Cultural Values, Family Decisions and Gender Segregation in Higher Education: Evidence from 26 OECD Economies

Abstract

This paper examines the role of cultural values and family decision-making in the gender distribution of higher education on a panel database of 9 elds of study in 26 OECD countries over 1998-2012. The paper surmises an interplay between family-friendly policies and cultural values that might be associated with gender segregation. Using survey data from the World Value Survey, the results suggest that gender-egalitarian attitudes of females are negatively associated with gender segregation. However, attitudes of males are not associated with signi cant coe cients. Marriage market indicators, such as the age at rst marriage, are positively associated with gender segregation. Finally, family-friendly policies are found to display a positive association with segregation in societies that are attached to traditional gender roles in the labor market. To the contrary, the same policies are negatively associated with segregation in gender-egalitarian societies. These ndings are robust to country and eld-speci c levels of segregation, and remain using alternative speci cations and estimation techniques.