Please use this identifier to cite or link to this item: https://hdl.handle.net/10419/58836 
Year of Publication: 
2012
Series/Report no.: 
IZA Discussion Papers No. 6390
Publisher: 
Institute for the Study of Labor (IZA), Bonn
Abstract: 
This paper surveys the trends in gender gaps in education, their causes and potential policy implications. I show that female educational attainment has surpassed, or is about to surpass, male educational attainment in most industrialized countries. These gaps reflect male overrepresentation among secondary school drop-outs and female overrepresentation among tertiary education students and graduates. Existing evidence suggests that this pattern is a result of a combination of increasing returns to education and lower female effort costs of education. Widening gender gap in education combined with recent wage and employment polarization will likely lead to widening inequalities and is linked to declining male labor force participation. The paper discusses evidence on educational policies that both widen and reduce gender gaps in educational outcomes.
Subjects: 
education
gender differences
test scores
JEL: 
I20
J160
J240
Persistent Identifier of the first edition: 
Document Type: 
Working Paper

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