Gender differences in fields of study: The role of significant others and rational choice motivations

Although gender inequalities in education have greatly changed in recent decades with young women outpacing young men, girls and boys continue to study in gender-typical fields of study. Recognizing that boys and girls might have different educational preferences, we conceptualized gender differentiation as an outcome of both socialization processes and rational choice factors. Using a data set from an original survey of curricular choices of high school students in Tel Aviv-Jaffa in Israel, we employed nested logit regression models using the KHB method to examine the determinants of the gender differentiation in advanced course-taking. We found that socialization mechanisms (significant other influences) and rational choice motivations (utility considerations and failure expectations) explain up to 40 percent of the gender-typical curricular choice in our data. The implications of these results for future research are discussed.