The Rise of a Reverse Gender Gap in Expectation of Higher Education

A key issue in inclusive education is gender equity.  This paper shows that adolescent girls more often than boys expect to attain university-level higher education in nearly all of the 50 socio-culturally diverse countries... [ view full abstract ]

A key issue in inclusive education is gender equity.  This paper shows that adolescent girls more often than boys expect to attain university-level higher education in nearly all of the 50 socio-culturally diverse countries which participated in the international achievement studies in Mathematics and Science in 2011. Within each country, the girls’ higher attainment-expectation is neither explained by their educational achievement nor by socio-cultural family status.  The study also examines the extent to which the direction and strength of association between gender and ‘expecting higher education’, is predicted by the country’s position on international indexes of human development or adult gender inequality.  World Society theory is a broad perspective that helps explain trends towards gender equity in expected educational attainment. But other explanations are needed for the strongly prevalent rise of a reversed gender gap in such attainment. The paper suggests two possible explanations.