Sex and Science: How Professor Gender Perpetuates the Gender Gap
Researchers discover that female students perform better in postsecondary math and science courses when taught by female professors.
| Category | Diversity: Gender |
| Details | Why aren't there more women in science? This paper begins to shed light on this question by exploiting data from the U.S. Air Force Academy, where students are randomly assigned to professors over a wide variety of mandatory standardized courses. The researchers focus on the role of professor gender. Their results suggest that while professor gender has little impact on male students, it has a powerful effect on female students' performance in math and science classes, their likelihood of taking future math and science courses, and their likelihood of graduating with a science, technology, engineering and/or math (STEM) degree. The estimates are largest for students whose SAT math scores are in the top five percent of the national distribution. The gender gap in course grades and STEM majors is eradicated when high performing female students are assigned to female professors in mandatory introductory math and science coursework. |
| Author | Scott E. Carrell, Marianne E. Page and James E. West |
| Publication Date | October 2009 |
| Source | www.econ.ucdavis.edu |
| Format | |
| Availability | Download the study: Sex and Science: How Professor Gender Perpetuates the Gender Gap |
| Related Links | Read about article: Women in Non-Traditional Occupations and Fields of Study |
