| Abstract: |
This study investigates empirically whether and how the use of gender-neutral
language affects the performance of women and men in real high-stakes exams.
We make use of a natural experiment in which the institute administering
Israel’s standardized college admission tests amended the language used in its
exams, making test language more gender neutral. We find that the change to a
more gender-neutral language was associated with a significant improvement in
the performance of women on quantitative questions, which meaningfully reduced
the gender gap between male and female performance on these questions.
However, the change did not affect female performance on verbal questions nor
male performance on either quantitative or verbal questions. Our findings are
consistent with the hypothesis that gendered language may introduce a
"stereotype threat" that adversely affects women’s performance in tasks in
which they are stereotypically perceived to underperform. Our findings have
significant implications for the ongoing academic and policy discussions
regarding the use and effects of gender-neutral language. |