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The Rise of Women: The Growing Gender Gap in Education and What It Means for American Schools

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Abstract

While powerful gender inequalities remain in American society, women have made substantial gains and now largely surpass men in one crucial arena: education. Women now outperform men academically at all levels of school, and are more likely to obtain college degrees and enroll in graduate school. What accounts for this enormous reversal in the gender education gap? In The Rise of Women: The Growing Gender Gap in Education and What It Means for American Schools, Thomas DiPrete and Claudia Buchmann provide a detailed and accessible account of women's educational advantage and suggest new strategies to improve schooling outcomes for both boys and girls.The Rise of Women opens with a masterful overview of the broader societal changes that accompanied the change in gender trends in higher education. The rise of egalitarian gender norms and a growing demand for college-educated workers allowed more women to enroll in colleges and universities nationwide. As this shift occurred, women quickly reversed the historical male advantage in education. By 2010, young women in their mid-twenties surpassed their male counterparts in earning college degrees by more than eight percentage points. The authors, however, reveal an important exception: While women have achieved parity in fields such as medicine and the law, they lag far behind men in engineering and physical science degrees. To explain these trends, The Rise of Women charts the performance of boys and girls over the course of their schooling. At each stage in the education process, they consider the gender-specific impact of factors such as families, schools, peers, race and class. Important differences emerge as early as kindergarten, where girls show higher levels of essential learning skills such as persistence and self-control. Girls also derive more intrinsic gratification from performing well on a day-to-day basis, a crucial advantage in the learning process. By contrast, boys must often navigate a conflict between their emerging masculine identity and a strong attachment to school. Families and peers play a crucial role at this juncture. The authors show the gender gap in educational attainment between children in the same families tends to be lower when the father is present and more highly educated. A strong academic climate, both among friends and at home, also tends to erode stereotypes that disconnect academic prowess and a healthy, masculine identity. Similarly, high schools with strong science curricula reduce the power of gender stereotypes concerning science and technology and encourage girls to major in scientific fields. As the value of a highly skilled workforce continues to grow, The Rise of Women argues that understanding the source and extent of the gender gap in higher education is essential to improving our schools and the economy. With its rigorous data and clear recommendations, this volume illuminates new ground for future education policies and research.

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... According to this perspective, women are less likely to pursue college majors that lead to demanding and time-intensive occupations than men, eschewing them for majors that are perceived as leading to more flexible (e.g., family friendly) occupations [28,48]. In recent decades, women have increasingly pursued STEM degrees, and young women no longer plan their occupational goals around caregiving or family plans [49,50]. Yet differences in types of degrees obtained persist, and women are considerably less likely to major in the STEM fields with the highest returns-engineering and computer science-than men, which contributes to the persistence of the gender wage gap [3]. ...
... Furthermore, gender disparities in human capital accumulation persist. Once in the work force, women work fewer hours than men, on average, and are less likely to work continuously [2,18,41], resulting in less work experience [50,51], which affects pay and promotions. Yet human capital explanations have become weaker predictors of wage discrepancies. ...
... Yet human capital explanations have become weaker predictors of wage discrepancies. For starters, women have surpassed men in college attendance and receipt of Bachelors' and Masters' degrees [50]. Furthermore, women's likelihood of remaining in the labor force following parenthood increased in the latter half of the 20 th century, before stalling in the new century [19,52,53]. ...
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Encouraging women to pursue STEM employment is frequently touted as a means of reducing the gender wage gap. We examine whether the attributes of computer science workers–who account for nearly half of those working in STEM jobs–explain the persistent gender wage gap in computer science, using American Community Survey (ACS) data from 2009 to 2019. Our analysis focuses on working-age respondents between the ages of 22 and 60 who had a college degree and were employed full-time. We use ordinary least squares (OLS) regression of logged wages on observed characteristics, before turning to regression decomposition techniques to estimate what proportion of the gender wage gap would remain if men and women were equally rewarded for the same attributes–such as parenthood or marital status, degree field, or occupation. Women employed in computer science jobs earned about 86.6 cents for every dollar that men earned–a raw gender gap that is smaller than it is for the overall labor force (where it was 82 percent). Controlling for compositional effects (family attributes, degree field and occupation) narrows the gender wage gap, though women continue to earn 9.1 cents per dollar less than their male counterparts. But differential returns to family characteristics and human capital measures account for almost two-thirds of the gender wage gap in computer science jobs. Women working in computer science receive both a marriage and parenthood premium relative to unmarried or childless women, but these are significantly smaller than the bonus that married men and fathers receive over their childless and unmarried peers. Men also receive sizable wage premiums for having STEM degrees in computer science and engineering when they work in computer science jobs, advantages that do not accrue to women. Closing the gender wage gap in computer science requires treating women more like men, not just increasing their representation.
... Rates of college attendance and completion have increased markedly over the past 50 years (Bowen et al., 2009;DiPrete & Buchmann, 2013;Quadlin & Powell, 2022). Because higher education is an important predictor of employment status, occupational prestige, wages, and other economic outcomes (Carnevale et al., 2013;Hout, 2011;Lemieux, 2006), college attendance theoretically should be a boon to households' financial standing in one generation as well as families' economic mobility between generations. ...
... The second trend of interest is the "rise of women," that is, women's steady gains in higher education that led to a reversal of the gender gap in college enrollment and completion in the mid-1980s (Buchmann & DiPrete, 2006;DiPrete & Buchmann, 2013;Goldin et al., 2006). While much research discusses this trend without regard to race, others have noted that the reversal of the gender gap that occurred in the 1980s was mostly driven by White men and women. ...
... While much research discusses this trend without regard to race, others have noted that the reversal of the gender gap that occurred in the 1980s was mostly driven by White men and women. Among Black men and women, women's advantage emerged much earlier than this; Black women's rates of college enrollment and completion exceeded Black men's starting with 1920s birth cohorts, and their advantage continued to grow through the modern era (DiPrete & Buchmann, 2013;McDaniel et al., 2011). Previous research focused on the set of structurally based disadvantages facing Black boys and men points to the group's higher likelihood of being exposed to factors such as exclusionary school discipline, policing, and carceral facilities as factors limiting the group's average educational trajectories. ...
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This article assesses how the economic context of higher education expansion since the mid-20th century has shaped families’ financial lives—in terms of income and wealth/debt—as well as how these trends have differed for Black and White women and men. We use data from the NLSY-79 (comprising trailing-edge Baby Boomers) and NLSY-97 (comprising early Millennials) to show how academically similar students in these two cohorts fared in terms of educational attainment, household income, household wealth, and total student debt accrued by age 35. While we discuss findings across race-gender groups, our results call attention to the education-related economic disadvantages faced by Black women that have accelerated across cohorts. Over time, Black women’s educational attainment has increased substantially, and high-achieving Black women, in particular, have become uniquely likely to progress beyond the BA. But while high-achieving Black women have made many advances in higher education, they also have become more likely than similarly high-achieving White men, White women, and Black men to have zero or negative wealth at the household level, and to accrue student debt for themselves and for their children. Our findings demonstrate that the costs of expanded access to credit for higher education have not been borne equally across race, gender, and achievement, and that these patterns have multigenerational financial consequences for college attendees and their families.
... First, there is a shift in the occupational structure from relatively unskilled male production jobs to skilled and highly skilled female administrative and service positions (Busch, 2013;Becker, 2014;Witte, 2020). Second, there is a secular liberalization of gender role perceptions in the whole society (DiPrete and Buchmann, 2013;Knight and Brinton, 2017;Gallie, 2019). Both developments should have led to increasing investment in education by women, rising female labor force participation, and a shift in the family division of work from the traditional male-breadwinner model to a secondary earner, dual career or even female breadwinner model (Breen and Goldthorpe, 1997;Blossfeld and Drobnic, 2001;DiPrete and Buchmann, 2013;Klesment and Van Bavel, 2017). ...
... Second, there is a secular liberalization of gender role perceptions in the whole society (DiPrete and Buchmann, 2013;Knight and Brinton, 2017;Gallie, 2019). Both developments should have led to increasing investment in education by women, rising female labor force participation, and a shift in the family division of work from the traditional male-breadwinner model to a secondary earner, dual career or even female breadwinner model (Breen and Goldthorpe, 1997;Blossfeld and Drobnic, 2001;DiPrete and Buchmann, 2013;Klesment and Van Bavel, 2017). As a result, across cohorts, women's educational attainment and earnings have become increasingly pivotal to overall family income (Breen and Goldthorpe, 1997;Blossfeld and Drobnic, 2001;Haupt, 2019). ...
... Third, women in the older birth cohorts often married up in educational terms, but as education has expanded, women who invest more in their education have a higher likelihood to find a similarly highly educated partner within their networks in school and in the labor market than women with less education today (Blossfeld and Timm, 2003;Mare, 2016). Fourth, high divorce rates and the rising separation rate of consensual unions, as well as the growing proportion of single mothers increase the incentives of women to achieve greater economic independence through higher educational attainment (DiPrete and Buchmann, 2013;Zagel and Breen, 2019). In sum, based on these reasons, we expect women, to increasingly invest in higher education across cohorts, regardless of their social background (Hypothesis 6). ...
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In this article, we examine how the rising proportion of academic families across cohorts affects sons’ and daughters’ tertiary educational attainment in the process of educational expansion. Using data from the National Educational Panel Study (NEPS), we focus on West Germany and examine whether the upgrading of the educational composition of families across cohorts has particularly contributed to daughters catching up with and even overtaking sons in tertiary educational attainment over time, or whether daughters and sons have benefited equally. In particular, we ask whether the rise of academic families, who are assumed to have stronger gender-egalitarian attitudes toward their children, has contributed to daughters faster increase in tertiary education compared to sons. Our empirical analysis shows that the long-term upgrading of families’ education across cohorts has in a similar manner increased tertiary educational attainment of both sons and daughters. Thus, women’s educational catch-up process cannot be explained by the greater gender-egalitarian focus of academic parents. Rather all origin families, independent of their educational level, are following the same secular trend toward more gender egalitarianism. We also examine to which extent highly qualified mothers serve as role models for their daughters. We find that academic mothers do not serve as particular role models for their daughters. Rather mother’s education is equally important for both sons’ and daughters’ success in higher education. Finally, we show that the rising proportion of academic families across cohorts is connected to a rising proportion of downward mobility for both sons and daughters. However, the share of upward mobile daughters from non-academic families is converging with that of sons.
... Since the mid-20th century, there has been widespread expansion of the educational system in numerous countries around the globe (Breen et al., 2009;Müller and Kogan, 2010;Breen and Müller, 2020), leading to an increase in the length of time spent in education as well as in the attainment of higher educational qualifications. This expansion has been perceived by several authors as particularly advantageous for women, who have managed to reverse their previously unfavorable position within the educational system in comparison to men in various domains (Buchmann et al., 2008;Breen et al., 2010Breen et al., , 2012DiPrete and Buchmann, 2013;Becker, 2014;Blossfeld et al., 2015). ...
