Maternal Education and the Gender Gap in Educational Performance: Evidence from PISA

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master_Törrönen_Terhi_2019.pdf (6.47 MB)

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School of Business | Master's thesis
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Date

2019

Department

Taloustieteen laitos

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Mcode

Degree programme

Economics

Language

en

Pages

48

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Abstract

A number of scholars have documented that girls are improving their educational perfor-mance relative to boys. This development is seen in the form of increasing female advantage in reading but also as closing of the gender gap in math, that historically is seen to favor boys. Previous literature suggests that the effect is driven by institutions and culture that promote gender equality. In this Master's thesis, I study whether increases in the educational level of women might create a positive spillover to the next generations. I find that having a college-educated mother is associated with higher performance for their children, girls however benefiting more from their educated mothers than boys. The benefit channeled from mothers to daughters can be observed in all of the studied subjects - math, reading and science – and throughout the score distribution. I also find that girls whose mothers are college graduates, besides outperforming boys in reading also score better than boys in math and science. Meanwhile, father's higher education is not associated with higher female performance. This suggests that mothers are especially influential when it comes to the performance of their daughters. I find that parents' help with homework and students’ own educational aspirations are pos-sible mechanisms behind the gender differentials. My results indicate that girls are slightly more likely to receive help from their parents with the homework relative to boys when either one or both of the parents have a tertiary education. Relative to sons, daughters of educated mothers are also more likely to expect to complete college education.

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Thesis advisor

Bagues, Manuel

Keywords

PISA, sukupuolierot, koulutus, koulumenestys

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https://urn.fi/URN:NBN:fi:aalto-201904212660

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[gradu] Kauppakorkeakoulu / BIZ