Gendered Returns to Education: The Association between Educational Attainment, Gender Composition in Field of Study and Income

Abstract

Women’s higher college completion rates and greater economic returns to education are regarded as a pathway towards economic gender equality. However, gender-segregated educational choices contribute to persisting gender segregation in the labour market and the gender pay gap. Few studies have explored how the returns to education vary based on the gender composition of fields of study. Using comprehensive register data from Norway, this study examines the link between income and gender-typed fields of study across education levels. Consistent with prior research, we find that women experience larger relative returns to higher education, indicating that women have more to gain from investing in education. Moreover, female-dominated fields yield lower returns compared with gender-balanced and male-dominated fields across all education levels. Lastly, and contrary to the ‘glass escalator’ notion, the economic penalty associated with female-dominated education is greater for men than for women.