... This will be reflected in improving upward mobility rates for women in the cohort sequence. Women are considered to have been the winners of the educational expansion (Buchmann et al., 2008;DiPrete and Buchmann, 2013), and international studies show that their mobility chances have improved as a result (Breen et al., 2010). For men, the increase in upward mobility rates is expected to be less pronounced; while they have also benefited from the expansion of the education system, the reasons for their educational behavior (e.g., to utilize educational qualifications on the labor market to match the status of their parents) have hardly changed over cohorts. ...
... Pseudo−R2 is evident that women in Switzerland have been able to reduce their previous disadvantages in terms of educational attainment and that they now achieve, on average, higher qualifications than men (Buchmann et al., 2008;DiPrete and Buchmann, 2013). This significant increase in educational attainment after 2000 has not yet been reflected in our analyses of intergenerational mobility, but these developments suggest that mobility patterns in Switzerland may change in future. ...
Article
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In many societies, educational attainment determines social inequality in terms of life chances, and at the same time there is a strong link between social origin and educational success. Therefore, analysis of educational mobility patterns is a central concern for sociologists. In the context of societal changes, such as trend of modernization, educational expansion and significantly increased female participation in education, we use administrative data from different sources (N = 556,112) to examine the extent to which absolute and relative intergenerational educational mobility has changed in Switzerland for women and men from the 1951–1990 birth cohorts. We show that there is significantly more upward than downward mobility, while a large proportion of individuals are laterally mobile. By looking at absolute mobility patterns by cohort and gender separately, we extend previous research and show that the decreasing absolute mobility rates are due to the changing educational composition of the parental generations. Following on from previous studies, we reveal that the observed trend toward less relative social mobility continues in the youngest cohorts. It is also worth noting that, while the father's educational attainment has a higher predictive power for children's education in all cohorts, the impact of the mother's education approaches that of the father. Overall, the mobility patterns of men and women converge very strongly over the cohort sequence. Beyond these substantive points, our study demonstrates the potential of using administrative data for social stratification research.
... Educational expectations have been considered an indicator of how much education people believe they realistically are likely to attain and has been treated as both an outcome of interest and a determinant of educational attainment. 1 Starting in the 1980s, the gender gap in educational attainment reversed in favor of women as their educational expectations and college degree attainment exceeded men's (DiPrete and Buchmann 2013;Fortin, Oreopoulos, and Phipps 2015;Reynolds and Burge 2008;Reynolds and Johnson 2011). 2 Reynolds and Burge (2008) found that young women's faster rising expectations were partly fueled by perceptions of greater parental encouragement for schooling and greater participation in college preparatory coursework, and that gender-related changes in educational expectations partly account for women's greater postsecondary attainments relative to men. However, using MTF cross-sectional and panel data for 12th graders from 1976 to 1990, Reynolds and Johnson (2011) found that women from these cohorts who planned to earn a graduate or professional degree were less likely than men to have earned one by ages 29-30. ...
... Girls and women have long outperformed boys and men in terms of grades (e.g., Buchmann and DiPrete 2006;DiPrete and Buchmann 2013). For example, Fortin, Oreopoulous, and Phipps' (2015) analysis of MTF data shows the overall proportion of 12th graders reporting A averages rose from 8.5% in the 1980s to 16.6% in the 2000s, but the gender difference in the proportions of students with A averages increased from 3.2% to 5.4%. ...
... Another limitation of the MTF survey is that it does not allow for a variety of racial-ethnic categories and instead categorized respondents as either White or non-White until 2005 and as White, Black, and Hispanic since 2005. While the gender gap in educational attainment has reversed toward favoring women rather than men, this has occurred differently across racial-ethnic groups (Davis et al. 2012;DiPrete and Buchmann 2013;Reynolds and Burge 2008;Reynolds and Johnson 2011). Research with finer measures of race-ethnicity is needed to more fully understand racial-ethnic variation in the gender gap in post-baccalaureate expectations. ...
Article
Educational expectations have increased over time, with greater increases among young women than men, yet research focused on expectations for post-baccalaureate degrees is limited. We investigate young men’s and women’s plans to attend graduate or professional school using Monitoring the Future data from 12th graders for 1976 to 2019, focusing on how academic performance and work and family values may be associated with post-baccalaureate expectations. We find that young women’s expectations for graduate or professional school began to exceed young men’s in the early 1990s and continued to do so afterward, although expectations for post-baccalaureate schooling declined some in recent years, especially among young men. Results also indicate that the gender gap over time is driven partially by more young women than men with B or lower average grades holding post-baccalaureate expectations. Work values may foster these high expectations, especially for lower-achieving young women. Finally, we examine whether post-baccalaureate expectations translate into higher attainments, and results suggest that higher-achieving students are better positioned to meet their post-baccalaureate expectations. Collectively, our findings suggest that sociocultural factors promoting women’s participation in the public sphere may encourage some young women to form high-level expectations that they are not academically equipped to meet.
... The latest PISA results (OECD, 2019), for instance, report on girls outperforming boys in reading-and slightly in science-in every participating country and economy, although boys still outperform girls in mathematics in most countries, be it by a much smaller margin than girls outperform boys in reading. The major mechanism behind the increasing educational motivation of women, resulting in higher achievement and higher participation in upper secondary and higher education, is the increase in educational returns for women (DiPrete & Buchmann, 2013). The explanations for boys' lower educational achievement often focus on motivational, attitudinal and behavioural issues (Hadjar et al., 2014). ...
... While young women are more likely to conform to their family and school's behavioural norms than are adolescent males (DiPrete & Buchmann, 2013;Mickelson, 2003), laddish anti-academic attitudes and accompanying misbehaviours in and out of school are not confined to contemporary adolescent males. In fact, scholars have introduced the term 'ladettes' to describe young women whose attitudes and behaviours challenge and undermine formal school and/or gender norms (Francis, 1999;Jackson, 2006;Jackson & Tinkler, 2007). ...
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On average, boys display more disruptive school behaviour than girls. This study looks at this behaviour in the first place as gendered behaviour, investigating whether boys' and girls' disruptive behaviour is associated with their schools' student and teacher gender role culture. Multilevel analyses (HLM7) of representative Flemish data of 2706 male and 2436 female 8th grade students in resp. 57 and 49 secondary schools, and 1247 teachers gathered at the end of school‐year 2013/14, revealed that a more traditional student gender role culture is associated with less disruptive school behaviour in girls. As for boys, the positive association between traditional student gender role culture and disruptive school behaviour disappears when accounting for their individual gender role attitudes, which are significantly more traditional than those of girls. More traditional gender role attitudes coincide with more disruptive behaviour in boys and girls. Moreover, boys displaying less disruptive behaviour report a higher felt pressure for gender conformity. No impact is found of the homogeneity of teachers' gender role attitudes. The findings demonstrate that disruptive school behaviour can be looked at as gendered behaviour and can be tackled, at least partly, by discouraging gender stereotypical beliefs in students.
... Vertical gender inequalities in education have changed substantially in the course of the twentieth century, such that today women tend to go further in school and earn more educational degrees than men in most countries in the world (DiPrete and Buchmann, 2013). In the first half of the 20th century, men dominated upper secondary schooling and higher education, and women were under-represented in both of these levels, but towards the end of the 20th century, women first gained parity and then overtook men in their educational attainment. ...
... For example, Breen and Goldthorpe (1997) related gendered educational choices to gendered perceptions of how an educational pathway contributes to the goals of status attainment and income acquisition among men and women. Others (DiPrete and Buchmann, , 2013Breen et al, 2010) argue that a major factor behind the reduction of educational disadvantages for women during the last century were the increasing benefits of education for women and, thus, focus on secondary effects with regard to cost-benefit calculations to explain the rise of women's educational attainment. Figure 8.4 provides a conceptual framework of the primary and secondary effects of gender as they relate to gender inequalities in education. ...
... Furthermore, and regarding the impacts of social origin, we expected that boys and girls from advantaged backgrounds would benefit equally from their parents, thanks to the more gender-egalitarian norms and values typically held among higher educated parents (Alwin et al., 1992;Dryler, 1998;Guiso et al., 2008). Similarly, boys from more advantaged backgrounds might be more immune to the concepts of masculinity/femininity that stigmatize academic excellence in school, because they have internalized the more successful role models embodied in the success of their own parents (DiPrete & Buchmann, 2013;Francis, 1999). Finally, a complementary argument to predict lower contingency of gender differences on the socioeconomic standing of families can be derived from the theory of compensatory advantage of social background (Bernardi, 2014). ...
... This perspective postulates merely that advantaged families are generally better equipped to confront unfavorable events or circumstances. Accordingly, given that boys are generally more sensitive to negative influences from surrounding environments (Buchmann et al., 2008;DiPrete & Buchmann, 2013), more advantaged families should mitigate (or compensate for) the impact of these influences more effectively. In line with these arguments, we therefore expect that gender differences in educational achievement should be less pronounced among children from more advantaged backgrounds than among children from less advantaged backgrounds (Hypothesis H9). ...
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Starting at the earliest phase in the educational career, our analyses show that there are already gender differences in mathematical competencies at early preschool age, but against the usual expectations, in favour of girls. In primary school, the early gender-specific differences are then reinforced: Boys perform better in mathematics and girls in German language. Nevertheless, these relative advantages in each domain compensate for each other, so there are no significant differences in the overall performance. Concerning the transition from secondary school to vocational training or higher education there was some evidence from the data that among graduates, young women tend to opt more often for vocational training than young men, whereas the men more often choose to study at universities for applied science than women. We did not find gender differences regarding university entry: Women do not aim lower with respect to university entry at similar grades than boys. Finally, our results show the important role of mothers in shaping the level of education of their daughters. In summary, based on our analyses the expected cumulative differences among boys and girls and men and women over the life course appear to be in accordance with the so-called Matthew effect hypothesis: Small gender differences at preschool age are getting bigger over the school career, not so much with regard to competence trajectories but with regard to the chosen subjects in schools and fields of study at vocational training and tertiary education.
... Vertical gender inequalities in education have changed substantially in the course of the twentieth century, such that today women tend to go further in school and earn more educational degrees than men in most countries in the world (DiPrete and Buchmann, 2013). In the first half of the 20th century, men dominated upper secondary schooling and higher education, and women were under-represented in both of these levels, but towards the end of the 20th century, women first gained parity and then overtook men in their educational attainment. ...
