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Do Professors Really Perpetuate the Gender Gap in Science? Evidence from a Natural Experiment in a French Higher Education Institution

Author

Listed:
  • Thomas Breda
  • Son Thierry Ly
Abstract
Stereotypes, role models played by teachers and social norms influence girls' academic self-concept and push girls to choose humanities rather than science. Do recruiters reinforce this strong selection by discriminating more against girls in more scientific subjects? Using the entrance exam of a French higher education institution (the Ecole Normale Supérieure) as a natural experiment, we show the opposite: discrimination goes in favor of females in more male-connoted subjects (e.g. math, philosophy) and in favor of males in more female-connoted subjects (e.g. literature, biology), inducing a rebalancing of sex ratios between students recruited for a research career in science and humanities majors. We identify discrimination by systematic differences in students' scores between oral tests (non-blind toward gender) and anonymous written tests (blind toward gender). By making comparisons of these oral/written scores differences between different subjects for a given student, we are able to control both for a student's ability in each subject and for her overall ability at oral exams. The mechanisms likely to drive this positive discrimination toward the minority gender are also discussed.

Suggested Citation

  • Thomas Breda & Son Thierry Ly, 2012. "Do Professors Really Perpetuate the Gender Gap in Science? Evidence from a Natural Experiment in a French Higher Education Institution," CEE Discussion Papers 0138, Centre for the Economics of Education, LSE.
    • Handle: RePEc:cep:ceedps:0138
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    File URL: https://cep.lse.ac.uk/pubs/download/cee/ceedp138.pdf
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    Cited by:

    1. Boontarika Paphawasit & Ratapol Wudhikarn, 2022. "Investigating Patterns of Research Collaboration and Citations in Science and Technology: A Case of Chiang Mai University," Administrative Sciences, MDPI, vol. 12(2), pages 1-28, June.
    2. Camille Terrier, 2014. "Giving a Little Help to Girls? Evidence on Grade Discrimination and its Effect on Students Achievement," Working Papers hal-01080834, HAL.
    3. José Manuel Cordero Ferrera & Rosa Simancas Rodríguez (ed.), 2016. "Investigaciones de Economía de la Educación," E-books Investigaciones de Economía de la Educación, Asociación de Economía de la Educación, edition 1, volume 11, number 11, August.
    4. Christelle Garrouste, 2016. "Girls and science in France," Investigaciones de Economía de la Educación volume 11, in: José Manuel Cordero Ferrera & Rosa Simancas Rodríguez (ed.), Investigaciones de Economía de la Educación 11, edition 1, volume 11, chapter 41, pages 733-752, Asociación de Economía de la Educación.
    5. Lutter, Mark & Schröder, Martin, 2014. "Who becomes a tenured professor, and why? Panel data evidence from German sociology, 1980-2013," MPIfG Discussion Paper 14/19, Max Planck Institute for the Study of Societies.
    6. Di Liberto, Adriana & Casula, Laura, 2016. "Teacher Assessments versus Standardized Tests: Is Acting," IZA Discussion Papers 10458, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    discrimination; gender stereotypes; natural experiment; sex and science;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • I23 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Education - - - Higher Education; Research Institutions
    • J16 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demographic Economics - - - Economics of Gender; Non-labor Discrimination

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