Please use this identifier to cite or link to this item: https://hdl.handle.net/10419/328222 
Year of Publication: 
2025
Series/Report no.: 
IZA Discussion Papers No. 18092
Publisher: 
Institute of Labor Economics (IZA), Bonn
Abstract: 
Women account for only 35% of global STEM graduates, a share that has remained unchanged for a decade. We use administrative microdata from centralized university admissions in ten systems to deliver the first cross-national decomposition of the STEM gender gap into a pipeline gap (academic preparedness) and a choice gap (first-choice field conditional on eligibility). In deferred-acceptance platforms where eligibility is score-based, we isolate preferences from access. The pipeline gap varies widely, from -19 to +31 percentage points across education systems. By contrast, the choice gap is remarkably stable: high-scoring women are 25 percentage points less likely than men to rank STEM first.
Subjects: 
gender inequality
STEM gender gap
centralized application platforms
JEL: 
I23
I24
N30
Document Type: 
Working Paper

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