The study examine correlation between parents gender beliefs that boys are better and math and female pupils lower probability to plan working in STEM occupation in the future.

1. Gender beliefs and planned occupation:
high-school pupils and their parents
Magdalena Smyk
University of Warsaw
GRAPE
30th March 2017
Magdalena Smyk (University of Warsaw GRAPE)Gender beliefs and planned occupation: 30th March 2017 1 / 17

2. Motivation
STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Math)
Magdalena Smyk (University of Warsaw GRAPE)Gender beliefs and planned occupation: 30th March 2017 2 / 17

3. Motivation
gender wage gap in STEM fields is much lower than in other jobs
Magdalena Smyk (University of Warsaw GRAPE)Gender beliefs and planned occupation: 30th March 2017 3 / 17

4. Motivation
Gender differences in choice of STEM occupation:
cannot be explained by wage conditions
cannot be explained by gender differences in math and science
achievements
(among others: Fierros 1999, Zhang and Manon 2000, Johnson 2000,
Leahe and Guo 2001, Ericikan, McCreith, and Lapointe 2005)
what about...
gender related beliefs about math and science achievements (Nosek et
al. 2009)?
Magdalena Smyk (University of Warsaw GRAPE)Gender beliefs and planned occupation: 30th March 2017 4 / 17

5. But not only our own gender beliefs!
Magdalena Smyk (University of Warsaw GRAPE)Gender beliefs and planned occupation: 30th March 2017 5 / 17

6. Part of a bigger picture...
Project on intergenerational transmission of:
gender rules
gender beliefs
that influence choice of occupation (in the context of gender occupational
segregation)
Special focus on parents-children relationship:
gender identity concept (Akerlof and Kranton 2000, 2010)
parents’ beliefs and actions
Magdalena Smyk (University of Warsaw GRAPE)Gender beliefs and planned occupation: 30th March 2017 6 / 17

7. Gender beliefs and occupational plans
Do parents’ gender beliefs related to education correlate with
children’s occupational plans?
Magdalena Smyk (University of Warsaw GRAPE)Gender beliefs and planned occupation: 30th March 2017 7 / 17

8. Gender beliefs and STEM occupational plans
P(STEM = 1|Xi ) = α + β1OwnBeliefsi + β2Parents Beliefsi + γXi + i
Dependent variable P(STEM = 1|Xi )
Pupil plans to work in STEM occupation
Independent variables
Pupil: believes that boys are better in math (OwnBeliefsi )
Parents: believe that boys are better in math (ParentsBeliefsi )
Control variables (Xi )
GPA in math, parents occupations, gender, race, school controls
Magdalena Smyk (University of Warsaw GRAPE)Gender beliefs and planned occupation: 30th March 2017 8 / 17

9. Gender beliefs and STEM occupational plans
Data
What do we need?
gender beliefs of students and parents
student’s occupational plans
student’s and family characteristics
DATA: High School Longitudinal Study 2009 (USA)
Magdalena Smyk (University of Warsaw GRAPE)Gender beliefs and planned occupation: 30th March 2017 9 / 17

10. Occupation in STEM
Figure : Pupils planned occupation at age 30 and their parents actual occupation.
Magdalena Smyk (University of Warsaw GRAPE)Gender beliefs and planned occupation: 30th March 2017 10 / 17

11. Gender related beliefs: who is better in math?
MATH
STUDENTS PARENTS
Boys Girls Fathers Mothers
Males: 934 270 225 761
much better 8.95% 2.63% 6.59% 6.70%
Males: 1607 1281 840 2616
better 15.39% 12.46% 24.62 % 23.04%
The same 5868 6467 1985 6899
56.21% 62.91% 58.18% 60.76%
Females: 1125 1339 227 661
better 10.78% 13.03% 6.65% 5.82%
Females: 906 923 135 417
much better 8.68% 8.98% 3.96% 3.67%
Magdalena Smyk (University of Warsaw GRAPE)Gender beliefs and planned occupation: 30th March 2017 11 / 17

12. Gender related beliefs: who is better in math?
MATH
STUDENTS PARENTS
Boys Girls Fathers Mothers
Males: 934 270 225 761
much better 8.95% 2.63% 6.59% 6.70%
Males: 1607 1281 840 2616
better 15.39% 12.46% 24.62 % 23.04%
The same 5868 6467 1985 6899
56.21% 62.91% 58.18% 60.76%
Females: 1125 1339 227 661
better 10.78% 13.03% 6.65% 5.82%
Females: 906 923 135 417
much better 8.68% 8.98% 3.96% 3.67%
Magdalena Smyk (University of Warsaw GRAPE)Gender beliefs and planned occupation: 30th March 2017 12 / 17

13. Gender related beliefs: who is better in math?
MATH
STUDENTS PARENTS
Boys Girls Fathers Mothers
Males: 934 270 225 761
much better 8.95% 2.63% 6.59% 6.70%
Males: 1607 1281 840 2616
better 15.39% 12.46% 24.62 % 23.04%
The same 5868 6467 1985 6899
56.21% 62.91% 58.18% 60.76%
Females: 1125 1339 227 661
better 10.78% 13.03% 6.65% 5.82%
Females: 906 923 135 417
much better 8.68% 8.98% 3.96% 3.67%
Magdalena Smyk (University of Warsaw GRAPE)Gender beliefs and planned occupation: 30th March 2017 13 / 17

14. Construction of “beliefs” variables
1 - pupil/parent reports that in their opinion “boys are better or much
better in math”
0 - pupil/parent reports that in their opinion “girls and boys are the
same in math”
What do we expect?
own beliefs and parents’ beliefs correlate with plan to work in STEM
field:
positively - for boys
negatively - for girls
Magdalena Smyk (University of Warsaw GRAPE)Gender beliefs and planned occupation: 30th March 2017 14 / 17

15. Chance that a pupil plans to work in STEM
Magdalena Smyk (University of Warsaw GRAPE)Gender beliefs and planned occupation: 30th March 2017 15 / 17

16. Summary and conclusion
Robustness checks:
Construction of gender beliefs variable:
“girls are better” included
three and five levels “beliefs” variables
Science (smaller effects, but the same direction)
Results:
Parents and children share gender related beliefs
Gender beliefs affect occupational plans
Parent’s gender beliefs effect is stronger than
subjective factors (own beliefs)
objective factors (GPA)
Magdalena Smyk (University of Warsaw GRAPE)Gender beliefs and planned occupation: 30th March 2017 16 / 17

17. Thank you for your attention
Magdalena Smyk
University of Warsaw
msmyk@grape.org.pl
Magdalena Smyk (University of Warsaw GRAPE)Gender beliefs and planned occupation: 30th March 2017 17 / 17