TY  - RPRT
        AU  - Nollenberger, Natalia
AU  - Rodríguez-Planas, Núria
        TI  - Let the Girls Learn! I It is not Only about Math... It’s about Gender Social Norm
        PY  - 2017/Mar/
        PB  - Institute of Labor Economics (IZA)
        CY  - Bonn
        T2  - IZA Discussion Paper
        IS  - 10625
        UR  - https://www.iza.org/publications/dp10625
        AB  - Using PISA test scores from 11,527 second-generation immigrants coming from 35 different countries of ancestry and living in 9 host countries, we find that the positive effects of country-of-ancestry gender social norms on girls' math test scores relative to those of boys: (1) expand to other subjects (namely reading and science); (2) are shaped by beliefs on women's political empowerment and economic opportunity; and (3) are driven by parents' influencing their children's (especially their girls') preferences.
Our evidence further suggest that these findings are driven by cognitive skills, suggesting that social gender norms affect parent's expectations on girls' academic knowledge relative to that of boys, but not on other attributes for success--such as non-cognitive skills. Taken together, our results highlight the relevance of general (as opposed to math-specific) gender stereotypes on the math gender gap, and suggest that parents' gender social norms shape youth's test scores by transmitting preferences for cognitive skills.
        KW  - gender gap in math
KW  - cognitive and non-cognitive skills
KW  - culture and institutions
KW  - reading and science
KW  - beliefs and preferences
KW  - immigrants
        ER  -