Differences in the Academic Performanceby Sex in Colombia: A Regional Analysis

Abstract

This paper explores the gender gap in high school academic performance in the different regions of Colombia using data from the SABER-11 2009, a test administered by the Instituto Colombiano para el Fomento de la Educación Superior (ICFES). Data were analyzed using a mean contrast test (Student’s t-distribution) and quantile regressions, focusing on the math and language components. We found that men perform better than women in the math component. However, this result is not homogenous in the country; the Central-Eastern region shows wider differences. Only in the Caribbean and Pacific regions did women perform better than men in the language component.