Closing the Gender Stem Gap - a Large-Scale Randomized-Controlled Trial in Elementary Schools

54 Pages Posted: 8 Sep 2022

See all articles by Kerstin Grosch

Kerstin Grosch

Vienna University of Economics and Business

Simone Haeckl

University of Stavanger

Martin G. Kocher

University of Vienna

Date Written: 2022

Abstract

We examine individual-level determinants of interest in STEM and analyze whether a digital web application for elementary-school children can increase children’s interest in STEM with a specific focus on narrowing the gender gap. Coupling a randomized-controlled trial with experimental lab and survey data, we analyze the effect of the digital intervention and shed light on the mechanisms. We confirm the hypothesis that girls demonstrate a lower overall interest in STEM than boys. Moreover, girls are less competitive and exhibit less pronounced math confidence than boys at the baseline. Our treatment increases girls’ interest in STEM and decreases the gender gap via an increase in STEM confidence. Our findings suggest that an easy-to-implement digital intervention has the potential to foster gender equality for young children and can potentially contribute to a reduction of gender inequalities in the labor market such as occupational sorting and the gender wage gap later in life.

Keywords: STEM, digital intervention, gender equality, field experiment

JEL Classification: C930, D910, I240, J160, J240

Suggested Citation

Grosch, Kerstin and Haeckl, Simone and Kocher, Martin G., Closing the Gender Stem Gap - a Large-Scale Randomized-Controlled Trial in Elementary Schools (2022). CESifo Working Paper No. 9907, Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=4212071 or http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.4212071

Kerstin Grosch (Contact Author)

Vienna University of Economics and Business ( email )

Welthandelsplatz 1
Vienna, 1020
Austria

Simone Haeckl

University of Stavanger ( email )

PB 8002
Stavanger, 4036
Norway

HOME PAGE: http://https://sites.google.com/view/simonehaeckl

Martin G. Kocher

University of Vienna ( email )

Bruenner Strasse 72
Vienna, Vienna 1090
Austria

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