Pub Date : 2025-06-11DOI: 10.1016/j.rssm.2025.101067
Irma Mooi-Reci , Meir Yaish , Lyn Craig
{"title":"Returns to parental higher education across the wage distribution, gender, and the life course","authors":"Irma Mooi-Reci , Meir Yaish , Lyn Craig","doi":"10.1016/j.rssm.2025.101067","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.rssm.2025.101067","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":47384,"journal":{"name":"Research in Social Stratification and Mobility","volume":"98 ","pages":"Article 101067"},"PeriodicalIF":2.7,"publicationDate":"2025-06-11","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144322303","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"社会学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Despite well-documented disability differentials in employment rates globally, there is only limited research using experimental methods to study discrimination in recruitment, which may constitute a key pathway through which the disability employment gap is sustained. In this systematic review, we review 69 existing experimental research studies on disability discrimination in hiring, published between June 1972 and January 2025, and outline key areas for future research in the field. Our review underlines significant differences in callback rates as well as variability in effect sizes across applicant and occupational characteristics. We also find that certain chronic health conditions and impairments have received more empirical attention than others. Exploring discrimination levels across a wider range of chronic conditions and impairments is necessary to move beyond monolithic understandings of disability as a binary ascriptive status and to discern different causal mechanisms associated with adverse employment outcomes among different subgroups. We argue that intersectional, theoretically grounded, and cross-national experimental approaches are needed to better understand and address disability discrimination in hiring.
{"title":"Disability discrimination in hiring: A systematic review","authors":"Nicole Schwitter , Stella Chatzitheochari , Ulf Liebe","doi":"10.1016/j.rssm.2025.101069","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.rssm.2025.101069","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Despite well-documented disability differentials in employment rates globally, there is only limited research using experimental methods to study discrimination in recruitment, which may constitute a key pathway through which the disability employment gap is sustained. In this systematic review, we review 69 existing experimental research studies on disability discrimination in hiring, published between June 1972 and January 2025, and outline key areas for future research in the field. Our review underlines significant differences in callback rates as well as variability in effect sizes across applicant and occupational characteristics. We also find that certain chronic health conditions and impairments have received more empirical attention than others. Exploring discrimination levels across a wider range of chronic conditions and impairments is necessary to move beyond monolithic understandings of disability as a binary ascriptive status and to discern different causal mechanisms associated with adverse employment outcomes among different subgroups. We argue that intersectional, theoretically grounded, and cross-national experimental approaches are needed to better understand and address disability discrimination in hiring.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":47384,"journal":{"name":"Research in Social Stratification and Mobility","volume":"98 ","pages":"Article 101069"},"PeriodicalIF":2.7,"publicationDate":"2025-06-08","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144271825","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"社会学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2025-06-04DOI: 10.1016/j.rssm.2025.101068
Andrea Alvarado-Urbina
Multiple studies connect ethnic background with uneven educational outcomes; this study contributes a novel perspective to the literature by attending to indigenous peoples’ experiences with vertical and horizontal dimensions of stratification in the Chilean school system. In particular, I investigate the transition from primary to secondary school and to higher education, comparing enrollment in academic and vocational tracks at the secondary and tertiary levels. With a series of logistic regressions, I study differences in these critical educational transitions associated with indigenous status, together with gender and location. Analyses of the 2012 seventh-grade cohort show that indigenous status increases the likelihood of enrolling in vocational high schools, but regarding the transition to higher education, indigenous status is only relevant when school SES is not included. Nevertheless, vocational high school graduates (where indigenous students concentrate) are less likely to enroll in higher education, and more likely to enroll in vocational instead of academic higher education programs. Overall, indigenous status has a clear impact on students' transition from middle school to high school, which has relevant consequences for the transition to higher education.
