski & Simon Ville, 2012. "I Was Only Nineteen, 45 Years Ago: What Can we Learn from Australia’s Conscription Lotteries?," Economics Working Papers wp12-06, School of Economics, University of Wollongong, NSW, Australia.
    2. Huong Thu Le & Ha Trong Nguyen, 2018. "The evolution of the gender test score gap through seventh grade: new insights from Australia using unconditional quantile regression and decomposition," IZA Journal of Labor Economics, Springer;Forschungsinstitut zur Zukunft der Arbeit GmbH (IZA), vol. 7(1), pages 1-42, December.
    3. Alison L. Booth & Pamela Katic, 2013. "Cognitive Skills, Gender and Risk Preferences," The Economic Record, The Economic Society of Australia, vol. 89(284), pages 19-30, March.
    4. Beatton, Tony & Kidd, Michael P. & Machin, Stephen, 2018. "Gender crime convergence over twenty years: Evidence from Australia," European Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 109(C), pages 275-288.
    5. Ha Trong Nguyen, 2015. "The evolution of the gender test score gap through seventh grade: New insights from Australia using quantile regression and decomposition," Bankwest Curtin Economics Centre Working Paper series WP1507, Bankwest Curtin Economics Centre (BCEC), Curtin Business School.

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    More about this item

    JEL classification:

    • I23 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Education - - - Higher Education; Research Institutions
    • J1 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demographic Economics
    • N3 - Economic History - - Labor and Consumers, Demography, Education, Health, Welfare, Income, Wealth, Religion, and Philanthropy

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