Insights from the OECD’s report, Gender Differences in Education, Skills and STEM Careers in Latin America and the Caribbean: Insights from PISA and PIAAC.
A new OECD report looks at the gender disparities in education and STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Maths) careers in the Latin America and Caribbean (LAC) region.
The report analyses gender gaps in:
- secondary school attainment
- academic performance
- career choices
- skill acquisition
It also looks at regional patterns and differences in comparison to other OECD countries. The report includes data from the Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) and the Programme for the International Assessment of Adult Competencies (PIACC). It also looks specifically at STEM pathways – both in terms of progress and challenges around these. 1
Key findings:
The Executive summary notes that: “although LAC countries have made strides toward closing gender gaps in education, significant disparities persist across attainment, performance, and career outcomes.” 1
Here are some of the significant statistics from the report:
- In LAC countries only 14% of girls expected to work in a STEM based occupation compared to 26% of boys
- 30-40% of women work in a SETM based occupation
- 27% of girls reported being confident in mathematics compared to 45% of boys
- Women IN LAC countries earn 22% less than men in respective roles
- 22% of IT graduates and 35% of engineering graduates are women
- 68.7% of girls complete upper secondary on average compared to 61.5% of boys
- Boys outperformed girls in Mathematics by 8 points on average
- Girls outperformed boys in reading in all LAC countries except Costa Rica and Chile
- Boys outperformed girls in Science by 4 points on average
- In Jamacia and the Dominican Republic, girls outperformed boys in mathematics (13 points and 4 points), reading (35 points and 34 points) and science 1
References
- OECD (2025) ‘Gender Differences in Education, Skills and STEM Careers in Latin America and the Caribbean: Insights from PISA and PIAAC’. Available at: https://www.oecd.org/en/publications/gender-differences-in-education-skills-and-stem-careers-in-latin-america-and-the-caribbean_4ea07281-en.html (Accessed: 3 June 2025)
