The evolution of gender gaps in numeracy and literacy between childhood and adulthood

Numeracy and literacy skills have become increasingly important in modern labour markets. The large gender differences that several studies have identified have therefore sparked considerable attention among researchers and policy makers. Little is known about the moment in which such gaps emerge, h...

Full description

Bibliographic Details
Main Author: Borgonovi, Francesca
Other Authors: Choi, Álvaro, Paccagnella, Marco
Format: eBook
Language:English
Published: Paris OECD Publishing 2018
Series:OECD Education Working Papers
Subjects:
Online Access:
Collection: OECD Books and Papers - Collection details see MPG.ReNa
LEADER 01847nma a2200253 u 4500
001 EB001866338
003 EBX01000000000000001030418
005 00000000000000.0
007 cr|||||||||||||||||||||
008 190505 ||| eng
100 1 |a Borgonovi, Francesca 
245 0 0 |a The evolution of gender gaps in numeracy and literacy between childhood and adulthood  |h Elektronische Ressource  |c Francesca, Borgonovi, Álvaro, Choi and Marco, Paccagnella 
260 |a Paris  |b OECD Publishing  |c 2018 
300 |a 27 p 
653 |a Education 
700 1 |a Choi, Álvaro 
700 1 |a Paccagnella, Marco 
041 0 7 |a eng  |2 ISO 639-2 
989 |b OECD  |a OECD Books and Papers 
490 0 |a OECD Education Working Papers 
024 8 |a /10.1787/0ff7ae72-en 
856 4 0 |a oecd-ilibrary.org  |u https://doi.org/10.1787/0ff7ae72-en  |x Verlag  |3 Volltext 
082 0 |a 370 
520 |a Numeracy and literacy skills have become increasingly important in modern labour markets. The large gender differences that several studies have identified have therefore sparked considerable attention among researchers and policy makers. Little is known about the moment in which such gaps emerge, how they evolve and if their evolution differs across countries. We use data from large-scale international assessments to follow representative samples of birth-cohorts over time, and analyse how gender gaps in numeracy and literacy evolve from age 10 to age 27. Our results suggest that, across the countries examined, males' advantage in numeracy is smallest at age 10 and largest at age 27. The growth in magnitude of the gender gap is particularly pronounced between the age of 15 and 27. Such evolution stands in sharp contrast with the evolution of the gender gap in literacy, which is small at age 10, large and in favour of females at age 15, and negligible by age 27