Gender differences in economic graph skills: How prior education shapes university readiness in South Africa

In this study, we investigate gender differences in economic graph skills among 723 first-year commerce students at a South African university. Graphs are central to economic understanding as they merge quantitative skills with conceptual reasoning. Prior research has found a gender gap in economics skills, often favoring male students. By measuring economic graph skills during the first week of lectures and linking it to students’ high school experiences, we examine the extent to which these differences reflect disparities in prior educational exposure—such as mathematics performance, language proficiency, and participation in economics classes—as well as affective characteristics like interest and confidence. Our analysis shows that male students enter university with stronger mathematical backgrounds, while female students tend to have stronger language skills. Although males and females report similar rates of having taken economics in school, male students appear to have derived more benefit from this prior exposure. To explore this pattern in more detail, we employ propensity score matching to account for some selection bias and compare students with and without prior economics education on more equal footing. The results suggest that differences in the effectiveness or alignment of prior economics education may contribute to the observed gender gap in economic graph skills. Overall, the findings underscore the importance of earlier educational opportunities—particularly the quality and relevance of economics instruction—in shaping students’ readiness for graph-based reasoning in university-level economics. Gender differences in economic graph skills may therefore reflect not only general academic preparation but also differences in how educational pathways prepare students for core tasks in economics.