{"title":"Educational trajectories of indigenous students in Chile: Horizontal stratification in secondary and tertiary education","authors":"Andrea Alvarado-Urbina","doi":"10.1016/j.rssm.2025.101068","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.rssm.2025.101068","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Multiple studies connect ethnic background with uneven educational outcomes; this study contributes a novel perspective to the literature by attending to indigenous peoples’ experiences with vertical and horizontal dimensions of stratification in the Chilean school system. In particular, I investigate the transition from primary to secondary school and to higher education, comparing enrollment in academic and vocational tracks at the secondary and tertiary levels. With a series of logistic regressions, I study differences in these critical educational transitions associated with indigenous status, together with gender and location. Analyses of the 2012 seventh-grade cohort show that indigenous status increases the likelihood of enrolling in vocational high schools, but regarding the transition to higher education, indigenous status is only relevant when school SES is not included. Nevertheless, vocational high school graduates (where indigenous students concentrate) are less likely to enroll in higher education, and more likely to enroll in vocational instead of academic higher education programs. Overall, indigenous status has a clear impact on students' transition from middle school to high school, which has relevant consequences for the transition to higher education.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":47384,"journal":{"name":"Research in Social Stratification and Mobility","volume":"98 ","pages":"Article 101068"},"PeriodicalIF":2.7,"publicationDate":"2025-06-04","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144231834","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"社会学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2025-06-03DOI: 10.1016/j.rssm.2025.101066
Mengxuan Li , Yekaterina Chzhen
This study investigates the differences in educational expectations between immigrant and native parents in Ireland, a context known for high tertiary attainment but with limited research on migration-related educational inequalities. Using longitudinal data from the Growing Up in Ireland (GUI) study, we examine how parental expectations align with children's previous academic performance, focusing on families with diverse migration backgrounds. The analysis includes various socio-demographic factors, such as family socio-economic status and cognitive test scores at age 9. The results reveal generally high educational expectations among immigrant parents compared to their native counterparts, particularly those from Asian, Eastern European, and African origins. However, these immigrant parents' expectations often do not correspond with their children's actual academic performance, highlighting a "paradox of immigrant optimism." In contrast, native Irish parents and those from Western Europe exhibit more realistic expectations aligned with their children's cognitive abilities. Furthermore, the study shows that immigrant parents with higher education levels are more likely to have realistic expectations regarding their children’s educational prospects. These findings contribute to our understanding of educational inequalities and the factors influencing educational aspirations in a context of increasing cultural diversity. Future research should further explore the cultural and structural factors shaping these expectations.
{"title":"Immigrant optimism in Ireland: Parental expectations of children’s educational attainment","authors":"Mengxuan Li , Yekaterina Chzhen","doi":"10.1016/j.rssm.2025.101066","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.rssm.2025.101066","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>This study investigates the differences in educational expectations between immigrant and native parents in Ireland, a context known for high tertiary attainment but with limited research on migration-related educational inequalities. Using longitudinal data from the Growing Up in Ireland (GUI) study, we examine how parental expectations align with children's previous academic performance, focusing on families with diverse migration backgrounds. The analysis includes various socio-demographic factors, such as family socio-economic status and cognitive test scores at age 9. The results reveal generally high educational expectations among immigrant parents compared to their native counterparts, particularly those from Asian, Eastern European, and African origins. However, these immigrant parents' expectations often do not correspond with their children's actual academic performance, highlighting a \"paradox of immigrant optimism.\" In contrast, native Irish parents and those from Western Europe exhibit more realistic expectations aligned with their children's cognitive abilities. Furthermore, the study shows that immigrant parents with higher education levels are more likely to have realistic expectations regarding their children’s educational prospects. These findings contribute to our understanding of educational inequalities and the factors influencing educational aspirations in a context of increasing cultural diversity. Future research should further explore the cultural and structural factors shaping these expectations.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":47384,"journal":{"name":"Research in Social Stratification and Mobility","volume":"98 ","pages":"Article 101066"},"PeriodicalIF":2.7,"publicationDate":"2025-06-03","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144231833","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"社会学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2025-05-23DOI: 10.1016/j.rssm.2025.101065
Lei Lei , Wei-hsin Yu
Choosing schools outside of the neighborhood is prevalent worldwide despite variations in educational systems and policies. Because school choice requires ample family resources, it is an important form of educational investment in children. However, the drivers and long-term implications of school choice have not been thoroughly examined in the existing literature, especially in contexts with few school-choice programs. Using data from the China Family Panel Studies (2010–2020), this study examines the determinants of school choice strategies and how these strategies influence educational outcomes. Results show that nearly a quarter of Chinese children are enrolled in non-neighborhood schools through both formal and informal channels. The child’s gender, academic performance, and family socioeconomic status are all relevant to school choice decisions. Choosing schools through address change and gifted/talented programs enhances the likelihood of high school attendance for both urban and rural children, while school choice through sponsorships and social networks increases high school attendance only in rural areas. School choice through gifted/talented programs is associated with a higher likelihood of college attendance. Nevertheless, not all school choice strategies are conducive to positive schooling experiences and attainment.
