The effect of the education system on the gender gaps in mathematics and reading competencies

Abstract To date, gender inequalities persist and vary across countries, e.g., the gender gap in mathematics and reading competencies, indicating that education system characteristics affect gender inequalities. Education inequalities lead to inequalities in living standards and expectations over the life-course, e.g., health, income, and social participation. Therefore, my aim is to explain how education system characteristics affect the gender gaps in mathematics and reading competencies of 15-year-old students . To explain the effects of education system characteristics on gender inequalities in competencies, I adapt the macro-meso-micro model. At the micro level, I use gender-specific socialization theory, highlighting how gender-specific expectations and stereotypes cause gendered interests and skills and therefore gender differences in mathematics and reading. Deriving a macro-micro link, I explain how education system characteristics, i.e., differentiation, standardization, competition, school time, evaluation and accountability, and compulsory education, could increase or decrease the gender-specific socialization effects, leading to larger or smaller gender gaps in mathematics and reading competencies. Based on this theoretical framework, I perform a cross-national comparison of 78 countries participating in the Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) 2018, combined with further researched macro data. Using three-level mixed-effects models, I include cross-level interactions for all education system characteristics with gender to test the derived hypotheses. The results indicate that the considered education system characteristics affect the gender gaps in mathematics and reading competencies to varying degrees. In particular, competition, school time, evaluation and accountability, and compulsory education explain the gender gaps.