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The net effect of ability tilt in gendered STEM-related choices

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  • Sadowski, Ireneusz
  • Zawistowska, Alicja

Abstract

Prior research identifies ability profile as one of the important factors explaining gender imbalance in STEM-related career choices. The profile is often operationalized as a mathematics- versus verbal-ability tilt. While the relationship between the tilt and a career choice is usually explained using concepts of gender-specific investments or comparative advantage, it is rarely considered that this relation is in fact causally reciprocal. In this article, we assume that investments in skill development and a set of considered educational options are interdependent, as students invest more time in subjects that seem more relevant to their plans, while the plans themselves are at least in part shaped by self-assessed cognitive strengths. The goal of this study is thus to estimate the magnitude of the direct impact of the mathematics- versus verbal-ability tilt on the educational choices that enable the pursuit of a STEM career, while accounting for endogeneity in this relationship. We employ the instrumental variable approach to data on the Polish high-stakes exit exams that serve as a de facto filter to particular majors in tertiary education. The analysis covers the 2018 population of senior-year students (mostly 19-year-olds) taking the exit exams in all 5323 Polish high schools. The results reveal that ability tilt is as important in explaining students' choices of further educational paths as their level of mathematical ability and accounts for much of the gender gap in pursuing STEM majors. Methodologically, we point out that the results are substantially different from those estimated without taking into account school effects and the endogeneity of ability and choice.

Suggested Citation

  • Sadowski, Ireneusz & Zawistowska, Alicja, 2020. "The net effect of ability tilt in gendered STEM-related choices," Intelligence, Elsevier, vol. 80(C).
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:intell:v:80:y:2020:i:c:s0160289620300179
    DOI: 10.1016/j.intell.2020.101439
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. Contini, Dalit & Tommaso, Maria Laura Di & Mendolia, Silvia, 2017. "The gender gap in mathematics achievement: Evidence from Italian data," Economics of Education Review, Elsevier, vol. 58(C), pages 32-42.
    2. Wai, Jonathan & Hodges, Jaret & Makel, Matthew C., 2018. "Sex differences in ability tilt in the right tail of cognitive abilities: A 35-year examination," Intelligence, Elsevier, vol. 67(C), pages 76-83.
    3. David Roodman, 2011. "Fitting fully observed recursive mixed-process models with cmp," Stata Journal, StataCorp LP, vol. 11(2), pages 159-206, June.
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