Economic Rationale for Sex Differences in Education
This study generally supports the hypothesis that sex differences in labor market experiences explain sex differences in educational attainment. Since women and men do not experience the same gains in wages and occupational status from the same level of education, it is not surprising that educational attainment differs by sex. The most striking sex difference in education patterns is the greater proportion of women than men who receive exactly a high school education. The most striking sex difference in returns to education found here is the relatively greater return to women from high school graduation.
However, this study does not attempt to explain the basis for sex differences in the return to education. It seems plausible that women are disadvantaged in competing with men for the manual jobs which employ high school dropout men and for the jobs with substantial amounts of training which employ college-educated men. On the other hand, men may be relatively disadvantaged in competing with women in clerical jobs which employ high school graduate women. Whether these relative "disadvantages" are due to employer discrimination or to productivity differences is frequently discussed in the literature and is not the subject of this paper.
Tags: WAGE differentials; DISCRIMINATION in employment; EDUCATION -- Economic aspects
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