{"title":"Who opts out of neighborhood schools? Determinants and consequences of school choice strategies in China","authors":"Lei Lei , Wei-hsin Yu","doi":"10.1016/j.rssm.2025.101065","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.rssm.2025.101065","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Choosing schools outside of the neighborhood is prevalent worldwide despite variations in educational systems and policies. Because school choice requires ample family resources, it is an important form of educational investment in children. However, the drivers and long-term implications of school choice have not been thoroughly examined in the existing literature, especially in contexts with few school-choice programs. Using data from the China Family Panel Studies (2010–2020), this study examines the determinants of school choice strategies and how these strategies influence educational outcomes. Results show that nearly a quarter of Chinese children are enrolled in non-neighborhood schools through both formal and informal channels. The child’s gender, academic performance, and family socioeconomic status are all relevant to school choice decisions. Choosing schools through address change and gifted/talented programs enhances the likelihood of high school attendance for both urban and rural children, while school choice through sponsorships and social networks increases high school attendance only in rural areas. School choice through gifted/talented programs is associated with a higher likelihood of college attendance. Nevertheless, not all school choice strategies are conducive to positive schooling experiences and attainment.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":47384,"journal":{"name":"Research in Social Stratification and Mobility","volume":"98 ","pages":"Article 101065"},"PeriodicalIF":2.7,"publicationDate":"2025-05-23","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144195109","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"社会学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2025-05-23DOI: 10.1016/j.rssm.2025.101064
Ole Brüggemann , Julia Lang
Although recent literature shows that women are becoming more likely to perceive their (or other women’s) wages as unfairly low, how they respond to unfair pay is crucial for reducing wage inequality based on gender. Using a factorial survey experiment (FSE) among more than 4800 employees from 533 German firms, we examine expected behavioral reactions to perceived under-reward of fictitious co-workers (exit, applying for another job; voice, starting wage negotiations or complaining at the works council). While exit was generally perceived as a more likely reaction than voice, gendered expectations emerged: female co-workers were expected to engage in voice behaviors less frequently than male co-workers. These gendered patterns were mitigated when female supervisors were present, supporting the notion that female managers act as ‘agents of change’. Our findings point towards policies promoting female leadership across hierarchical levels to reduce normative barriers and encourage women to address wage injustices.
{"title":"Gendered responses to unfair pay: Evidence from a factorial survey experiment among employees in German firms","authors":"Ole Brüggemann , Julia Lang","doi":"10.1016/j.rssm.2025.101064","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.rssm.2025.101064","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Although recent literature shows that women are becoming more likely to perceive their (or other women’s) wages as unfairly low, how they respond to unfair pay is crucial for reducing wage inequality based on gender. Using a factorial survey experiment (FSE) among more than 4800 employees from 533 German firms, we examine expected behavioral reactions to perceived under-reward of fictitious co-workers (<em>exit</em>, applying for another job; <em>voice</em>, starting wage negotiations or complaining at the works council). While <em>exit</em> was generally perceived as a more likely reaction than <em>voice</em>, gendered expectations emerged: female co-workers were expected to engage in <em>voice</em> behaviors less frequently than male co-workers. These gendered patterns were mitigated when female supervisors were present, supporting the notion that female managers act as ‘agents of change’. Our findings point towards policies promoting female leadership across hierarchical levels to reduce normative barriers and encourage women to address wage injustices.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":47384,"journal":{"name":"Research in Social Stratification and Mobility","volume":"98 ","pages":"Article 101064"},"PeriodicalIF":2.7,"publicationDate":"2025-05-23","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144167124","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"社会学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2025-05-20DOI: 10.1016/j.rssm.2025.101061
Claudia Finger , Thea Bertnes Strømme
Fields of study are segregated along the lines of social class and gender. The most prestigious and selective professional fields, such as medicine or law, are persistently dominated by socially privileged students but have undergone a pronounced feminization in recent decades. We first investigate gender and SES differences in strategies, in admission chances and whether strategies mediate these differences. Second, we explore how gender and SES interact in shaping applicants’ strategies and.their admission chances. Third, we consider the role of students’ GPA and how different social groups use compensatory strategies to enhance their chances of admission. The Norwegian context is well suited to study this topic because of its comprehensive education system and its field-specific selectivity in higher education,which is mainly based on candidates’ grade point average (GPA), but also offers opportunities to invest in certain strategies to gain access to the most prestigious fields of study. Using full population register data and discrete survival models, we find that high-SES candidates and women have a greater chance of getting admitted, which is mainly explained by their higher GPA. High-SES and male applicants are somewhat more likely to use strategies to meet admission criteria that the Norwegian admission system offers, especially if they have low GPAs, indicating a system of compensatory advantage. However, these overall small differences in strategies seem to perpetuate already existing inequalities rather than increasing or alleviating them.
