We study whether female students benefit from being taught by female professors, and whether such gender match effects differ by class size. We use administrative records of a German public university, covering all programs and courses between 2006 and 2018. We find that gender match effects on student performance are sizable in smaller classes,…

Are public policies effective in enhancing gender balance in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) graduate education? Although the literature is rich in studies that prescribe micro-level interventions to promote gender balance in specific STEM areas or institutions, there are surprisingly few studies that quantitatively…

Background: Despite a well-documented underrepresentation of women in STEM majors and occupations, empirical evidence on whether there really is a "leaky STEM pipeline" is mixed due to a lack of methodological consistency. Studies vary by (1) the definition of STEM, (2) the decision to measure choices alone or to also include…

Gender segregation in fields of study represents an important explanation for gender inequalities in the labor market, such as the gender wage gap. Research shows that horizontal gender segregation in higher education persists for a variety of reasons, including women's greater communal goals and men's greater motivation to earn high incomes. Yet…

Women in academia are typically outnumbered by men, a phenomenon metaphorically known as "the leaky pipeline." This study contributes by showing a motherhood penalty in the career pipeline at the postdoctoral stage in Germany--that is, during habilitation. Based on CV information and an email survey, the paper examines which factors are…

Sex and gender bias in anatomy learning materials are considered a "hidden obstacle" to gender equity in medical curricula. The purpose of this study was to investigate whether quantitative sex and gender biases do exist in popular anatomy e-learning platforms and compare the results with those found in contemporary textbooks and…

With the global as the dominating frame of reference, the international higher education landscape and its transients move to the forefront of discussions on whose and which education matters today. Embodying the internationalized university, the Global Southern international student turned into an early-career migrant researcher remains a…

Higher education biology (HEB), a discipline where women undergraduates are numerically overrepresented in most Western universities, has been given little attention in exploring norms of scientific practice from a student perspective. This study brings into focus how biology students negotiate identities in relation to figured worlds of HEB.…

Gender bias underlying discrimination against women are particularly salient in STEM higher education. Complementing top-down measures to mitigate these issues identified in the extant literature, we aim to highlight a complementary bottom-up approach. First, to elicit gender stereotypes and gender bias in STEM, we conducted a group concept…

This paper explores the leadership styles of fourteen elected female politicians in executive government positions, as communicated through the official Instagram accounts that were in use during the COVID-19 pandemic. Seven of them are, or were, heads of government, six are or were mayors, and one is the president of an autonomous region in…

Utilizing the Survey of Adult Skills from the Program for the International Assessment of Adult Competencies (PIAAC) and the OECD database, this study investigates the role of gender inequality and public social spending in the gender gap in Not in Employment, Education, or Training (NEET) risk across various age cohorts. The research identifies a…

This qualitative biographical case study presents the case of 79-year-old Mrs. Blade and her attitude toward education and ICT (information and communication technology) use. A biographical-narrative interview with additional PCI questions was conducted. Material was analyzed using the approach of 'reconstruction of narrative identity'. The case…

Growing demands and expectations on the side of policy makers and the public have changed the conditions for academics' engagement in public discussions. At the same time, risks related to this engagement for the professional and even private lives of academics have become apparent. Conducting a survey experiment among 4091 tenured professors in…

There is growing interest in the underlying mechanisms affecting female leaders in Higher Education (HE). This article compares four countries -- Germany, Norway, Poland and Sweden to identify key structural conditions (enablers and barriers) for female representation in academia by studying the regulative framework of government policy. Two…

This paper explores how girls' education developed in Norway and Prussia (and later North Rhine-Westphalia, NRW) during the first and second wave of women's political mobilisation. It analyses how organisations and activists of the women's movement were included in different cross-interest coalitions in education politics. The cases are…