Using the data of the Taiwan Youth Project, the paper examines the effect of parents’
gender preference on children’s high school outcomes and choice of field of study in senior and vocational high schools. Based on the fertility stopping rule, the paper efines girls whose parents’ preference is for a son and boys whose parents’ preference is for a daughter.
The results indicate that the parents’ gender preference has no effect on high school outcomes of children, because the opportunity to enter high school is close to 100%. However, this gender preference significantly affects children’s choice of field of study. For senior high school students, both the effect of girls’ parental preference for a son and the effect of boys’ parental preference for a daughter on the choice of “social science program” are positive.
For vocational high school students, girls whose parents prefer a son are more likely to
choose women-stereotyped fields of study, while boys whose parents prefer a daughter are less likely to choose women-stereotyped fields of study. These results suggest that when parents’ gender preference for a son is reduced and their gender preference for children turns to gender equality, the degree of gender segregation in fields of study for senior and vocational high schools can be alleviated.
