Abstract
This study uses cross-national evidence to estimate the effect of school peer performance on the size of the gender gap in the formation of STEM career aspirations. We argue that STEM aspirations are influenced not only by gender stereotyping in the national culture but also by the performance of peers in the local school environment. Our analyses are based on the Program for International Student Assessment (PISA). They investigate whether 15-year-old students from 55 different countries expect to have STEM jobs at the age of 30. We find considerable gender differences in the plans to pursue careers in STEM occupations in all countries. Using PISA test scores in math and science aggregated at the school level as a measure of school performance, we find that stronger performance environments have a negative impact on student career aspirations in STEM. Although girls are less likely than boys to aspire to STEM occupations, even when they have comparable abilities, boys respond more than girls to competitive school performance environments. As a consequence, the aspirations gender gap narrows for high-performing students in stronger performance environments. We show that those effects are larger in countries that do not sort students into different educational tracks.
Highlights
A growing body of research documents the under-representation of women in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) occupations and fields of study (Xie and Shauman, 2003; Eccles, 2007; Ceci and Williams, 2011; Ceci et al, 2014)
We contribute to research on the role of the school context for the gender gap in STEM aspirations, by examining the impact that peer ability has on gender differences in the formation of STEM orientations across 55 countries
High performance in the environment arguably raises the level of competition
Summary
A growing body of research documents the under-representation of women in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) occupations and fields of study (Xie and Shauman, 2003; Eccles, 2007; Ceci and Williams, 2011; Ceci et al, 2014). Mann and DiPrete (unpublished manuscript) show that boys and girls have lower STEM aspirations and stronger returns to math-science performance when they live in countries with stronger overall performance levels This finding is attributed to the higher risk of failure in more competitive environments and the concomitant need for stronger evidence that one is good at math-science before forming a STEM orientation. Mann and DiPrete (unpublished manuscript) find that the effect on the math-science slope of a stronger math-science country environment is stronger for girls than for boys, which is linked to gender status beliefs in the national culture If this is true, we would expect to find a similar pattern in school environments, during the high school years. Structural features of national and school education systems might influence the extent to which peer ability shapes educational aspirations
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