Female mentors and peers

This paper investigates whether gender-matching school environments can foster girls’ confidence and motivation in science. Using the PISA data from South Korea, the findings show that single-sex schooling and female teachers have positive effects on high-performing girls’ attitudes in science studies. By attending an all-girls school and being taught by female science teachers, girls who are ranked in the highest quartile of the science test become as motivated and interested in pursuing studies and careers in STEM fields as boys in the same rank. However, the role of single-sex schooling is not as positive for average- and low-performing girls. On the other hand, the effect of female teachers is more generalized, in that female teachers can boost girls’ competitive attitudes regardless of their study records. These findings corroborate that gender-matching schooling can be a useful policy instrument of promoting female talent in STEM fields. But the positive effect is not universal and cannot be generalized for everyone.

Copyright to papers in this series remains with the authors or their assignees. Reproduction or reposting of texts in this paper can only be done with the permission of the respective author. The proper form for citing working papers in this series is: Name of author or editor. (Year). Title. Working paper, Freie Universität Berlin, Institute of Korean Studies, Berlin