An Intersectional Policy Perspective on Sibling Gender Composition and Women’s Educational Attainment

Abstract

Women in the United States have been attainting more educational than men for the past few decades. However, when considering educational disparities based on race, we find Black and Hispanic women categorically attain less education than White women. Our research aims to find possible explanations and policy solutions to this disparity. We examine how sibling gender composition, the number and presence of sisters and/or brothers, is related to educational attainment. We find consistent results demonstrating brothers are associated with higher educational attainment for our entire female sample, White women, and Hispanic women. Effects are strongest and most significant for Hispanic women. We also find that the presence of sisters is correlated with lower educational attainment for our entire female sample and Hispanic women. Thus, we recommend policy actions to address the educational disparities for Hispanic women in only-sister households.