{"title":"Stratified strategies? Gender, social background and access to selective fields in Norway","authors":"Claudia Finger , Thea Bertnes Strømme","doi":"10.1016/j.rssm.2025.101061","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.rssm.2025.101061","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Fields of study are segregated along the lines of social class and gender. The most prestigious and selective professional fields, such as medicine or law, are persistently dominated by socially privileged students but have undergone a pronounced feminization in recent decades. We first investigate gender and SES differences in strategies, in admission chances and whether strategies mediate these differences. Second, we explore how gender and SES interact in shaping applicants’ strategies and.their admission chances. Third, we consider the role of students’ GPA and how different social groups use compensatory strategies to enhance their chances of admission. The Norwegian context is well suited to study this topic because of its comprehensive education system and its field-specific selectivity in higher education,which is mainly based on candidates’ grade point average (GPA), but also offers opportunities to invest in certain strategies to gain access to the most prestigious fields of study. Using full population register data and discrete survival models, we find that high-SES candidates and women have a greater chance of getting admitted, which is mainly explained by their higher GPA. High-SES and male applicants are somewhat more likely to use strategies to meet admission criteria that the Norwegian admission system offers, especially if they have low GPAs, indicating a system of compensatory advantage. However, these overall small differences in strategies seem to perpetuate already existing inequalities rather than increasing or alleviating them.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":47384,"journal":{"name":"Research in Social Stratification and Mobility","volume":"98 ","pages":"Article 101061"},"PeriodicalIF":2.7,"publicationDate":"2025-05-20","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144135032","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"社会学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2025-05-16DOI: 10.1016/j.rssm.2025.101062
Melinda Erdmann , Irena Pietrzyk , Juliana Schneider , Marcel Helbig , Marita Jacob
Inequalities based on social origins heavily influence university access, shaping individuals’ careers and earning potential. While educational interventions in upper secondary schools have shown promise in supporting students from low social origins, their effects on gender disparities in university access remain less clear. This study investigates how social origins and gender intersect to affect university enrollment and whether counseling programs influence these patterns. Using data from a randomized controlled trial (RCT) in Germany evaluating a counseling program, our analysis reveals two key results. First, students’ evaluations of higher education appear to be shaped by their social background and gender before high school graduation. Second, the counseling program altered these evaluations and enrollment rates in distinct ways depending on students’ social background and gender. Our findings contribute to research on social stratification by highlighting intersectional patterns in rational choice evaluations and university enrollment. We also demonstrate that counseling in Germany effectively reduces intersectional inequalities in enrollment, which particularly benefits women from low social origins.
{"title":"Same but different: Gender, social origin, and university access. Results from a field experiment on guidance counseling","authors":"Melinda Erdmann , Irena Pietrzyk , Juliana Schneider , Marcel Helbig , Marita Jacob","doi":"10.1016/j.rssm.2025.101062","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.rssm.2025.101062","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Inequalities based on social origins heavily influence university access, shaping individuals’ careers and earning potential. While educational interventions in upper secondary schools have shown promise in supporting students from low social origins, their effects on gender disparities in university access remain less clear. This study investigates how social origins and gender intersect to affect university enrollment and whether counseling programs influence these patterns. Using data from a randomized controlled trial (RCT) in Germany evaluating a counseling program, our analysis reveals two key results. First, students’ evaluations of higher education appear to be shaped by their social background and gender before high school graduation. Second, the counseling program altered these evaluations and enrollment rates in distinct ways depending on students’ social background and gender. Our findings contribute to research on social stratification by highlighting intersectional patterns in rational choice evaluations and university enrollment. We also demonstrate that counseling in Germany effectively reduces intersectional inequalities in enrollment, which particularly benefits women from low social origins.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":47384,"journal":{"name":"Research in Social Stratification and Mobility","volume":"98 ","pages":"Article 101062"},"PeriodicalIF":2.7,"publicationDate":"2025-05-16","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144167123","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"社会学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2025-05-16DOI: 10.1016/j.rssm.2025.101063
Markus Laaninen
Early childhood education and care (ECEC) participation is a key mechanism for narrowing the achievement gap between children from different family backgrounds. ECEC particularly benefits children with immigrant backgrounds by providing earlier exposure to the host country language, which boosts later school performance. We employ family fixed-effects regression models and high-quality Finnish register data to examine the association between the duration of the child home care allowance (HCA)—a special feature of Finnish family policy and the main counterfactual for child care services—and school success (as measured by literacy grade at the end of elementary education), parental education, and ethnic origins. In addition to showing that the duration of the HCA period is negatively linked to the school success of children of less educated mothers, this study shows that this duration is negatively associated with the school success of children of immigrants in universal ECEC.
