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Gender gaps in low and high-stakes assessments

Author

Listed:
  • Fabiana Rocha
  • Paula Pereda
  • Maria Dolores Montoya Diaz
  • Gabriel Facundes Monteiro
  • Luiza Karpavicius
  • Liz Matsunaga
  • Bruna Borges
  • Clara Brenck

Abstract

A comprehensive body of literature suggests that women do not perform as well as men in competitive settings. In this paper, we use individual-level administrative data to investigate if women and men respond differently to exam stakes in Brazil. We compare performances of students at the University of São Paulo in undergraduate Economics courses (low stakes) and in the national admission exam to Economics graduate programs (high stakes). We find evidence that women outperform men in undergraduate disciplines but underperform on the graduate admission exam. Our study indicates that there are indeed gender differences in low and high-stakes evaluations.

Suggested Citation

  • Fabiana Rocha & Paula Pereda & Maria Dolores Montoya Diaz & Gabriel Facundes Monteiro & Luiza Karpavicius & Liz Matsunaga & Bruna Borges & Clara Brenck, 2022. "Gender gaps in low and high-stakes assessments," Working Papers, Department of Economics 2022_14, University of São Paulo (FEA-USP).
    • Handle: RePEc:spa:wpaper:2022wpecon14
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    File URL: http://www.repec.eae.fea.usp.br/documentos/Rocha_Pereda_Diaz_Monetiro_Karpavicius_Matsunaga_14WP.pdf
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    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. James J. Heckman, 1976. "The Common Structure of Statistical Models of Truncation, Sample Selection and Limited Dependent Variables and a Simple Estimator for Such Models," NBER Chapters, in: Annals of Economic and Social Measurement, Volume 5, number 4, pages 475-492, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    2. Stepan Jurajda & Daniel Munich, 2011. "Gender Gap in Performance under Competitive Pressure: Admissions to Czech Universities," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 101(3), pages 514-518, May.
    3. Bruna Borges & Fernanda Estevan, 2021. "Does exposure to more women in male-dominated fields render female students more career-oriented?," Working Papers, Department of Economics 2021_02, University of São Paulo (FEA-USP), revised 04 Mar 2021.
    4. Thomas Dohmen & Armin Falk, 2011. "Performance Pay and Multidimensional Sorting: Productivity, Preferences, and Gender," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 101(2), pages 556-590, April.
    5. Rask, Kevin & Tiefenthaler, Jill, 2008. "The role of grade sensitivity in explaining the gender imbalance in undergraduate economics," Economics of Education Review, Elsevier, vol. 27(6), pages 676-687, December.
    6. P. Beneito & J. E. Boscá & J. Ferri & M. García, 2018. "Women across Subfields in Economics: Relative Performance and Beliefs," Working Papers 2018-06, FEDEA.
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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Gender; High-stakes assessments; Graduate admissions; Higher education;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • I23 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Education - - - Higher Education; Research Institutions
    • J16 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demographic Economics - - - Economics of Gender; Non-labor Discrimination

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