... For example, Breen and Goldthorpe (1997) related gendered educational choices to gendered perceptions of how an educational pathway contributes to the goals of status attainment and income acquisition among men and women. Others (DiPrete and Buchmann, , 2013Breen et al, 2010) argue that a major factor behind the reduction of educational disadvantages for women during the last century were the increasing benefits of education for women and, thus, focus on secondary effects with regard to cost-benefit calculations to explain the rise of women's educational attainment. Figure 8.4 provides a conceptual framework of the primary and secondary effects of gender as they relate to gender inequalities in education. ...
... Such findings indicate that uncertainty associated with future opportunities is strongly linked to perceived educational performance early in the life course, and is a major consistent stressor for adolescents in knowledge economies (Banks and Smyth, 2015;Byrne et al., 2007;Högberg, 2021). Furthermore, girls are likely more vulnerable to experiencing such stress, as women are relatively more dependent on educational achievement in accessing labour market opportunities due to historically embedded gender discrimination (DiPrete and Buchmann, 2013;Pekkarinen, 2012). Therefore, it is logical to presume that educational reforms which emphasize increased rates of high-stake national testing and knowledge requirements, likely promote increased levels of adolescent school-pressure, and that girls are likely more vulnerable to experiencing such school-pressure and subsequent stress. ...
Article
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Increased levels of stress and other mental health problems have been reported amongst adolescents in high-income countries. In particular, rates of school-pressure have increased significantly. Despite such increases, little is known about the underlying determinants of increased adolescent stress, making this an emerging public health concern. The educational stressors hypothesis contends that increased rates of stress result from pronounced performance pressures placed on adolescents resulting from educational policy initiatives which emphasizes academic goal attainment. The present study tests this hypothesis using a synthetic control method and panel data techniques to analyse data from the Health Behavior in School-aged children (HBSC) survey, including more than 150,000 adolescents per survey wave in 25 European countries over 16 years, to assess if the Swedish Educational reforms implemented in the 2011–13 period were associated with increased self-reported school-pressure. These reforms implemented increased summative assessments, new grading systems and increased eligibility criteria in accessing further education. Results demonstrate that following the reforms, Swedish adolescents experienced greater levels of school-pressure and led to a greater gender difference in experienced school-pressure where girls were relatively more affected. We conclude that, consistent with the educational stressors hypothesis, the educational reforms have likely contributed to increasing levels of school-pressure for Swedish adolescents.
... Jusqu'à présent, les recherches sur la mobilité éducative intergénérationnelle absolue ont très peu étudié les différences entre les hommes et les femmes, ainsi que les changements au fil des cohortes de naissance. En raison de l'amélioration du niveau d'éducation en Suisse (Becker et Zangger 2013;Zangger et Becker 2016), les niveaux d'éducation ont augmenté de manière continue au fil des cohortes de naissance, et les femmes du monde entier ont notamment particulièrement bénéficié de l'amélioration générale du niveau d'éducation (DiPrete et Buchmann, 2013). Dans cet article, nous analyserons donc d'une part la différence de mobilité éducative entre les hommes et les femmes, et d'autre part, l'évolution de la mobilité éducative au fil des cohortes de naissance. ...
Article
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Cet article se base sur des données administratives pour étudier la mobilité éducative intergénérationnelle des hommes et des femmes nés en Suisse entre 1950 et 1990. La comparaison des niveaux d’éducation des parents et de leurs enfants montre que les hommes des cohortes de naissances les plus anciennes avaient de meilleures chances de mobilité que les femmes. Cette différence a diminué au fil des cohortes de naissance, de sorte que l’on n’observe plus aucune différence spécifique au genre dans la cohorte la plus récente. En général, les chances de mobilité diminuent au fil du temps : la mobilité ascendante concerne moins de personnes, tandis que la part de la mobilité descendante et de l’immobilité augmente. Cette évolution est due à l’amélioration du niveau d’éducation, qui a pour conséquence que de plus en plus de parents atteignent des niveaux de formation plus élevés et limitent ainsi les chances d’être dépassés par leurs enfants. Cependant, dans la cohorte de naissances la plus récente, environ 85 % des hommes et des femmes atteignent au moins le niveau d’éducation de leurs parents, et un tiers atteint même un niveau supérieur à celui de ses parents.
... Źródło: Obliczenia własne na podstawie danych z monitoringu karier absolwentów szkół ponadpodstawowych pozyskanych w 2021 r.Pod koniec XX w. zmieniły się proporcje liczby kobiet i mężczyzn osiągających wyższe wykształcenie. Obecnie kobiety zdobywają je częściej od mężczyzn, co jest widoczne zwłaszcza w krajach rozwiniętych (DiPrete iBuchmann, 2013;Moorhouse, 2023). W krajach OECD w 2021 r. wśród osób w wieku 25-34 lat wyższe wykształcenie miało 41% mężczyzn i 53% kobiet. ...
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Publikacja koncentruje się na wybranych aspektach sytuacji edukacyjno-zawodowej absolwentów szkół prowadzących kształcenie zawodowe w Polsce. Sygnalizuje trudności, z jakimi borykali się absolwenci branżowych szkół I stopnia w pierwszych okresach pandemii, pokazuje wybory edukacyjne absolwentów techników oraz przedstawia problematykę uzyskiwania dyplomów zawodowych przez absolwentów techników i szkół policealnych oraz ich rolę w początkach kariery zawodowej, w tym potencjalną funkcję ochronną w czasach pogorszenia warunków na rynku pracy w związku z pandemią.
... This implies that females value education and are more concerned about their future careers and professions than males. Thus, the result concurs with DiPrete and Buchmann [36] who mentioned that female students continue to outnumber their male equivalent in education. This incident happened because female students showed a higher level of interest in exploring different curricular activities than males. ...
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The pervasive use of Facebook and excessive engagement with the platform contribute to increased feelings of loneliness among individuals, as the addictive nature of Facebook fosters shallow online connections, reduces real-life social interactions, and perpetuates a sense of social isolation, ultimately undermining personal well-being and mental health especially amidst COVID-19 pandemic. Thus, this study intends to provide empirical evidence on the influence of Facebook addiction on the loneliness levels of senior high school students at San Agustin Institute of Technology, facilitating a better understanding of the interplay between technology and mental health among adolescents. The research employed a quantitative, non-experimental research design utilizing the descriptive-correlational technique. The sample consisted of 163 randomly selected senior high school students out of a total population of 460. Data analysis involved the use of frequency count, percentage, mean, standard deviation, Pearson product-moment correlation, and simple linear regression. The demographic profile analysis revealed that the majority of the respondents were females aged between 17-18 years old. Additionally, the study found that the levels of Facebook addiction and loneliness among the respondents were moderate. The test of relationship indicated a significant association between Facebook addiction and loneliness. Moreover, the regression analysis demonstrated that Facebook addiction has an influencing effect on students' loneliness. These results suggest that excessive and uncontrolled use of Facebook by the students can contribute to their feeling of loneliness.
... Women (particularly White women) have made significant human capital gains since the 1970s, making up just under half of the labor force (Bureau of Labor Statistics, 2021) and attaining college degrees at higher rates than men (DiPrete & Buchmann, 2013). The wage gap between mothers and fathers has significantly narrowed (Iceland & Redstone, 2020). ...
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The economic circumstances in which children grow up have garnered much scholarly attention due to their close associations with well-being over the life course. While it has been well-documented that children are increasingly growing up in households where their primary financial support comes from their mother, regardless of whether she is partnered or single, the consequences for household economic well-being are unclear. We use the 2014 Survey of Income and Program Participation to quantify how a mother’s transition into primary earner status affects the economic well-being of her household and if the effects differ based on her relationship status. On average, household income declines and more households are unable to meet their economic needs once the mother becomes the primary earner. However, these declines in income are concentrated among partnered-mother households and mothers who transition from partnered to single during the year. At the same time, although many single mothers see an increase in household income, the majority of these households are still unable to meet their economic needs. These findings suggest that the shift to a welfare system that requires employment coupled with structural changes in the labor market have created financial hardship for most families.
... This Research Topic in Frontiers on gender-specific inequalities in education and the labor market aims to bring together recent empirical studies on differences in women's and men's educational and labor market preferences, choices, and opportunities. Existing studies have shown that women have caught up with and even surpassed men in educational attainment (Shavit and Blossfeld, 1993;Breen et al., 2010;Hadjar and Berger, 2011;DiPrete and Buchmann, 2013) and that women are increasingly participating in the labor market and in jobs with higher socio-economic status. Yet many questions about gender inequalities in education and the labor market remain unanswered, at least in the country contexts examined below. ...
... Girls have higher levels of educational attainment than boys almost across the board in the U.S., but STEM fields are the most glaring exception to that rule. Consequently, women are also significantly underrepresented in STEM occupations (Black et al., 2021;Budig et al. 2021;DiPrete & Buchmann, 2013;Kalev, 2014). ...
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This monograph uses the Mindset × Context perspective to examine how students’ expectations for success in math (“mindset”) and school- and classroom-based opportunities (“context”) interact to explain inequalities in the critical first year of high school. Data come from the National Study of Learning Mindsets (NSLM), a nationally representative study of ~10,000 U.S. public-school ninth graders in 2015-2016. Expectations powerfully predicted math progress, more so for boys from more socioeconomically disadvantaged families, who showed the lowest math progress rate overall. Schools’ peer norms and students’ perceptions of classroom gendered math stereotyping interacted with expectations and group identities (gender and SES) as well. Thus, integrating psychological and sociological perspectives provided complementary insights into young people’s trajectories through an unequal educational environment, while highlighting possible policy levers.
... Among females, however, no such effects are observed. This heterogeneity must be framed in the context of the dramatic changes that in recent decades have led women to get higher grades than men in all advanced societies (DiPrete & Buchmann, 2013). The predominant explanations for the gender education gap rule out overall differences in cognitive ability and attribute the male disadvantage to girls' higher levels of effort, commitment, enjoyment of school life and importance attached to education (Barone & Assirelli, 2020;Lörz & Mühleck, 2019;Lundberg, 2020). ...
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In countries with a school-entry cutoff date, individuals born right after the cutoff are almost 1 year older than individuals in the same school cohort born right before that date. Abundant research has documented that, as a result of that extra year of maturation and skill accumulation, older students in a cohort outperform their younger peers. It is also well-established that this effect peaks at the initial stages of the educational career and wanes as students grow. However, it remains unclear whether or not the age at school entry affects final educational attainment. In this work, we use Spanish census data to assess whether individuals born right after the school-entry cutoff (January 1) are more likely to complete post-compulsory education, a university degree and post-graduate education. We also assess if the age at school entry affects the probability of completing education in a STEM field of study. Our findings indicate that males born after the cutoff accumulate more years of education than males born before that date, but are less likely to complete their education in a STEM field of study. Interestingly, the effect concentrates among the youngest and oldest students in each cohort, is less intense for higher levels of education and disappears among females.
