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Choice of Majors: Are Women Really Different from Men?

Author

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  • Kugler, Adriana D.
  • Tinsley, Catherine
  • Ukhaneva, Olga
Abstract
Recent work suggests that women are more responsive to negative feedback than men in certain environments. We examine whether negative feedback in the form of relatively low grades in major-related classes explains gender differences in the majors undergraduates choose. We use unique administrative data from a large private university on the East Coast from 2009-2016 to test whether women are more sensitive to grades than men, and whether the gender composition of major-related classes affects major changes. We also control for other factors that may affect a student's major including: high school student performance, gender of faculty, and economic returns of majors. Finally, we examine how students' decisions are affected by external cues that signal STEM fields as masculine. The results show that high school academic preparation, faculty gender composition, and major returns have little effect on major switching behaviors, and that women and men are equally likely to change their major in response to poor grades in major-related courses. Moreover, women in male-dominated majors do not exhibit different patterns of switching behaviors relative to their male colleagues. Women are, however, more likely to switch out of male-dominated STEM majors in response to poor performance compared to men. Therefore, we fi nd that it takes multiple signals of lack of fit into a major (low grades, gender composition of class, and external stereotyping signals) to impel female students to switch majors.

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  • Kugler, Adriana D. & Tinsley, Catherine & Ukhaneva, Olga, 2017. "Choice of Majors: Are Women Really Different from Men?," CEPR Discussion Papers 12229, C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers.
    • Handle: RePEc:cpr:ceprdp:12229
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    3. Ana Maria Munoz Boudet & Lourdes Rodriguez Chamussy & Christina Chiarella & Isil Oral Savonitto, 2021. "Women and STEM in Europe and Central Asia," World Bank Publications - Reports 35463, The World Bank Group.
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    6. Fernando Saltiel, 2019. "What's Math Got to Do With It? Multidimensional Ability and the Gender Gap in STEM," 2019 Meeting Papers 1201, Society for Economic Dynamics.
    7. Patricia K Hunt & Michelle Dong & Crystal M Miller, 2021. "A multi-year science research or engineering experience in high school gives women confidence to continue in the STEM pipeline or seek advancement in other fields: A 20-year longitudinal study," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 16(11), pages 1-20, November.
    8. Jansson, Joakim & Tyrefors, Björn, 2018. "Gender Grading Bias at Stockholm University: Quasi-Experimental Evidence from an Anonymous Grading Reform," Working Paper Series 1226, Research Institute of Industrial Economics.
    9. Jiang, Xuan, 2021. "Women in STEM: Ability, preference, and value," Labour Economics, Elsevier, vol. 70(C).
    10. Valerie K. Bostwick & Bruce A. Weinberg, 2022. "Nevertheless She Persisted? Gender Peer Effects in Doctoral STEM Programs," Journal of Labor Economics, University of Chicago Press, vol. 40(2), pages 397-436.
    11. Thomas Ahn & Peter Arcidiacono & Amy Hopson & James R. Thomas, 2019. "Equilibrium Grade Inflation with Implications for Female Interest in STEM Majors," NBER Working Papers 26556, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    12. Michael Kaganovich & Morgan Taylor & Ruli Xiao, 2023. "Gender Differences in Persistence in a Field of Study: This Isn’t All about Grades," Journal of Human Capital, University of Chicago Press, vol. 17(4), pages 503-556.
    13. Michela Carlana, 2019. "Implicit Stereotypes: Evidence from Teachers’ Gender Bias," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 134(3), pages 1163-1224.
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    15. Yanqing Ding & Wei Li & Xin Li & Yinduo Wu & Jin Yang & Xiaoyang Ye, 2021. "Heterogeneous Major Preferences for Extrinsic Incentives: The Effects of Wage Information on the Gender Gap in STEM Major Choice," Research in Higher Education, Springer;Association for Institutional Research, vol. 62(8), pages 1113-1145, December.
    16. Jansson, Joakim & Tyrefors, Björn, 2020. "The Genius is a Male: Stereotypes and Same-Sex Bias in Exam Grading in Economics at Stockholm University," Working Paper Series 1362, Research Institute of Industrial Economics.
    17. Delaney, Judith M. & Devereux, Paul J., 2021. "Gender and Educational Achievement: Stylized Facts and Causal Evidence," IZA Discussion Papers 14074, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    18. Halim,Daniel Zefanya & Powers,Elizabeth T. & Thornton,Rebecca Lynn, 2021. "Gender Differences in Economics Course-Taking and Majoring : Findings from an RCT," Policy Research Working Paper Series 9732, The World Bank.
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    20. Michael Kaganovich & Morgan Taylor & Ruli Xiao, 2021. "Gender Differences in Persistence in a Field of Study," CESifo Working Paper Series 9087, CESifo.
    21. Priyanka Chakraborty & Danila Serra, 2021. "Gender and leadership in organizations: Promotions, demotions and angry workers," Working Papers 20210104-001, Texas A&M University, Department of Economics.
    22. Bratti, Massimiliano & Lippo, Enrico, 2022. "COVID-19 and the Gender Gap in University Student Performance," IZA Discussion Papers 15456, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    23. Hengel, E., 2017. "Publishing while Female. Are women held to higher standards? Evidence from peer review," Cambridge Working Papers in Economics 1753, Faculty of Economics, University of Cambridge.
    24. Isphording, Ingo E. & Qendrai, Pamela, 2019. "Gender Differences in Student Dropout in STEM," IZA Research Reports 87, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Education gender gap; Major choice; Stem fields;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • I23 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Education - - - Higher Education; Research Institutions
    • I24 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Education - - - Education and Inequality
    • I26 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Education - - - Returns to Education
    • J16 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demographic Economics - - - Economics of Gender; Non-labor Discrimination

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