Dismantling gender stereotypes about STEM careers among adolescents and their teachers: Experimental evidence from Peruvian schools

The study involves 73 high schools in Peru, randomly divided into two treatment groups (50 schools) and one control group (23 schools). We targeted all final year high school students, whom we first invited to complete an online baseline survey. Only the students who completed the baseline survey and for whom we obtained parental consent, were subsequently involved in the interventions. In both treatment groups, we implemented a role model campaign on Instagram. Specifically, we created an Instagram account and invited final year female students in the treatment schools (conditional on parental consent) to follow the account. These students were encouraged to engage with the content by liking a series of short videos posted on the account over a total of 6 weeks by female engineering college students. In half of the treatment schools (25 schools), we added an additional component: short videos were sent via WhatsApp to the head teachers of the students. These videos featured engineering professors discussing the gender imbalance within the engineering field and emphasizing the desirability of increased female representation in this domain. This dual approach aimed to leverage the reach of social media while also targeting key influencers, the head teachers, to reinforce the impact of the role model intervention.

2023-09-01

2023-10-10

We have three primary outcomes, measured at distinct times:
1) Immediate Outcome: Interest in the engineering major, measured through a survey administered immediately after the implementation of the programs.

2) Short-Term Outcome: The decision to apply for a small college scholarship, which we offered, with eligibility limited to students intending to enroll in engineering the following year. This outcome serves as a short-term indicator of the impact of the interventions on students' intentions and aspirations.

3) Longer-Term Outcome: The decision to enroll in college with the aim of studying engineering, measured through administrative data in summer 2024, when the students will be enrolled in college. We aim to follow up the students also in summer 2025, to record possible changes in college major.

We will test the impact of the interventions on the three outcomes above. We will also conduct heterogeneity analysis by student school performance, as we expect the impact to be larger among top performing (in math) female students.

Teacher's perceptions and stereotypes (conditional on a teacher survey being conducted in 2024 - TBC).
Girls' confidence in their math ability and perceptions of support from teachers and family.

We invited students in the sampled school to participate in an online survey in July-August 2023. The survey outreach was done with the collaboration of principals and head teachers. Given that the majority of students are minors, survey participation required parental consent. The survey also asked for parental consent to share a unique student ID, which will allow us to link survey data to college enrollment administrative data in the future. In the treatment schools (both T1 and T2), we subsequently (in September-October 2023) invited the girls in the study sample to follow a private Instagram account that we created, and that showcased female students in engineering (our role models) sharing short videos about their experiences and their usual days in college. A total of 9 videos were shared over 6 weeks; after that, no more videos were posted but the account remained online, with the the videos still visible to account followers. In the T2 schools, in addition to the Instagram intervention, we shared with all the 5th year head teachers, who are referred to as "tutors" in Peru, three short videos via WhatsApp messaging. The videos displayed three engineering university professor talking about the gender disparity in the major. The professors encouraged teachers to actively contribute to reducing the gender imbalance by challenging and dismantling the gender stereotypes associated with the engineering major.

Not available

Randomization done in office by a computer.

School-level randomization: 23 schools randomized into Control, 25 into the “Instagram intervention (T1)” and 25 into the “Instagram intervention plus Teacher intervention (T2)”

Only female students who participated in the baseline survey and for whom we received parental consent were involved in the Instagram intervention. All head teachers in the T2 schools were sent the information videos through WhatsApp messages.

Yes

We initially aimed to involve 100 schools in the study, but ultimately obtained principals' permission for a total of 73 schools.

We invited all final year students to participate in the baseline online survey, conditional on parental consent. A total of 780 students filled in the survey and had parents' consent to participate in the study, with 542 of them being women. We believe that this represents approximately 15 percent of the female graduating class from the sampled high schools.

25 control schools, 25 Instagram schools and 25 Instagram+Teacher schools.