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Graduates’ Opium? Cultural Values, Religiosity and Gender Segregation by Field of Study

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  • Izaskun Zuazu

    (Institute for Socio-Economics, University of Duisburg-Essen, 47057 Duisburg, Germany)

Abstract

This paper studies the relationship between cultural values and gender distribution across fields of study in higher education. I compute national, field and subfield-level gender segregation indices for a panel dataset of 26 OECD countries for 1998–2012. This panel dataset expands the focus of previous macro-level research by exploiting data on gender segregation in specific subfields of study. Fixed-effects estimates associate higher country-level religiosity with lower gender segregation in higher education. These models crucially control for potential segregation factors, such as labor market and educational institutions, and gender gaps in both self-beliefs and academic performance in math among young people.

Suggested Citation

  • Izaskun Zuazu, 2020. "Graduates’ Opium? Cultural Values, Religiosity and Gender Segregation by Field of Study," Social Sciences, MDPI, vol. 9(8), pages 1-27, July.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jscscx:v:9:y:2020:i:8:p:135-:d:391472
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