The University Gender Gap in Australia: A Long-run Perspective

Alison Booth and Hiau Joo Kee

No 610, CEPR Discussion Papers from Centre for Economic Policy Research, Research School of Economics, Australian National University

Abstract: According to the 1911 Census, the proportion female of those receiving university education was around 22%, growing to 29% in 1921. By 1952 it had dropped to under 20%, due to easy access into universities for returning war-veterans. From the early 1950s, the university-educated gender gap began to reduce in response to women’s changing expectations of labour-force participation, fertility and age at first marriage. By 1987, Australian women were more likely than men to be enrolled at university. However, these aggregate figures disguise considerable heterogeneity across fields of study.

Keywords: higher education; gender; Australia (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I23 J1 N3 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2009-07
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-edu, nep-his and nep-lab
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:auu:dpaper:610

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