... At the same time, gender gaps continue to evolve. American women now earn more college degrees across all major racial groups than their male counterparts, while also earning better grades and maintaining higher GPAs (DiPrete & Buchmann, 2013). But the promise of women's relative advantage in academic performance is dampened upon entry into the skilled-labor market because gender stereotyping may cause actual academic achievement to be evaluated unevenly and in favor of male college graduates (Quadlin, 2018). ...
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Economic inequality in the U.S. is significantly influenced by the integration trajectory of diverse immigrant and racial/ethnic minority groups. It is also increasingly clear that these processes are uniquely gendered. Few studies, however, jointly and systematically consider the complex ways in which race/ethnicity, gender, and nativity intersect to shape minority men’s and women’s economic experiences, and an intersectional understanding of these processes remains underdeveloped. To address this gap, we blend insights from assimilation, stratification, and intersectionality literatures to analyze 2015–2019 American Community Survey data. Specifically, we examine income inequality and group-level mobility among full-time working whites, Blacks, Native Americans, and Asian and Latino subgroups representative of the Southwest—the first U.S. region to reach a majority-minority demographic profile. Sociodemographic and human capital attributes generally reduce group-level income deficits, and we observe a robust pattern of economic mobility among native-born generations. But most groups remain decisively disadvantaged. Persistent income gaps signal multitiered racial/ethnic-gender hierarchies in the Southwest and suggest exclusion of minority men and women. Additionally, race/ethnicity and gender have an uneven impact on the relative position and progress observed among both U.S.- and foreign-born generations. Such findings support an intersectional approach and demonstrate the complex interplay of multiple axes of inequality that together shape contemporary U.S.- and foreign-born men’s and women’s economic experiences and returns.
... It is evident that a significant characteristic of women's marriage patterns has not changed during the educational expansion: their aversion to choosing a partner who provides a lower educational degree or class position than they have themselves attained (Becker & Jann 2017). Other aims, such as economic independence or emancipation, are also motives for attaining higher educational degrees (Becker 2014;DiPrete & Buchman 2013). Third, the model by Boudon (1974) is applied to the explanation of the educational differentials between natives and immigrants owing to the primary and secondary effects of a migrant background (for an overview, see Nauck 2019). ...
... Ein hier nicht weiterverfolgtes Beispiel über die Bedeutung von Familien für die Bildung ihrer Kinder belegen Studien über Geschwisterreihenfolgen (Helbig, 2013). Schließlich wurde der Zusammenhang von Familienstrukturen, Konflikten im Elternhaus, (beeinträchtigten) Ressourcen des Elternhauses und Bildungschancen von (armen) Kindern ebenso außen vorgelassen (Colpin et al., 2004;Kotitschke, 2013;Nietfeld & Becker, 1999) wie die Rolle von Familie und Geschlechterunterschieden auf Schulerfolg und Bildungschancen (Buchmann et al., 2008;Becker & Müller, 2011;DiPrete & Buchmann, 2013). ...
... Boys' underachievement, especially in domains like literacy for which data are widely available, has started to attract increasing interest among education policymakers and researchers (DiPrete & Buchmann, 2013;Kunnskapsdepartementet, 2019;Legewie & DiPrete, 2012), particularly in light of the emerging (and growing) gender gap in educational attainment in favor of girls. As researchers examine the role of institutional features and societal factors in shaping boys' underachievement (Borgonovi & Han, 2021;van Hek et al., 2019), social context measures that reflect the lived experiences of men as well as women should be developed and employed. ...
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Effective collaborative problem solving comprises cognitive dimensions, in which men tend to outperform women, and social dimensions in which women tend to outperform men. We extend research on between-country differences in gender gaps by considering collaborative problem solving and its association with two indicators of societal-level gender inequality. The first indicator reflects women's underrepresentation in the labor market and politics. The second reflects women's underrepresentation in stereotypically masculine fields and men's underrepresentation in stereotypically feminine fields among university students. We use cross-country evidence on collaborative problem-solving skills among 15-year-old students from 44 countries (N = 343,326) who participated in the 2015 Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA). Girls outperform boys in collaborative problem solving in all countries. Gender gaps in collaborative problem solving in favor of girls are less pronounced in countries where women are especially underrepresented in the labor market and politics but more pronounced in countries where men and women are more likely to conform to gender stereotypes in selecting a field of study at university. Societal-level gender equality plays a bigger role in explaining between-country differences in achievement in domains with a gender gap in favor of girls—such as collaborative problem solving and, to a lesser extent, reading—and a smaller role in explaining between-country differences in achievement in domains with a gender gap in favor of boys—such as mathematics.
... stratification operate in fundamentally different ways for men and women. Women are more likely than men to complete bachelor's degrees and yet are less likely to work in high-prestige, long-hour jobs (Buchmann and DiPrete 2013). Further, due to the persistence of separate spheres and gendered norms in the household division of labor, even among highly educated couples (Cha 2010), women are likely to encounter greater levels of work-family or family-work conflict when they do work (Rao 2020). ...
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In an American economy marked by intense devotion to work, worker well-being is diminished by perceived work-nonwork conflict, especially within higher-status occupations. Yet, work and labor perceptions are constructed within an intergenerational attainment process. This raises the important issue of whether parental origins are determinative of perceived work stress during adulthood. We combine multiple years of national data (2010, 2014, and 2018 General Social Survey) and utilize life-course models of health to begin to understand the differential roles of personal and parental socioeconomic statuses for perceived work conflict and stress in adulthood. We find that educational attainment is linked to perceived work-family and family-work conflict, whereas occupational attainment is linked to work-family conflict as well as perceived job stress and satisfaction. These patterns do not change significantly upon controlling parental socioeconomic status. Parental education and socioeconomic standing associate with adult work stress and perceived family-work interference, but these associations mostly become insignificant once adult attainment is considered. In total, our findings are more consistent with pathway models of life-course stress and well-being, implicating adulthood circumstances, than with critical-period models that emphasize the enduring importance of childhood characteristics.
... The basis for the items measuring "perceived usefulness", "ease of use", and "perceived behavioral control" were the scales from Bhattacherjee [13], Ifinedo [14], and Yeap et al. [15]. To evaluate general learning effectiveness; knowledge sharing and increasing; study skills improvement; and sense of progress, we used eight items, each adopted from Valdivia Vázquez et al. [16] and Y. Jung & Lee [17]. Another four items were adopted from [18,19] and they were used in this study to assess Academic performance. ...
... An extensive literature documents persistent gender gaps in academic outcomes, across a variety of educational contexts (e.g., Bedard and Cho, 2010;Autor and Wasserman, 2013;DiPrete and Buchmann, 2013;OECD, 2015). Girls consistently outperform boys. ...
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Substantial gender differences in key academic skills appear even before children start formal schooling. Although increasing investments in early-childhood programs is motivated by efforts to promote equality of opportunity in education, program attendance seems to have less effect on boys. In this field experiment, we investigate whether a more structured curriculum can help preschools reduce the gender gap in early learning. While girls have higher skills at baseline,we find that the intervention primarily benefits boys, thereby reducing the gender skill gap,with effects persisting into formal schooling.
... Ensuite, l'analyse du lien entre filières du baccalauréat et insertion professionnelle peut éclairer les inégalités liées au genre. La recherche montre en effet que désormais, dans presque tous les pays développés, les femmes ont des niveaux d'études en moyenne plus élevés que ceux des hommes (DiPrete & Buchmann, 2013) mais toujours des carrières et des salaires moins favorables (OECD, 2012). Dans le supérieur, le choix genré de filière contribue à la ségrégation occupationnelle sur le marché du travail (Smyth & Steinmetz, 2008) mais ce mécanisme ne pourraitil pas commencer plus tôt -autrement dit la filière suivie au lycée contribuetelle déjà aux inégalités de genre observées au début de la vie active ? ...
... Although the magnitude of the gender gap in Saudi Arabia is among the largest in the world, significant differences in achievement between boys and girls are also observed in many other countries-sometimes in favor of boys, and sometimes in favor of girls (Mullis et al., 2017(Mullis et al., , 2020. A large body of research has explored the factors contributing to the gender gap in student performance internationally (Autor et al., 2016(Autor et al., , 2019Bertrand & Pan, 2013;Buchmann & DiPrete, 2006;DiPrete & Buchmann, 2013;DiPrete & Jennings, 2012;Fortin et al., 2015;Jha & Pouezevara, 2016;Legewie & DiPrete, 2012;OECD, 2021). Evidence from this research suggests that social norms, school characteristics, students' social and behavioral skills, and family background are the main factors associated with the achievement gap between boys and girls. ...
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Boys in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia consistently and significantly underperform compared to girls across different grades and subjects, forming one of the largest gender gaps in student achievement in the world. Saudi Arabia offers a unique setting in which boys and girls attend separate schools on a universal basis starting from grade 1. This means that boys and girls are educated only by male and female teachers, respectively, in effect inhabiting parallel education systems. In this context, this study examines the factors that are associated with student achievement in mathematics and science in grades 4 and 8 and the extent to which these associations are different for boys and girls, in an effort to gain insights into boys’ underachievement in mathematics and science in Saudi Arabia. The paper employs data from two recent large-scale assessments of education: Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study (TIMSS) 2019 and Saudi Arabia’s National Assessment of Learning Outcomes (NALO) 2018. A series of hierarchical two-level linear regression models showed that in grade 4, school climate was more strongly associated with boys' compared with girls' achievement in both mathematics and science, with boys attending schools of poorer school climate having a considerably lower performance compared with girls attending such schools. The findings also indicated that although greater literacy and numeracy readiness was linked with higher science achievement among boys and girls, grade 4 boys tended to benefit more from this readiness than girls. In addition, the results show that student absenteeism in grade 4 is particularly strongly associated with decreases in mathematics achievement among boys. In grade 8, significant interactions between gender and the extent to which students feel confident in science, the degree of schools’ emphasis on academic success, and teachers’ age are observed. The paper concludes by discussing some of the implications of these findings for educators and policy makers in Saudi Arabia.
... A second dimension over which inequalities in navigation strategies may unfold is gender. The literature indicates that while at school, girls generally outperform boys in reading (Buchmann et al., 2008;DiPrete & Buchmann, 2013;OECD, 2015b) and that they obtain higher grades than boys when they are assessed in language and writing skills (Voyer & Voyer, 2014). However, the size of the gender gap in reading differs depending on the age at which boys and girls are tested and the type of test that is being used (Solheim & Lundetrae, 2018). ...
