TY - JOUR T1 - The Impact of Advisor Gender on Female Students’ STEM Enrollment and Persistence JF - Journal of Human Resources JO - J Hum Resour DO - 10.3368/jhr.58.4.0320-10796R2 SP - 0320-10796R2 AU - Serena Canaan AU - Pierre Mouganie Y1 - 2021/02/10 UR - http://jhr.uwpress.org/content/early/2021/02/03/jhr.58.4.0320-10796R2.abstract N2 - To reduce the gender gap in science fields, policymakers often propose providing women with mentoring by female scientists. However, there is no clear evidence on whether one-on-one mentor gender influences women’s STEM participation. We exploit a unique setting where students are randomly assigned to academic advisors—who are also faculty members—in their freshman year of college. Advisors help students select courses and decide on a major. We find that having a female rather than a male science advisor substantially increases the likelihood that women enroll and graduate with STEM degrees. A non-science advisor’s gender has no impact on students’ major choice. ER -