Description:

Ashley Wong & Francesca Truffa (Northwestern University)

"Effect of Beliefs and Gender Roles on Girls’ Math Education"

Abstract:
In Ghana, a large gender gap in participation exists across fields of study in senior secondary school; in home economics, 89.6% of students are girls while in general science, only 34% are girls (Ministry of Education, 2013). Recent research shows that parents in developing countries are often misinformed about children's performance and educational returns. At the same time, there can exist gender norms that associate to girls lower innate math ability and future roles that may have lower returns to math education.The goal of this research is to investigate how information frictions and societal beliefs can lead to gender differences in investments and aspirations in math-related fields. We conduct an RCT in Ghana to investigate whether providing information can change beliefs about girls’ innate math ability and their aspirations in math education.