Cultural influences on Gender Gap in test scores: findings from Afghanistan’s university entrance examination

Abstract

ABSTRACT We estimate the gender gap in test scores using administrative data from Afghanistan. Using student-level information, we construct household-level data. We report the gender gap in test scores by exploiting various household sibling structures. We examine the culture of sending siblings to gender-specific schools. Our results indicate that cultural rectitude might drive the gender gap and ‘not’ the inherent biological differences in abilities.