{"title":"Duration of child home care allowance period and school success: Differences by parental education level and ethnic origins","authors":"Markus Laaninen","doi":"10.1016/j.rssm.2025.101063","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.rssm.2025.101063","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Early childhood education and care (ECEC) participation is a key mechanism for narrowing the achievement gap between children from different family backgrounds. ECEC particularly benefits children with immigrant backgrounds by providing earlier exposure to the host country language, which boosts later school performance. We employ family fixed-effects regression models and high-quality Finnish register data to examine the association between the duration of the child home care allowance (HCA)—a special feature of Finnish family policy and the main counterfactual for child care services—and school success (as measured by literacy grade at the end of elementary education), parental education, and ethnic origins. In addition to showing that the duration of the HCA period is negatively linked to the school success of children of less educated mothers, this study shows that this duration is negatively associated with the school success of children of immigrants in universal ECEC.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":47384,"journal":{"name":"Research in Social Stratification and Mobility","volume":"98 ","pages":"Article 101063"},"PeriodicalIF":2.7,"publicationDate":"2025-05-16","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144099065","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"社会学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2025-05-15DOI: 10.1016/j.rssm.2025.101060
Florencia Torche , Alisa Feldman , Tyler W. McDaniel
Marital surname choices reflect deeply embedded, often unspoken gender norms. According to the marital exchange/bargaining approach, women are more likely to adopt their husband’s surname when they have lower status—measured by education or earnings—relative to their spouse. In contrast, the compensatory gender display approach suggests that women may also take their husband’s name when their status exceeds their husband’s, to compensate for their deviation from traditional gender roles. Using natality data from 2000 to 2021, we find consistent evidence supporting compensatory gender display. Women in different-sex marriages are more likely to take their husband’s surname both when they have lower and higher educational status than their husband, with the likelihood increasing as the educational gap grows. Notably, wives with more education than their husbands have remained especially likely to adopt their husband’s name over the past two decades—even as women have increasingly outpaced men in educational attainment and such marriages have become more common. These findings highlight the enduring power of gendered expectations and reveal how traditional gender norms continue to reinforce male dominance in the symbolic realm of naming, despite women’s rising status.
{"title":"Doing gender and the surname choices of married women","authors":"Florencia Torche , Alisa Feldman , Tyler W. McDaniel","doi":"10.1016/j.rssm.2025.101060","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.rssm.2025.101060","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Marital surname choices reflect deeply embedded, often unspoken gender norms. According to the marital exchange/bargaining approach, women are more likely to adopt their husband’s surname when they have lower status—measured by education or earnings—relative to their spouse. In contrast, the compensatory gender display approach suggests that women may also take their husband’s name when their status exceeds their husband’s, to compensate for their deviation from traditional gender roles. Using natality data from 2000 to 2021, we find consistent evidence supporting compensatory gender display. Women in different-sex marriages are more likely to take their husband’s surname both when they have <em>lower</em> and <em>higher</em> educational status than their husband, with the likelihood increasing as the educational gap grows. Notably, wives with more education than their husbands have remained especially likely to adopt their husband’s name over the past two decades—even as women have increasingly outpaced men in educational attainment and such marriages have become more common. These findings highlight the enduring power of gendered expectations and reveal how traditional gender norms continue to reinforce male dominance in the symbolic realm of naming, despite women’s rising status.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":47384,"journal":{"name":"Research in Social Stratification and Mobility","volume":"98 ","pages":"Article 101060"},"PeriodicalIF":2.7,"publicationDate":"2025-05-15","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144106022","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"社会学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}