PT  - JOURNAL ARTICLE
AU  - Maurer, Stephan
AU  - Schwerdt, Guido
AU  - Wiederhold, Simon
TI  - Understanding Gender Match Effects in Higher Education
AID  - 10.3368/jhr.0224-13406R1
DP  - 2026 Apr 08
TA  - Journal of Human Resources
PG  - 0224-13406R1
4099  - http://jhr.uwpress.org/content/early/2026/04/01/jhr.0224-13406R1.short
4100  - http://jhr.uwpress.org/content/early/2026/04/01/jhr.0224-13406R1.full
AB  - It is widely believed that female students perform better when taught by female professors. However, little is known about the mechanisms explaining these gender match effects. Using administrative records from a German public university, which cover all programs and courses between 2006 and 2018, we show that gender match effects are sizable in smaller classes, but are absent in larger classes. These results suggest that direct and frequent interactions between students and professors are crucial for gender match effects to emerge. In contrast, the mere fact that one’s professor is female is not sufficient to increase performance of female students.