Study links female-dominated classrooms to higher lifetime earnings for women

Research by Durham University Business School and the University of Basel suggests that girls surrounded by more female peers at school are more likely to enter better-paid careers and narrow the gender pay gap

Girls educated in classrooms with more female than male pupils are more likely to achieve greater professional and financial success later in life, according to new research.

The study analysed the records of more than 700,000 students who attended primary school in Sweden between 1989 and 2002. Their school cohorts were then matched with earnings data when they reached the age of 30.

The findings suggest that gender composition in the classroom can have long-lasting effects on women’s career outcomes.

A shift from a 45 per cent female cohort to a 55 per cent female cohort was associated with an annual earnings increase of $354 by age 30 for women, equivalent to a 2.7 per cent reduction in the gender wage gap.

Over a lifetime, the researchers estimated this could amount to an additional $12,390 in earnings.

Dr Getik of Durham University Business School, one of the lead authors alongside Dr Armando Meier of the University of Basel, said the study sought to address a long-standing paradox.

He said: “Whilst women routinely achieve a higher level of educational attainment in developed countries, a significant gender wage gap persists, with over 70% unexplained by traditional factors like education.

“Our study focuses on this disconnect between academic achievement and career success, investigating whether early gender socialisation – specifically exposure to more female peers during critical ages of six to 16 – might help to explain and redress this gap.”

The research, published in the American Economic Journal: Economic Policy, also highlighted differences in career choices.

Girls from female-dominated classes were more likely to study subjects traditionally pursued by boys and later enter higher-paying professions.

The authors calculate that a 55 per cent female cohort led to $7,949 higher predicted occupational lifetime earnings compared with a 45 per cent female class, a reduction in the occupational gender gap of 3.2 per cent.

For boys, the effects were less pronounced, though a slight decline in grades was observed when they were placed in female-dominated classrooms.

The authors caution that while the benefits for girls are clear, education policy should be designed to avoid hindering boys’ outcomes.

The paper argues that the findings carry broader implications for labour markets and for policies aimed at closing the gender pay gap.

By showing that classroom gender balance can influence later career trajectories, the study underlines the importance of early socialisation in shaping economic outcomes.

Main photo, courtesy Pexels