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Background Data‐driven investigations of how students transit pages in digital reading tasks and how much time they spend on each transition allow mapping sequences of navigation behaviours into students' navigation reading strategies. Objectives The purpose of this study is threefold: (1) to identify students' navigation patterns in multiple‐source reading tasks using a sequence clustering approach; (2) to examine how students' navigation patterns are associated with their reading performance and socio‐demographic characteristics; (3) to showcase how the navigation sequences could be clustered on the similarity measure by dynamic time warping (DTW) methods. Methods This study draws on process data from a sample of 16,957 students from 69 countries participating in the PISA 2018 study to identify how students navigate through a multiple‐source reading item. Students' navigation sequences were characterized by two indicators: the page sequence that tracks the page transition path and the time sequence that records the time duration on each visited page. K‐medoid partitioning clustering analyses were conducted on pairwise distance similarity measures computed by the DTW method. Results and conclusions Students' navigation patterns were found moderately associated with their reading proficiency levels. Students who visited all the pages and spent more time reading without rush transitions obtained the highest reading scores. Girls were more likely to achieve higher scores than boys when longer navigation sequences were used with shorter reading time on transited pages. Students who navigated only limited pages and spent shorter reading time were averagely at the lowest rank of socio‐economic status. Implications This study provides evidence for the exploration of students' navigation patterns and the examination of associations between navigation patterns and reading scores with the use of process data.
... Ein hier nicht weiterverfolgtes Beispiel über die Bedeutung von Familien für die Bildung ihrer Kinder belegen Studien über Geschwisterreihenfolgen (Helbig, 2013). Schließlich wurde der Zusammenhang von Familienstrukturen, Konflikten im Elternhaus, (beeinträchtigten) Ressourcen des Elternhauses und Bildungschancen von (armen) Kindern ebenso außen vorgelassen (Colpin et al., 2004;Kotitschke, 2013;Nietfeld & Becker, 1999) wie die Rolle von Familie und Geschlechterunterschieden auf Schulerfolg und Bildungschancen (Buchmann et al., 2008;Becker & Müller, 2011;DiPrete & Buchmann, 2013). ...
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Im Zentrum dieses Kapitels steht die Frage, inwiefern Bildungschancen und -erfolg von Kindern durch ihre Familien beeinflusst werden. Ausgehend von Erkenntnissen der Sozialisationsforschung werden zunächst Sozialisation und Erziehung im sozialen Kontext des Elternhauses thematisiert. Anschließend werden mit Bezug auf den strukturell-individualistischen Erklärungsansatz von Boudon (1974) zur Erklärung von Bildungsungleichheiten die Zusammenhänge von sozialer Herkunft, schulischen Leistungen und Bildungsentscheidungen sowie ihre individuellen und gesellschaftlichen Folgen diskutiert. Zusätzlich wird die Rolle der sozialen Netzwerke behandelt.
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Dieser Beitrag untersucht auf der Basis von administrativen Daten die intergenerationale Bildungsmobilität von Männern und Frauen, die zwischen 1950 und 1990 in der Schweiz geboren wurden. Der Vergleich des Bildungsniveaus der Eltern und ihrer Kinder zeigt, dass Männer in den älteren Geburtskohorten bessere Mobilitätschancen hatten als Frauen. Dieser Unterschied hat sich über die Geburtskohorten hinweg verringert, so dass in der jüngsten Kohorte keine geschlechtsspezifischen Unterschiede mehr zu beobachten sind. Generell nehmen die Mobilitätschancen im Zeitverlauf ab: Weniger Menschen sind aufwärts mobil, während der Anteil der Abwärtsmobilität und der Immobilität zunimmt. Diese Entwicklung ist auf die Bildungsexpansion zurückzuführen, in deren Folge immer mehr Eltern höhere Bildungsabschlüsse erwerben und damit die Aufstiegschancen ihrer Kinder einschränken. Dennoch erreichen in der jüngsten Geburtskohorte rund 85% der Männer und Frauen mindestens das Bildungsniveau ihrer Eltern und ein Drittel sogar einen höheren Bildungsabschluss als ihre Eltern.
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El libro Mujer en las Américas, brecha de género en un mundo global muestra desde diversas perspectivas las discusiones de género que se viven en el mundo actual, el objetivo del libro es discutir acerca de los distintos problemas que se enfrentan actualmente en este tema, que transita desde temas de género en la ciencia, importancia de los archivos, riesgo sexual, liderazgo, migración oposiciones políticas, rotación laboral e incluso una perspectiva personal de como se enfrentan algunos retos desde el punto de vista de una latina en el norte global. La metodología usada es diversa y esta explicada en cada uno de los capítulos que componen el libro. La conclusión general es que no se pueden detener este tipo de discusiones desde la ciencia, ya que permiten observar desde una perspectiva particular la forma de enfrentar retos y avanzar en el desarrollo de la sociedad, así como las luchas que se desarrollan al respecto.
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The theoretical postulates of gender studies demonstrate that inequality, when it comes to women, is more of a sociocultural construct than the result of nature. Gender inequality is typical of higher education, where inclusion of women was a milestone and where the “female advantage” phenomenon refers to the rise of women at this level. Thus, this study aims to investigate the patterns of action that women take in academia when exercising leadership positions. It aims to understand the social behavior related to this phenomenon based on scientific research. The study followed a quantitative method, systematizing the process based on the PRISMA. 2020 guidelines to work with the bibliographic material identified in the Scopus database, and another qualitative method was used in conjunction for a resulting descriptive documentary analysis of the results obtained. This study concludes that women exercise leadership in higher education in teaching, research, and management roles with unequal participation in each of them.
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This review paper critically examines the role of education in empowering women. It explores the relationship between education, women's empowerment, and gender equality, highlighting both the positive outcomes that persist. The paper discusses the positive impact of education on women's empowerment. It also examines strategies to promote gender equality in education and presents case studies and success stories to illustrate the impact of interventions. The paper concludes by critically analyzing the effectiveness of these interventions, identifying remaining challenges, and providing recommendations for future action. Keyword: women's empowerment, education system, economic growth, economic development Introduction: Gender equality and women's empowerment are essential for achieving social progress and sustainable development. Education is a key factor in promoting gender equality and empowering women. It has the potential to provide women with knowledge, skills, and opportunities for personal and professional growth (Lagarde, 2013). However, the relationship between education and gender equality is multifaceted and complex. While education can be a catalyst for positive change, it can also inadvertently perpetuate gender inequality. This critical review aims to explore the role of education in empowering women and promoting gender inequality. By critically examining the existing literature and research, this paper aims to shed light on the various dimensions of this relationship and provide a nuanced understanding of its complexities. The review begins by highlighting the global gender disparities in access to education. It explores the barriers that hinder girl's educational opportunities, such as socio-cultural norms, poverty, early marriage, and violence against women. Understanding these disparities is crucial for recognizing the structural challenges that need to be addressed to achieve gender equality. Next, the review delves into the positive outcomes of education for women's empowerment. It examines how education can enhance women's decision-making power, self-esteem, and confidence. Furthermore, it explores the economic benefits of education, such as increased job prospects and financial independence for women. Education also plays a vital role in promoting women's social and political empowerment, enabling them to participate actively in society and influence policy-making processes. Abstract Electronic copy available at: https://ssrn.com/abstract=4568381 However, the review also critically analyzes the challenges that education systems face in perpetuating gender inequality. It examines how gender biases in curricula and teaching practices can reinforce traditional gender norms and stereotypes, limiting girl's aspirations and opportunities. The review explores the gender gaps in STEM education and careers, which contribute to the underrepresentation of women in these fields. It also addresses the gender inequalities that persist in higher education and leadership positions, including discriminatory practices and societal biases. The review also discusses various strategies and interventions. It explores the importance of gender-responsive education policies and practices that challenge stereotypes and promote equal opportunities for both girls and boys. It highlights the significance of integrating gender perspectives into curricula and textbooks to foster inclusive and equitable learning environments. The review examines initiatives to empower girls in STEM education and address the barriers that hinder their participation. It also explores efforts to increase women's representation in higher education and leadership roles. Through the examination of case studies and success stories, the review provides practical examples of interventions that have made positive strides in promoting gender equality through education. It critically analyzes the effectiveness of these interventions and identifies areas for improvement. This critical review aims to contribute to understanding the complex dynamics between education, women's empowerment, and gender inequality. By recognizing the potential of education as a powerful tool for change and acknowledging its limitations and challenges, this review seeks to inform policymakers, educators, and stakeholders about the necessary steps to create an educational system that truly empowers women and promotes gender equality. Background and significance:
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Background Gender is a significant socio-biological determinant of psycho-moral development and contributes to eliciting greater P300 brain potential in the emotional cognition process associated with immoral behavioural patterns. Objective To investigate the interaction between gender and the moral cognition process in different contexts of immoral behavior. Methods Twenty-six participants (mean age 24 years old, 16 males) participated in the Event-Related Potential (ERP) session in the Neuroscience Laboratory. In a within-subject experimental design, males and females responded to the oddball task by viewing a random series of 200 trials consisting of different categories of images (i.e., immoral behaviour to living beings, immoral behaviour to nonliving beings, and neutral images). The electrical brain potential of the P300 component was captured using the international 10/20 system in several brain regions, i.e., frontoparietal, frontal, central, temporal, and occipital. Results Females indicated greater P300 amplitude in the frontoparietal brain region than males. Both genders exhibited greater brain potential activation while responding to images of living beings than nonliving beings and neutral images. Conclusion The frontoparietal region of the brain is the most significant area linked to the relationship between the processing of moral cognition and gender differences. In moral contextualising, females demonstrate greater emotional cognition than males. Immoral behaviour toward living beings generates a more humanistic sense than nonliving beings and neutral images, which are seen in both males and females. The discovery has important implications for understanding gender-associated moral cognition from a neuroscience perspective.
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This study examined gender differences in reading behavior of 2652 Danish 5th-grade students (age 10-12 years, girls 51%, 14% immigrant background) observed for 218 days in 2019/2020, using data from a popular reading app. Reading behavior was operationalized as time spent reading. Analyses of timing of reading behavior and models of day-to-day reading time were employed to investigate the gender gap in reading behavior. Results show that girls read more than boys. This differential can be attributed to girls reading more outside school hours, during weekends and holidays than boys while there are no gender differences in reading activity during school hours. Results suggest that girls with positive academic attitudes were more inclined to read than boys with similar attitudes.
