Exposure to More Female Peers Widens the Gender Gap in Stem Participation

59 Pages Posted: 9 Sep 2019

See all articles by Anne Brenøe

Anne Brenøe

University of Copenhagen - Department of Economics

Ulf Zölitz

University of Zurich; IZA Institute of Labor Economics

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Abstract

This paper investigates how high school gender composition affects students' participation in STEM at college. Using Danish administrative data, we exploit idiosyncratic within-school variation in gender composition. We find that having a larger proportion of female peers reduces women's probability of enrolling in and graduating from STEM programs. Men's STEM participation increases with more female peers present. In the long run, women exposed to more female peers are less likely to work in STEM occupations, earn less, and have more children. Our findings show that the school peer environment has lasting effects on occupational sorting, the gender wage gap, and fertility.

Keywords: gender, peer effects, STEM studies

JEL Classification: I21, J16, J31

Suggested Citation

Brenøe, Anne and Zölitz, Ulf, Exposure to More Female Peers Widens the Gender Gap in Stem Participation. IZA Discussion Paper No. 12582, Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=3449576 or http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.3449576

Anne Brenøe (Contact Author)

University of Copenhagen - Department of Economics ( email )

Øster Farimagsgade 5
Bygning 26
1353 Copenhagen K.
Denmark

Ulf Zölitz

University of Zurich ( email )

Rämistrasse 71
Zürich, CH-8006
Switzerland

IZA Institute of Labor Economics ( email )

P.O. Box 7240
Bonn, D-53072
Germany

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