Girls in female-dominated classes earn more later on

Girls in female-dominated school classes earn more later on Keystone-SDA

Women earn more if, as children, they went to school in female-dominated classes, according to a study by the universities of Basel and Durham with data from 750,000 schoolchildren.

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The social environment has a major influence on a person’s career and salary from an early age. Girls in more female classes have better grades and are more likely to pursue career paths that are considered “typically male”, the University of Basel said on Thursday. At the age of 30, women from school classes with a 55% share of girls earn $350 (CHF305) more per year than women from classes with a 45% share of girls.

This means a reduction in the gender pay gap of 2.7%. The women not only earn more because they work in industries where wages are generally higher, they also earn more within the industry than women from a different school environment, the report continued.

+ Switzerland leads the way in the fight against ‘unexplained’ wage gaps  

The study published in the American Economic Journal: Economic Policy suspects that the network effect could play a role in this. According to the study, girls from female-dominated classes often attend the same secondary schools and universities and thus benefit from long-term contacts that can be of benefit to them in their professional lives. The researchers also suspect that there is less violence and different rivalry behaviour in female-dominated classes.

According to the study, a negative effect in terms of later income can be observed in boys from a proportion of 55% girls.

The data for the study was taken from 750,000 pupils between the ages of six and 16 who completed compulsory schooling in Sweden between 1989 and 2002.

Translated from German by DeepL/ts

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