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Gender differences in online education

Author

Listed:
  • Candan Erdemli

    (Central European University and IEB)

  • Judit Vall Castelló

    (University of Barcelona, IEB and CRES-UPF)

Abstract

Online learning resources have become extremely popular, particularly after the restrictions caused by the Covid-19 outbreak. In this paper, we use data for Spain at the individual level from an online math learning platform which is used by children from over 100 countries, to document the gender differences in the context of online learning. We quantify the gender gaps in effort and relative performance outcomes and analyze whether the gaps differ by the gender of the parent who mainly supervises the children. Our main results point toward significant gender gaps in the relative performance outcomes in favor of boys, while the evidence for the effort gender gaps is only significant when we compare the siblings of the opposite gender (controlling for parent fixed effects). Further, we find that living in municipalities with more egalitarian gender norms is associated with narrower or positive gender gaps in effort outcomes, while we do not find such differences in the relative performance outcomes. Taking into account the increase in the use of online learning tools and their progressive integration into the regular educational system, our results provide important information to minimize gender biases in these new settings.

Suggested Citation

  • Candan Erdemli & Judit Vall Castelló, 2024. "Gender differences in online education," SERIEs: Journal of the Spanish Economic Association, Springer;Spanish Economic Association, vol. 15(4), pages 349-388, December.
    • Handle: RePEc:spr:series:v:15:y:2024:i:4:d:10.1007_s13209-024-00299-1
    DOI: 10.1007/s13209-024-00299-1
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Education; Gender; Online learning;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • J13 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demographic Economics - - - Fertility; Family Planning; Child Care; Children; Youth
    • J16 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demographic Economics - - - Economics of Gender; Non-labor Discrimination
    • I24 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Education - - - Education and Inequality

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