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Sa kabuuan, ang pananaliksik na ito ay nag lalayong matuklasan ang makabuluhang impluwensya ng gawi sa pag-aaral sa akademikong marka ng kolehiyong mag-aaral ng San Agustin Institute of Technology. Ang pananaliksik na ito ay gumagamit ng quantitative, non-experimental design na ginagamitan din ng descriptive-correlational technique. Gamit ang inangkop na standardized questionnaire, sinuri ng mga mananaliksik ang nasa dalawang daan at tatlongpu't lima (235) na mag-aaral sa kolehiyo. Pinili ang mga respondente gamit ang simple random technique. Ang mga datos na nakolekta ay sinuri gamit ang frequency count, mean, Pearson r, at multiple regression. Kung ayon sa kasarian, mas marami ang mga kababaihan kung ikukumpara sa kalalakihan. Kung ayon naman sa antas ng taon, ang pinakamarami ay mga mag-aaral na nasa ikatlong taon. Sa antas ng mga baryabol naman, ang gawi sa pag-aaral ay nakakuha ng kabuuang antas na may katumbas na magandang gawi. Sa kabilang banda, ang karamihan ay nakakuha ng napakahusay (very good) na akademikong marka. Sa pagsusuri ng ugnayan sa baryabol, ang resulta ay nagpapakita na ang gawi sa pag-aaral ay may makabuluhang ugnayan sa akademikong marka. Gayundin sa resulta ng multiple regression analysis, ang gawi sa pag-aaral ay nagpapakita ng makabuluhang impluwensya sa akademikong marka. Nangangahulugan lamang na ang mga mag-aaral na palaging dumadalo sa klase, gumagawa ng magandang estratehiya sa pag-aaral, kumukuha ng tala sa mga talakayan, magaling sa pamamahala sa kanilang oras at gayundin laging handa sa kanilang pagsusulit ay nakakakuha ng mataas na akademikong marka.
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Social science research has long recognized the relevance of socioeconomic background for mobility and inequality. In this article we interrogate how and why working-class and first-generation backgrounds are especially meaningful and take as our case in point the professoriate and the discipline of sociology, – i.e., a field that intellectually prioritizes attention to group inequality and that arguably offers a conservative empirical test compared to other academic fields. Our analyses, which draw on unique survey items and open-ended qualitative materials from nearly 1,000 academic sociologists, reveal significant background divergences in academic job attainment, tied partly to educational background. Moreover, and especially unique and important, findings demonstrate significant consequences across several dimensions of inequality including compensation and economic precarity, professional visibility, and isolation at departmental, college or university, and professional levels. We conclude by highlighting how our discussion and results contribute in important ways to broader sociological concerns surrounding mobility, group disadvantage, and social closure.
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The variables that insist on the gender gap in transport affect several topics. From being a corporate user or employee, to customs and habits in terms of travel, to sensitivity towards sustainable urban models and proximity mechanisms, in line with the urban transition processes in order with the 15-min city. Analyses of the use of the travel system show that individual choices, also influenced by social inclusion, are decisive. The European Green Deal would represent an opportunity for strategic repositioning in the transport sector towards minimising the gender gap. In Europe in terms of employment, the transport sector is typically attractive for men and less so for women. How are cities re-organising the supply of services, urban amenities and public transport according to changing demand? Is it sufficient to carry out the planning of interventions and resources, the operation of projects, the systematic verification of results in terms of effectiveness and quality of performance, or is a gender impact assessment also necessary? The essay will address the issues related to the new social dimension, beyond gender limits, hypothesising ways and strategies for the functioning of the city without borders, in the era of the multicultural and fuzzy society.KeywordsGender gapRegenerationInclusionUrban planningUrban transportSustainable mobility
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This chapter investigates how the descendants of immigrants, differentiated by origin group, access the French labour market after leaving education, in comparison with the majority group. Access to employment is analysed as a process by using longitudinal data covering the first three years in the labour market. The analyses identify various labour market trajectory types, differentiated by origin group and other factors, such as gender, social background, and educational qualifications. These typical trajectories allow us to define young people's profiles in terms of factors, resources, and barriers, that favour or prevent labour market entry in France. Significant “origin penalties” remain for the youths of North African and sub-Saharan African origins, compared to their majority-group peers with similar characteristics, with less smooth and sustainable transition to employment and more dropout or return to education. Moreover, these groups report higher levels of discrimination, primarily ethno-racial discrimination, associated secondarily with gender for women and place of residence for men. Hence, perceived discrimination is highly correlated and consistent with the origin gaps found in the transition to employment types, and support the existence of discrimination in recruitment, confirmed by experimental research.
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Science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) subjects offered as a discipline in schools demand that learners engage in critical thinking, problem-solving, creativity and innovation. The subjects develop logical thinking, information literacy and exploration, all essential skills to survive work-life demands in the 21st century. The reality however is that STEM is perceived as challenging to master and constructed as a masculine discipline. Therefore, there is a high prevalence of gender stereotypes affecting female access. While gendered beliefs and practices are known to reduce access to STEM, research does not accentuate the positive on women and girls that have broken the barriers in science as the few studies are predominantly from the West. However, increasingly, Kenya National Examination Council results indicate the rise of women in STEM. A selection of successful girls and teachers in a public secondary school in Taita Taveta County, Kenya was taken. Drawing from focus group discussions,interviews and documents, the qualitative study demonstrates an invincible trend where an interplay of positive influences, strong self-efficacy and motivation have become anchors toward girls’ successful engagement in STEM. Findings confirm the postulates of the expectancy-value theory that students’ self-concepts and intrinsic value determine their aspirations, subject choices and achievement.
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Socio-economic contexts and spatial effects have received increasing attention at the intersection of sociology and education. This research group has laid substantial groundwork in this emerging field of research by developing concepts and methodological techniques for analysing spatial contexts, by collecting and preparing relevant contextual data that can be linked with survey data, and by measuring the impact of socio-structural contextual characteristics on educational aspirations and chances of transition from school to vocational and academic training. For at least this specific stage in educational careers, the end of secondary schooling, we have been able to demonstrate that socio-spatial contextual settings (neighbourhoods and regional contexts) are relevant for educational inequalities. Our research has also demonstrated that the relation between socio-economic contexts and inequalities in education is complex. In particular, little is known about the temporal, spatial, and interpersonal variation in contextual effects. This chapter provides an overview of analytical concepts, measurements, and empirical findings that relate socio-spatial context conditions to educational outcomes, and it outlines promising avenues of future research.
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Nearly a third of students whose parents do not have bachelor’s degrees become first-generation college graduates and over a third of students with at least one parent with a bachelor’s degree do not become continuing-generation college graduates. We apply insights from social reproduction theory to study educational mobility, examining which factors are associated with becoming a first-generation college graduate and not becoming a continuing-generation college graduate. Drawing on data from The National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent to Adult Health, we find that students with low educational origins who become first-generation college graduates have parents who possess and pass down high levels of some resources for their educational level and are well equipped to use the resources they receive. Likewise, students with high educational origins who do not become continuing-generation graduates tend to have parents who possess few resources for their education level, pass down few of some resources, and are less well equipped to use the resources they receive. We discuss the implications of our findings for the openness of the American educational system.
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In this article we test the hypothesis that male students outperform female students in mathematics. Using large national data sets and curvilinear growth models, we examine gender differences in mathematical trajectories from elementary school through high school. We analyze subsamples of high-scoring students and also different areas of math, such as reasoning and geometry. Despite relatively equal starting points in elementary school, and relatively equal slopes, we find that boys have a faster rate of acceleration. By the 12th grade, this results in a slight gender difference, which is most pronounced in geometry. Realizing this slight and delayed emergence of gender differences, we qualify the strong conclusions of earlier research, such as Benbow and Stanley's (1980, 1983), which found that large gender differences emerge by junior high school.
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This article reviews measures of gender-role attitudes with an emphasis on The Attitudes Toward Women Scale (AWS; Spence & Helmreich, 1972); the Sex Role Egalitarianism Scale (SRES; Beere, King, Beere, & King, 1984); the Modern Sexism Scale (MS; Swim, Aikin, Hall, & Hunter, 1995); the Ambivalent Sexism Inventory (ASI; Glick & Fiske, 1996), and the Children's Occupational Activity Trait-Attitude Measure (COAT-AM; Bigler, Liben, Lobliner, & Yekel, 1995). The discussion of gender-role attitude measures focuses on the following themes: psychometric criteria; theoretical and conceptual distinctions among measures; domains of attitudes and behaviors included; relationship to other measures; and the meaningfulness and relevance of items. Gender-role attitude scales are viewed as measuring gender-role ideology in a particular sociohistorical context; context-specificity is viewed as contributing to the proliferation of scales, and as limiting the usefulness of scales across cultural and temporal boundaries.
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Background In terms of high school graduation, college entry, and persistence to earning a college degree, young women now consistently outperform their male peers. Yet most research on gender inequalities in education continues to focus on aspects of education where women trail men, such as women's underrepresentation at top-tier institutions and in science and engineering programs. The paucity of research on the realms where women outpace men, namely college enrollment and completion, constitutes a major gap in the literature. Purpose This article provides an overview of gender inequality in the transition to college and in college experiences by examining the ways that women are advantaged in higher education and the arenas where they still trail men. It also discusses theoretical perspectives useful in assessing the causes of gender inequality and then suggests how future research could advance our understanding of the complex nature of gender inequality in higher education. Research Design The identification and critical review of research and theories that have been used or that could prove useful in assessing and explaining the complex patterns of gender inequalities in the transition to college and in higher education more generally. Conclusions/Recommendations Fruitful pathways for future research to advance understanding of the complex nature of gender inequalities in higher education include examining gender inequalities early in the educational life course, attending to gender differences within vulnerable segments of the population who may be particularly at risk for not attending higher education, and investigating how the structure and practices of schooling relate to gender differences in educational outcomes.
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The gender earnings gap among full-time workers narrowed substantially in the 1980s. Previous research has established that increases in the amount of and returns to work experience and schooling among women were primarily responsible for that trend. This paper, which uses data from the National Longitudinal Study of the High School Class of 1972 and the High School and Beyond Senior Cohort (Class of 1980), examines to what extent college schooling characteristics other than number of years, such as grades and major field, contributed to the narrowing of the gap. Changes in the estimated effects of college grades and college major, the author finds, can account for almost all of the large decline in the gender earnings gap between 1979 and 1986 among young college-educated workers. Most of this effect apparently resulted from growth in the market price of women's skills relative to men's for a given major.
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We describe recent changes in propensities to marry according to the age and educational attainment of potential spouses. Relating actual marriage to the population of men and women at risk enables us to distinguish between changes in the availability of eligible partners and changes in the force of attraction between men and women in particular categories. The procedure is applied to data from 1973, 1980, and 1988 Current Population Surveys. Multivariate analysis suggests that the sharp declines in marriage rates between 1972 and 1979 were not highly differentiated by age or education for either men or women, but that the smaller declines between 1979 and 1987 were highly concentrated among younger women. Age and education homogamy increased during the latter period. Including cohabiting unions in the definition of marriage reduces the magnitude of the declines but does not alter their essential patterns.
