Girls, take maths and boost your career!

A recent IZA working paper by Juanna Schrøter Joensen and Helena Skyt Nielsen suggests that taking more Math courses in high school can boost girls’ professional careers. The authors show that an institutional change in the Danish high school system that made girls more likely to take Math had positive effects on the girls’ later labor market success: Taking advanced high school math accelerated graduation, attracted girls to high-paid or traditionally male-dominated career tracks and to CEO positions, and as a consequence lead to higher wages for women.