Composition of peer mothers and gender norms: Class randomization and short-run effects

Abstract

Increased exposure to gender-role information affects a girl’s educational performance. Leveraging the classroom randomization in Chinese middle schools, we find that the increased presence of peers’ working mothers significantly enhances a girl’s performance in mathematics. The exposure also reduces gendered attitudes toward mathematics and future careers. Long exposure and a distant parent–daughter relationship enhance peer mothers’ influences. As falsification tests against unobserved confounding factors, we find that exposure to peers’ working mothers does not affect boys’ outcomes.