Adam Smith Business School

Professor Dorothea Kübler, WZB Berlin Social Science Center

"The Gender Gap in Gender-Blind University Admissions"
Tuesday, 16 April 2024. 17:00-18:30
Room 355, Gilbert Scott Building

Abstract

We examine China’s gender-blind college application process and uncover a significant gender gap: equally-qualified female students are significantly less likely to apply to and be admitted to elite universities compared to their male counterparts. By combining administrative and survey data, we show that this disparity is not driven by differences in strategic sophistication, confidence, competitiveness, or risk aversion. Instead, it is primarily explained by women’s stronger preference for geographically close and education-focused universities. The survey data reveal an unexpected dimension to these preferences – they appear less reflective of genuine aspirations and more influenced by parental expectations. Self-reports by the students indicate that parents tend to guide their daughters more towards nearby and education schools than their sons. Moreover, women’s actual application decisions are more affected by parental expectations than men's. The findings demonstrate that gendered parental expectations and influence can lead to outcome disparities in a system that is designed to be meritocratic and gender-neutral.

Bio

Dorothea Kübler is the director of the department “Market Behavior” at the WZB and a professor of Economics at the Technische Universität Berlin. Her research uses experimental methods and game theory to examine decision-making and market design. In recent years, her work has concentrated on the design of matching markets, such as the centralized procedure for awarding places at universities in Germany. She also studies the influence of social and moral norms on behavior, as well as educational choices, discrimination, and the role of AI in the labor market. In 2020 Dorothea Kübler was awarded the Schader Prize and in 2023 a prize from the Berlin-Brandenburg Academy of Sciences (BBAW).

Dorothea is Vice Chair of the Scientific Advisory Board of the Federal Minister for Economic Affairs and Climate Action (BMWK), Vice Chair of the Einstein Foundation Berlin, and Vice President Europe of the Economic Science Association (ESA). She is a founding member of the “Matching in Practice” network and a member of the collaborative research center CRC TRR 190 “Rationality and Competition” and the cluster of excellence SCRIPTS. Dorothea studied in Philadelphia, Konstanz, and Berlin, and in 1992 completed her degree in Economics at the Freie Universität Berlin. She graduated with a PhD in 1997 and completed her habilitation in 2003 at the Humboldt Universität zu Berlin.

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First published: 26 March 2024