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This study compares how being raised in an original, two-parent family and being raised in other family structures affects educational achievement, occupational status, and earnings attainment for a national sample of 30- to 59-year-old women and men. Data are derived from the 1989 Panel Study of Income Dynamics. Findings suggest that family structure has different effects by gender. Although both men and women from original, two-parent families earn more, on average, than those from other family structures, for women, this effect occurs through educational attainment. For men, the association between family structure and attainment is explained by other family background variables, including smaller family size, being Catholic, higher levels of parental education, and being White. Men who are raised by both natural parents are not advantaged educationally, compared with those who grow up in other types of family structures. A cohort analysis for men that compares baby boomers with prebaby boomers, however, suggests contradictory effects of family structure that deserve more exploration.
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Differing characteristics of the educational systems in England and the U.S. lead to the hypothesis that educational expectations should become "realistic" earlier in adolescence in England than in the U.S. Several definitions of realistic are used in the analysis of data obtained from thirteen-year-old boys in both countries. The hypothesis is generally supported, but the English boys are found to overestimate the significance of ability in the process of educational attainment. This overestimate is also found for older English boys, while older American boys report the most realistic expectations of any of the samples studied. These findings are interpreted as indicating different effects of the institutional characteristics of the two educational systems.
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Gender differences in most cognitive skills are fading, but a gender gap remains in secondary school that favors males in higher level math skills. This gap is not evident in elementary school where test scores for the two sexes are equivalent. However, the daily experiences of young boys and girls differ in ways that could affect their math skills in early adolescence. In a large random sample of youngsters in Baltimore, over their first two years of school, boys' gains in math reasoning achievement were more sensitive to resources outside the home than were girls'. In line with the greater responsiveness of boys' math skills to these neighborhood resources, the boys' math reasoning scores became significantly more variable over time than did the girls'. When differentiated course programs became available in middle school, this greater variability of the boys' math scores led the high-scoring boys in the "academic" program to outscore the girls in that program, even though in the total sample the means for boys and girls were about the same. In short, by the end of middle school a "gender gap" emerged in math among high-scoring youngsters. These trends in variability and the greater sensitivity of males to neighborhood resources combined with school tracking offer a new and more sociological perspective on the emergence of the gender gap in math in early adolescence.
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Among younger children, maternal employment is associated with diminished school achievement, specifically in White, middle-class boys from two-parent families. This study examined whether and under what conditions maternal employment affects school achievement among high school students. It found that among 2,571 White adolescents living in two-parent families who provided information on parental employment patterns, school grades, and family characteristics (1) upper middle-class and middle-class boys reported lower grades when their mothers were working full time; (2) among upper middle-class boys, both mothers' contemporaneous employment and employment during the preschool years were associated with lower grades; (3) upper middle-class and middle-class girls reported no effects of their mothers' contemporaneous employment, but did report lower high school grades when their mothers worked full time during the preschool period; and (4) for upper middle-class boys, their grades were lower when their mothers worked full time throughout the boys' lives than when the mothers increased their work hours over time. The article presents important implications for conceptualizing and studying maternal employment.
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This article examines the determinants of the grades teachers give to students. It distinguishes such meritocratic sources of grades as the student's widely valued and classroom-specific achievements (the former measured by standardized test scores) from such nonmeritocratic sources as race, sex, and track level. The data trace one cohort in a single school district as it passes through the first, second, and third grades. We use three-stage least-squares analysis to estimate separate nonrecursive models for reading and mathematics. We find that grades reflect classroom-specific achievement more than widely valued achievement but that the strongest effect derives from the generalization of grading across subjects. This reflects an interactive process between student and teacher rather than a simple pattern of general student achievement or generalized teacher assessment of noncognitive student traits.
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Data from the HEGIS database were used to analyze gender inequality among bachelor's degree recipients. Women continue to receive their degrees from institutions that fall below the average on several criteria. However, the gender differences are small and are accounted for by women's relative absence from selective engineering programs and disproportionate representation among part-time students, who are clustered in institutions with below-average status.
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Teachers' verbal and nonverbal behaviors were examined in the natural classroom setting to assess differences based on sex of child, race of child, and race of teacher. The subjects were 16 (8 black and 8 white) female first grade teachers in an urban public elementary school system. All teachers' classrooms contained students of both races with at least a 1 to 3 ratio of one race to the other. Trained observers recorded verbal and nonverbal behavior for each instance of teacher behavior directed toward individual children in each classroom. The results indicated that white teachers directed more verbal praise and criticism and nonverbal praise toward males and more nonverbal criticism toward black males. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]
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Multidimensional scaling (MDS) analysis was used to analyze the structure of interests of the Women- and Men-in-General samples used in the revision of the 1985 Strong Interest Inventory (Hansen & Campbell, 1985). In the present study, the intercorrelation matrices of the Strong Interest Inventory General Occupational Themes, for the 1985 Women-in-General and Men-in-General Reference Samples, were separately submitted to MDS. Results from earlier analyses that found sex differences in the structure of interests (Feldman & Meir, 1976; Rounds, Davison, & Dawis, 1979; Utz & Korben, 1976) may have been confounded because matched-interest samples were not used. Subjects for the Women-in-General and Men-in-General samples used in this study were selected with the specific intention of matching the interests of females and males by choosing participants who were matched on occupational title. The obtained two-dimensional solutions demonstrated a gender difference in the underlying structure of interests for these reference groups. Possible explanations and implications of these results are discussed.
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Researchers considering levels and trends in the resources available to the middle class traditionally measure the pre-tax cash income of either tax units or households. In this paper, we demonstrate that this choice carries significant implications for assessing income trends. Focusing on tax units rather than households greatly reduces measured growth in middle class income. Furthermore, excluding the effect of taxes and the value of in-kind benefits further reduces observed improvements in the resources of the middle class. Finally, we show how these distinctions change the observed distribution of benefits from the tax exclusion of employer provided health insurance.Institutional subscribers to the NBER working paper series, and residents of developing countries may download this paper without additional charge at www.nber.org.
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This chapter analyses gender inequalities in participation in higher education and degree awards in OECD member countries. After documenting these inequalities, in both quantitative and qualitative terms, and presenting the main possible explanations for their reversal, we show that this new trend is more than likely to persist in coming decades. While it should probably continue to help reduce the wage inequalities which disadvantage women, its other possible social consequences have yet to be studied. However, in terms of educational inequalities, it would seem that in promoting equal opportunities for men and women the focus can no longer be solely on women.
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Mathematically talented youth, whether male or female, tend to have favorable attitudes toward science and to participate in the sciences at a level much higher than average. There were no overall sex differences in course-taking or course-grades in the sciences. Indications of sex differences favoring males, however, were found in participation in high school physics, the taking of and performance on high school and college level science achievement tests, and intention to major in the more quantitatively oriented fields of physics and engineering. No substantial sex differences in attitudes toward the sciences, except possibly physics, were detected. Overall attitude toward science did relate somewhat to participation in science. Moreover, sex differences in mathematical reasoning ability may explain some of the sex difference in science participation and achievement. These results may bear on why women are underrepresented in the sciences.
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The association between the sex of children and their parents' risk of marital disruption is examined using the June 1980 Current Population Survey. The finding is that sons reduce the risk of marital disruption by 9% more than do daughters. This difference holds across marriage cohorts, racial groups, and categories of mother's education. A compelling explanation for these findings, supported by data from the National Survey of Children, stresses a father's greater role in raising sons than daughters and his consequently greater involvement in the family. Children provide a new basis for marital cohesion, one that rests on attachments and obligations to children. For fathers, the obligations and attachments are greater if they have sons.
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This paper examines the gender gap at GCSE in eight contrasting English secondary schools, and discusses the reality and rhetoric of classroom interactions, focusing on the views of teaching staff, the perspectives of Year 11 students, and observations of teacher-student interactions in the classroom. In an earlier paper (British Journal of Sociology of Education, 17 (3)), the authors examined the extent to which there was less positive teacher-support for the learning of boys than for the learning of girls, and this issue is reviewed in differing school contexts. Research in this broader context suggests that most teachers believe that they give equal treatment to girls and to boys, particularly in support of their learning, but focus group interviews with students and classroom observation suggest that this is rarely achieved; in most schools, boys appear to dominate certain classroom interactions, while girls participate more in teacher-student interactions which support learning. If the underachievement of some boys is to be addressed successfully, these patterns of interaction need to be challenged, to enable boys to begin to develop the very learning strategies which many girls employ effectively to enable them to learn.
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Using a post-structural framework, the paper analyses the dynamics of the process by which little boys adopt a definition of masculinity as avoiding whatever is done by girls. It is argued that this is a response to the fact that the 'fighting boys' who resist the school's demands have appropriated the role of hero in the warrior narratives of little boys' fantasy games, casting the 'good boys' who conform to the requirements of the school as despised 'wimps' and 'sissies'. This leads the 'good boys' to adopt an alternative definition of masculinity as 'not female', and in many cases leads also to the scorn and rejection being redirected to girls as a group. It is suggested that teachers should intervene in this cycle by explicitly discussing the character of the hero in these warrior narratives and showing that it ought not to be equated with the classroom and playground behaviour of the 'fighting boys'.
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This paper examines how the military drawdown in the early 1990s influenced aggregate trends in employment and college enrollment, evaluating whether the loss of military jobs resulted in observable increases or decreases in employment rates and/or college enrollment rates. Contrary to the expectation of worsening employment among black men in particular, the drawdown had little effect on employment. However, changes in military service did have a considerable impact on college enrollment among black men. The loss of military jobs was actually associated with substantial increases in college going; college enrollments among black men may have been as much as 10% points lower had they served in the military at the same levels observed in the early 1980s.
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This paper introduces the concept of educational utilization as an overlooked part of the education-to-work transition and a potential mechanism by which occupational sex segregation is generated among the college-educated labor force. The paper begins with a critical discussion of the operationalization approaches that have been used in prior research that implicitly measures educational utilization. Multiple empirical measure of the concept are then developed using data from the O*NET and the National Surveys of College Graduates. The explanatory power of each measure is assessed using conditional logit models of occupational attainment. A combined measure is then used to assess sex differences in educational utilization using data from the 1993 and 2003 National Surveys of College Graduates for 2 cohorts of college graduates—those who earned their baccalaureate or post-baccalaureate degrees and entered the labor market in the years 1985–1993 and 1995–2003. The analysis identifies sex differences in educational utilization that vary across field, degree level and cohort and concludes with an examination of the implications of sex differences in educational utilization for occupational segregation.
