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Why Are Most University Students Women? Evidence Based on Academic Performance, Study Habits and Parental Influences

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Author Info
Frenette, Marc
Zeman, Klarka
Abstract

In this study, we use new Canadian data containing detailed information on standardized test scores, school marks, parental and peer influences, and other socio-economic background characteristics of boys and girls to try to account for the large gender gap in university attendance. Among 19-year-old youth in 2003, 38.8% of girls had attended university, compared with only 25.7% of boys. However, young men and women were about equally likely to attend college. We find that differences in observable characteristics between boys and girls account for more than three quarters (76.8%) of the gap in university participation. In order of importance, the main factors are differences in school marks at age 15, standardized test scores in reading at age 15, study habits, parental expectations and the university earnings premium relative to high school. Altogether, the four measures of academic abilities used in the study "overall marks, performance on standardized reading tests, study habits and repeating grade" collectively account for 58.9% of the gender gap in university participation. These results suggest that understanding why girls outperform boys in the classroom may be a key to understanding the gender divide in university participation.

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File URL: http://www.statcan.gc.ca/bsolc/olc-cel/olc-cel?catno=11F0019M2007303&lang=eng
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Paper provided by Statistics Canada, Analytical Studies Branch in its series Analytical Studies Branch Research Paper Series with number 2007303e.

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Date of creation: 20 Sep 2007
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Handle: RePEc:stc:stcp3e:2007303e

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Keywords: Education; training and learning; Society and community; Educational attainment; Literacy; Women and gender;

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This paper has been announced in the following NEP Reports: References listed on IDEAS
Please report citation or reference errors to , or , if you are the registered author of the cited work, log in to your RePEc Author Service profile, click on "citations" and make appropriate adjustments.:
  1. Claudia Goldin & Lawrence F. Katz & Ilyana Kuziemko, 2006. "The Homecoming of American College Women: The Reversal of the College Gender Gap," Journal of Economic Perspectives, American Economic Association, vol. 20(4), pages 133-156, Fall.
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  2. Moffitt, Robert A., 1999. "New developments in econometric methods for labor market analysis," Handbook of Labor Economics, in: O. Ashenfelter & D. Card (ed.), Handbook of Labor Economics, edition 1, volume 3, chapter 24, pages 1367-1397 Elsevier. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  3. Jacob, Brian A., 2002. "Where the boys aren't: non-cognitive skills, returns to school and the gender gap in higher education," Economics of Education Review, Elsevier, vol. 21(6), pages 589-598, December. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  4. Thomas S. Dee, 2005. "Teachers and the Gender Gaps in Student Achievement," NBER Working Papers 11660, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  5. J.B. Burbidge & L. Magee & A.L. Robb, 2001. "The Education Premium in Canada and the United States," Quantitative Studies in Economics and Population Research Reports 364, McMaster University. [Downloadable!]
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  6. Brian A. Jacob, 2002. "Where the boys aren't: Non-cognitive skills, returns to school and the gender gap in higher education," NBER Working Papers 8964, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  7. Alan Manning & Helen Robinson, 2004. "Something in the way she moves: a fresh look at an old gap," Oxford Economic Papers, Oxford University Press, vol. 56(2), pages 169-188, April. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
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  8. Oaxaca, Ronald L. & Ransom, Michael R., 1994. "On discrimination and the decomposition of wage differentials," Journal of Econometrics, Elsevier, vol. 61(1), pages 5-21, March. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  9. Pedro Carneiro & James J. Heckman, 2002. "The Evidence on Credit Constraints in Post-Secondary Schooling," NBER Working Papers 9055, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
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  10. Louis N. Christofides & Michael Hoy & Ling Yang, 2008. "The Gender Imbalance in Participation in Canadian Universities (1977-2005)," University of Cyprus Working Papers in Economics 5-2008, University of Cyprus Department of Economics. [Downloadable!]
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  11. David Neumark, 1987. "Employers' discriminatory behavior and the estimation of wage discrimination," Special Studies Papers 227, Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System (U.S.).
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  1. Joshua Angrist & Daniel Lang & Philip Oreopoulos, 2007. "Incentives and Services for College Achievement: Evidence from a Randomized Trial," IZA Discussion Papers 3134, Institute for the Study of Labor (IZA). [Downloadable!]
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