Boys’ Underperformance, Teacher Scoring Bias and Unbalanced Teacher Market in Rural Philippines

Abstract

This study exploits a natural experimental setting in rural Philippines to investigate the reversed gender disparity in education. We compare two rating systems implemented in the Philippines, observing that boys’ underperformance persists in evaluations by teachers who know the examinees. Conversely, this bias is not evident in external assessments where the examinees’ attributes are concealed from evaluators. Our empirical analyses identify two underlying channels. The first is the disparity rooted in a stereotype against male students. The second is teacher-rated scores capturing a broader range of diligence aspects, such as attendance, where male students are likely to underperform. This bias is also amplified by the likelihood of student–teacher gender (mis)match, reflecting teacher labour-market conditions in developing countries. This study has limitations due to the relatively small sample to generalise and determine which mechanism prevails over the other. Nonetheless, we emphasise that gender disparity is driven by stereotypes (i.e. being male or diligent towards a specific gender) of one gender over the other.