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Higher Education as Modulator of Gender Inequalities: Evidence of the Spanish Case

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Abstract

Raising educational levels may help to reduce inequalities between men and women in certain social and economic aspects. Using statistics for Spain, we analyse labour market behaviours such as the rates of activity and unemployment by sex according to the educational level. The results reveal that the differences between men and women decrease as the educational level increases. In particular, the modulator effect of education is very important at the higher level, where differences in labour market behaviour between men and women with an university education almost disappear, except in terms of salaries. Nevertheless, it can be seen that the current economic crisis has reduced the modulator role of education in gender differences in Spain.

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Notes

  1. There is evidence (Acemoglu and Autor, 2010) to show that higher levels of human capital in economies cause intensive technological progress in human capital that favours increased productivity.

  2. Becker et al. (2010) present a model that explains the increase in higher education, particularly among women, in terms of a market for college graduates in which the supply of college graduates is function of the distribution of the costs and benefits of higher education across individuals, but it appears that differences in the total costs of college for women and men, primarily because of differences in the distributions of non-cognitive skills for women and men, explain the overtaking of men by women in higher education. Similarly, Jacob (2002) finds that higher non-cognitive skills and college premiums among women account for nearly 90% of the gender gap in higher education.

  3. In economics Okun’s law is an empirically observed relationship between an economy’s unemployment rate and its gross national product growth.

  4. The reference categories are as follows: For educational level, primary education; for sex, male; for size of firm, from 1 to 49 workers; for the firm’s sector of activity, commerce. The years of education, necessary for calculating potential experience, are imputed as follows: No education and primary education, 4.5 years; Compulsory secondary Education, 8 years; Pre-university education, 12 years; Medium-grade vocational training, 10 years; Higher-grade vocational training, 12 years; University Diploma, 15 years; University Degree, 17 years.

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Acknowledgements

The authors would like to thank the Editor and two anonymous reviewers for their valuable comments and suggestions to improve the quality of the paper. José M. Pastor and Carlos Peraita wish to thank the Spanish Ministry of Ministry of the Economy and Competitiveness for its financial support (ECO2011-23248).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Universitat de Valencia and Ivie, Av. Blasco Ibáñez, 13, Valencia, 46010, Spain

    José Manuel Pastor, Carlos Peraita & Ángel Soler

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  1. José Manuel Pastor
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  2. Carlos Peraita
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  3. Ángel Soler
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Appendix

Appendix

Table A1

Table A1 Probit estimation to be active — Spain (2012)
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Table A2

Table A2 Heckman estimation to be employed — Spain (2012)
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Table A3

Table A3 Probit estimation to have permanent contracts — Spain (2012)
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Table A4

Table A4 Mincer equation — Spain (2010)
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Pastor, J., Peraita, C. & Soler, Á. Higher Education as Modulator of Gender Inequalities: Evidence of the Spanish Case. High Educ Policy 29, 63–88 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1057/hep.2015.1

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