Working Paper: NBER ID: w30430
Authors: David Card; Ciprian Domnisoru; Seth G. Sanders; Lowell Taylor; Victoria Udalova
Abstract: It is widely believed that female students benefit from being taught by female teachers, particularly when those teachers serve as counter-stereotypical role models. We study education in rural areas of the US circa 1940--a setting in which there were few professional female exemplars other than teachers--and find that female students were more successful when their primary-school teachers were disproportionately female. Impacts are lifelong: female students taught by female teachers were more likely to move up the educational ladder by completing high school and attending college, and had higher lifetime family income and increased longevity.
Keywords: female teachers; female students; educational outcomes; role models
JEL Codes: I21
Edges that are evidenced by causal inference methods are in orange, and the rest are in light blue.
| Cause | Effect |
|---|---|
| local fraction of female teachers (fft) (J16) | educational outcomes of female students (I24) |
| educational outcomes of female students (I24) | higher lifetime family income (J17) |
| local fraction of female teachers (fft) (J16) | completion of high school (I21) |
| local fraction of female teachers (fft) (J16) | attending college (I23) |
| educational outcomes of female students (I24) | increased longevity (D15) |
| local fraction of female teachers (fft) (J16) | educational outcomes of sisters compared to brothers (I24) |