Gender differences in educational outcomes and the effect of family background: A comparative perspective from East Asia

Abstract

There is wide variation in the degree of gender gap in test scores around the world, suggesting the strong influence of institutions, culture and inequality. We present comparative evidence on the gender gap in educational achievement in China, Japan, and the USA, with an emphasis on the gender-specific effect of parental income and education, and the child’s own preferences for study subjects. We used three major national representative longitudinal surveys with rich information about cognitive outcome measures of respondent children as well as educational investment and parental socio-economic status that allow us to analyze their inter-relationship. We found that low household income tends to have more adverse effects on language test scores for boys than for girls in the USA, as is consistent with previous studies. However, it does not have an impact on gender gap in test scores in China and tends to affect girls more adversely than boys in Japan.

Why do Chinese adolescent girls outperform boys in achievement tests?

“…China is a compelling case for the study of this topic. In the land of a society that was once one of “the most patriarchal family systems that ever existed” (Greenhalgh, 1985), increasing evidence documents a reversed gender gap to the advantage of females, whether in terms of standardized test scores (Akabayashi et al., 2020; Lai, 2010), or educational attainment (Treiman, 2013; Ye and Wu, 2011; Yeung, 2013), which will be elaborated on in the literature review section. This phenomenon has occurred in the context of decades-long economic development, the one-child policy, and an overall expansion of educational opportunities at different levels in the post-reform era, which provides a chance to examine how these national-level social and policy changes may affect intergenerational dynamics within the family and social norms towards gender and achievement.…”

Parental resources and child well-being in East Asia: An overview

“…Moreover, in both China and Japan, girls score higher than boys on verbal tests. Most importantly, Akabayashi et al (2020) find very little evidence to suggest that the socioeconomic gradient in children's academic performance differs by child's sex. Gender inequality at the societal level thus appears less consequential for gender differences in child well-being than for differences in labor market outcomes and the division of labor within families.…”

“…The study by Akabayashi et al (2020) provides new insights into these alternative expectations regarding gender differences in East Asia. In contrast to both conventional views about the strength of son preference in East Asia (especially in China) and results from previous research on the USA, their study finds no evidence that girls score lower on math tests in China or Japan.…”

Brechas socioeconómicas, generacionales y de género en la educación peruana: una aproximación con datos masivos de una ciudad norteña

“…Por otro lado, las desigualdades socioeconómicas también afectan el acceso a la educación y el logro educativo (Akabayashi, et al, 2020;Lundberg, 2020;Vaezghasemi, et al, 2020). Decomposition of income-related inequality in upper secondary school completion in Sweden by mental health, family conditions and contextual characteristics.…”