Gender Differences in Adult Competency

The Programme for the International Assessment of Adult Competencies (PIAAC), the largest ever study organized by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development  (OECD), showed some significant differences between men and women and their performance in literacy and numeracy skills, as well as in the ability to solve problems in technology-rich environments. In Austria, women scored poorer in all three competence domains surveyed, but what MU’s Ivo Ponocny, along with wife and research partner Elisabeth Ponocny-Seliger, discovered is that regardless of gender, individuals between 16 and 65 with children have shown considerably poorer results than those without children.

In their recent presentation to Statistik Austria, Ponocny-Seliger and Ponocny suggest that having children is a highly relevant factor affecting competence which seems to be largely ignored by society, although it is often a stronger indicator than gender.

In their research they observed and compared results of the same target groups in Austria, France, and Finland, and came to the surprising conclusion. Namely, the differences between age groups varied considerably, however disadvantages of women with children in France and Finland were by far not as pronounced as in Austria. Not only were those disadvantages reduced in those countries, but women even performed better in certain categories.

“The property of having children is often a stronger determinant than gender, especially among younger generations,” claims Ponocny. “One interpretation is that persons with children are not only facing time and motivational distraction, but also financial obstacles due to the fact that domestic labor is not paid. Furthermore, having children also keeps parents away from developing their abilities further, and therefore they easily lose track when it comes to career development. Another interpretation is that fertility is very much linked to the level of education. Family patterns have changed, and both men and women want to establish themselves in the labor market before founding a family. It is becoming unattractive for the academic, for instance, to have children anticipating that this might have devastating effects on their career. Therefore, the age of mothers at first childbirth is constantly rising, and in Austria we now have an average age of 29 for the first child,” clarifies Ponocny.

Furthermore, their research suggests that French young adults without children up to the age of 35 showed higher proficiency than those without children. After 35, those differentials were more subtle, and finally, the oldest surveyed with children even outperformed those without children. In Finland, situation is similar - young adults (especially women) with children scored weakly, but after 45, gender differences did not affect results.

Ponocny explains the minor differences among elderly parents and those without children by emphasizing that, first of all, adult children are far more often outside their homes, and secondly that adolescents tend to socialize with their peers and experience the world in different ways than their parents, who had to deal with a completely different educational system and were not under as much pressure to pursue further education as their offspring.

Taking France and Finland as examples, the conclusion could be made that major state investments in child-friendly policies play a significant role in encouraging women to reconcile work with raising a family. “Although there has been much gender development, as soon as people start a family things get very traditional in Austria. Still, it is women who pause their careers and step out of education. They carry the burden of raising children, sacrifice their extracurricular activities, and work part-time jobs. Much is talked about gender, but still many things need to be undertaken. Even smaller changes like child-friendly working hours and longer kindergarten opening hours can be immensely helpful.”