IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/bpj/bejeap/v25y2025i3p549-576n1014.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Is it a Matter of Skills? High School Choices and the Gender Gap in STEM

Author

Listed:
  • Contini Dalit

    (Department of Economics and Statistics Cognetti de Martiis, University of Torino, Turin, Italy)

  • Di Tommaso Maria Laura

    (Department of Economics and Statistics Cognetti de Martiis, University of Torino, Turin, Italy)

  • Maccagnan Anna

    (Department of Economics and Statistics Cognetti de Martiis, University of Torino, Turin, Italy)

  • Mendolia Silvia

    (Department of Economics, Social Studies, Applied Mathematics and Statistics, University of Torino, Turin, Italy)

Abstract

This paper examines whether the gender gap in skills, favoring boys in mathematics and girls in language, contributes to the gender gap in STEM choices in high school. While previous research has linked skills to educational choices, it finds little evidence that these explain the gender gap in university field of study. However, the transition to upper secondary school – especially in tracked systems – may involve different dynamics, with school performance playing a more important role. We analyze this transition in Italy, where students choose between different school types at 14. This choice is crucial for students who do not attend university and provides insights into gender segregation in the labor market at lower socio-economic levels. We show that skills influence educational choices, but among children of less educated parents do not explain the gender gap. However, ability partially mediates the gender gap among students of more advantaged backgrounds.

Suggested Citation

  • Contini Dalit & Di Tommaso Maria Laura & Maccagnan Anna & Mendolia Silvia, 2025. "Is it a Matter of Skills? High School Choices and the Gender Gap in STEM," The B.E. Journal of Economic Analysis & Policy, De Gruyter, vol. 25(3), pages 549-576.
    • Handle: RePEc:bpj:bejeap:v:25:y:2025:i:3:p:549-576:n:1014
    DOI: 10.1515/bejeap-2024-0461
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://doi.org/10.1515/bejeap-2024-0461
    Download Restriction: For access to full text, subscription to the journal or payment for the individual article is required.
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1515/bejeap-2024-0461?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to

    for a different version of it.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;

    JEL classification:

    • I21 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Education - - - Analysis of Education
    • I24 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Education - - - Education and Inequality
    • J16 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demographic Economics - - - Economics of Gender; Non-labor Discrimination

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:bpj:bejeap:v:25:y:2025:i:3:p:549-576:n:1014. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    We have no bibliographic references for this item. You can help adding them by using this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Peter Golla (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.degruyterbrill.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.