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After a long tradition of research on the intergenerational mobility of men, stratification studies in the late 1970s and 1980s began to include women in their analyses. Most studies, however, still rely primarily on characteristics of fathers to measure family background status. Using a large national cross-sectional data set, this study describes the influence of mother's occupational status on children's educational attainment. I compare the strengths of maternal and paternal influences and use birth cohorts to examine whether the relative influence of mothers has changed. The main findings are: Maternal occupational status has a strong effect on schooling, this effect is independent of father's education and occupation, it persists through the schooling career, and it is as important for sons as for daughters. Some evidence suggests that the influence of mother's occupation has increased while the influence of father's occupation has decreased. In contrast, mother's education has always been as important as father's education. In general, the findings underscore the positive effects of maternal labor force participation on child outcomes through the high-status jobs many married women now hold. At the same time, this study suggests that the independent influence of mother's socioeconomic status may lead to an accumulation of educational advantages and disadvantages in subsequent generations, possibly reducing the intergenerational mobility of families.
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The impact of global economic and political changes on low-income nations-and the reciprocal changes they precipitate in affluent countriesare mediated through social and cultural processes that are often poorly understood by scholars and policymakers. One of the least understood processes is the interaction between gender and class as it is revealed in the linkages between formal schooling and remunerated work. This interaction is part of the broader reciprocal relationships between families or kinship groups on the one hand and labor markets on the other hand, which provide the context in which educational and employment decisions are made and implemented. An understanding of the importance of gender differences introduces new dimensions into the appreciation of the dynamic relationships between family structures and labor markets. Gender differences are one of the great "fault lines" of societies-the categories according to which resources are distributed and power allocated within a particular social order. Like geological fault lines, principles of allocation based on gender differences may shift and deepen over time. Indeed, this appears to be happening in many societies today, in spite of the conventional wisdom that "modernization" is making women and men "more equal." It would be more accurate to say that gender as a principle of allocation of power and resources is becoming more salient. Although changes in the direction of greater equality may be occurring in some sectors of some societies, other sectors may be experiencing the reverse. The dynamics of change accord a particularly significant role to gender differences in the process of class differentiation-although this role is not well understood-and it is here that the involvement of formal education
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The well-known Wisconsin model of achievement posits that the influence of socioeconomic origins on educational, occupational and economic attainment is largely mediated by academic performance, social influences and aspirations in secondary schooling. The model has been widely replicated, elaborated and criticized. The present analysis asks how powerful this model might be in accounting for social influences, aspirations and attainments when measurement error has been taken into account. There are two indicators of most theoretical constructs in the model, and many of these were ascertained from independent sources or as many as 20 years apart. The model identifies selected response error correlations between variables ascertained on the same occasion, from the same person or using the same method. The model also permits retrospective reports of social influences and aspirations to be contaminated by intervening events. In our revised estimates, we find empirical support for earlier specifications of the Wisconsin model. We also find that the revised model is more powerful in explaining the process of educational and occupational attainment.
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Although many recognize that social and behavioral skills play an important role in educational stratification, no studies have attempted to estimate teachers’ effects on these outcomes. Using data from the Early Childhood Longitudinal Study–Kindergarten Cohort (ECLS-K), the authors estimate teacher effects on social and behavioral skills as well as on academic achievement. Teacher effects on social and behavioral skill development are sizeable, and are somewhat larger than teacher effects on academic development. Because—as is shown here—social and behavioral skills have a positive effect on the growth of academic skills in the early elementary grades, the teachers who are good at enhancing social and behavioral skills provide an additional indirect boost to academic skills in addition to their direct teaching of academic skills. Like previous studies, the authors find that observable characteristics of teachers and the instructional approaches utilized in their classrooms are weak predictors of teacher effects. However, the present results suggest that the teachers who produce better than average academic results are not always the same teachers who excel in enhancing social and behavioral skills.
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This analysis of data from the Partnership for Literacy Study investigates the relationship among achievement, effort, and grades. Certainly, grades reward achievement, the mastery of material by students. Research has also suggested that grades are used to reward students for exerting effort to learn material, even if students fall short of mastery. Indeed, some small-scale research has found that teachers reward students for merely cooperating with their instructional plans, for behaviors that may be weakly related or even unrelated to the growth in achievement. This analysis reveals that teachers seldom reward students for nonachievement-related behavior, for keeping instruction moving. In these data from middle school English and language arts classrooms, the vast majority of the variance in grades is accounted for by students' achievement and students' behaviors that are closely related to the growth in achievement. The findings are consistent with the theory that many teachers adopt a “developmental” perspective on instruction and seek to promote students' achievement by rewarding students' engagement.
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Research on the causal relationship between women′s fertility and their employment patterns has yielded contradictory findings. In order to shed some light on the confusion that has resulted, hazard models are used to investigate the possibility these two variables are dynamically interdependent. Transition rates among combined states of pregnancy and fertility are analyzed for a data set consisting of joint work and fertility event histories for a national sample of young white and black women. The results lend support to the interdependence thesis. Pregnancy and motherhood increase the rate at which women leave employment and decrease their reentry rate. Furthermore, I find that women′s wages, and for white women, employment status as well, are negatively and significantly related to their rate of becoming pregnant.
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Religiosity appears to be an important factor in explaining variations in sexual activity and contraceptive usage among adolescents. While adolescents' religious commitment diminishes their propensity to engage in sexual intercourse, it is associated with less effective contraceptive usage among those who do become sexually active. Results from logistic regression analysis, controlling for frequency of recent sexual activity, parental socioeconomic status, and parental marital stability, determined that never-married, sexually experienced teenage girls regularly attending religious services were less likely to have used an effective, medical method of contraception than those who were rarely attending religious services.
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This chapter discusses recent empirical work in the sociology of education which emerged from a widespread concern about equality of educational opportunity. Four bodies of empirical work can be linked to this concern: status attainment studies, school effects studies, research on the organization of schools and instruction, and research on school and classroom processes. The chapter discusses how these bodies of research are linked to an interest in social equality and how they have developed beyond that initial concern. While some comparative, cross-national and cross-cultural research exists in these traditions, this review is limited to work conducted in the United States.
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Reviews the origins and development of the assimilation perspective in American sociology, in terms of both its theoretical and empirical foundations. Reviews the evidence on whether there has been a trend towards ethnic assimilation in the US. Various dimensions of assimilation are included, such as socioeconomic inequality, residential segregation, intermarriage, and popular attitudes. The review of the empirical literature is purposely limited to studies of ethnic and racial inequality in the US. While the assimilation model has been the dominant perspective in sociological studies of ethnic relations, it has been the subject of much debate as well as theoretical challenge. The final part of the paper reviews some of the major alternative theoretical frameworks and their implications for the position of the assimilation perspective in guiding sociological research.-from Author
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This report examines whether a high school curriculum organized around the five "new basics" suggested by the National Commission on Excellence in Education is likely to enhance student achievement. Data from the ETS Growth Study reveals that completion of the core curriculum has sizable effects on senior-year test performance, even when prior levels of test performance are controlled. It is also shown that completing the entire core curriculum enhances test performance beyond the effects of coursework in a particular outcome area alone. Importantly, though, completion of the core is effective only if students perform at relatively high levels in their courses. It is concluded that the new basics can be effective in promoting generic skills in the verbal and quantitative domains. For this, the commission gets high marks. However, it is also the case that the commission has failed to provide a comprehensive stocktaking on the condition of American education. This is discussed in the concluding comments. An appendix shows course categories used to construct the new basics core curriculum. (Author/TE)
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Longitudinal data on a national sample of 2,077 students first surveyed as high school sophomores in 1955 and later followed up in 1970 are used to assess sex main and interaction effects in an elaborated school process model. The results indicate that (a) despite positive sex effects for women in terms of academic performance and self-concepts and despite simultaneous controls on status background variables, ability, curriculum, the influence of significant others (parents, teachers, and peers), and college plans, a relatively strong and unmediated depressant sex effect remained for the educational attainment of women in the late fifties; (b) status background influences were a double liability for women in that such influences were found to be considerably more determinant of high school process and outcome variables for females, while academic ability was more important for males; and (c) at the college level, whereas the influence of family origins was modest for both sexes, ability remained considerably more important for the continuing educational progress of men.
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This paper explores the relationships between primary‐aged boys, hegemonic masculinities and sexualised/violent behaviours in the school setting. The data for this paper arise out of a year‐long ethnographic study of two primary schools in the North‐East of England. The aims are twofold: to explore the way in which heterosexual harassment features in the particular hegemonic masculinity of each school; and secondly, to consider the extent to which primary school boys of different ages and social class backgrounds draw upon sexually harassing/violent attitudes and behaviours as one of the key processes in defining their male identities within their peer groups.
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Found that athletes' status among male adolescents is still high as it was in Coleman's 1957-1958 data, but there is evidence that its importance may decline in the future. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved)
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a b s t r a c t This study offers a structural explanation for the female advantage in college completion rates, stressing the importance of horizontal sex segregation across fields of study in shap-ing educational outcomes and gender inequality. Results from a nationally representative sample of students who matriculated at 4-year institutions in 1995 reveal a high level of gender segregation by field of study. Field of study creates the immediate learning environ-ment for the students and between-major differences in academic and social arrange-ments—such as different grading norms, academic intensity, size and social support— shape both female and male performance. We find that this variation is a key factor in the creation of the female advantage in grades and graduation likelihood. The simulation we conduct demonstrates that if sex integration were achieved and both groups had the male distribution of majors, the female advantage in graduation likelihood and grades, which remains after socioeconomic and academic factors are netted out, would be substan-tially reduced.
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The article begins with a brief review of prior school reform movements and how and why they are different from today. Unlike past reform movements, school reform efforts are now focused on two key ideas: performance and scientific evidence. Motivated in part by economic considerations, the underlying rationale for many school reform programs is to raise the performance of U.S. students by strengthening their knowledge base and skills. Similarly, the emphasis on scientific evidence can be viewed as an economic global response to rising costs of research and development in fields such as medicine, criminology, and social welfare. This focus on performance and scientific evidence is embodied in the No Child Left Behind Act of 2001 (NCLB), which expanded the federal role in education and substantially altered what the purpose of education should be, when and how it should be measured, and what type of evidence should be used for its improvement. The review concludes by examining how these performance-driven reforms and the push for evidential science to assess their effectiveness can be viewed as part of a changing scientific intellectual movement.
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Prior research on the relationship between religion and/or religiosity and nonmarital sexuality (i.e., premarital, extramarital, and homosexual relations) has found an inverse relationship with enough consistency to qualify as an empirical generalization. However, while parsimonious, such a generalization is overly simplistic. Moreover, the research findings on which this generalization is based were biased by specification errors due to the employment of a theoretically inappropriate functional form. In this paper, we propose models, derived from reference group theory, which stress an interactive influence of both religion and religiosity on sexual attitudes, rather than the simple bivariate linear effects common in earlier studies. These models were assessed with data from the NORC General Social Surveys. Our findings, obtained from logistic regression analyses, support our theoretical models: The effects of religiosity on nonmarital sexuality vary predictably by religious affiliation.