Affirmative action is a promising solution to the crucial challenge of bridging the gap in women’s access to higher education in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs). I use public universities’ matriculation data from 2013–2018 and difference-in-differences estimators to examine the causal impact of a gender quota on women’s educational opportunities in Afghanistan. The quota increased the proportion of women in the treated concentration group by nine percentage points and the share of women from low socio-economic status by three percentage points. The expansion was associated with a 0.04-unit decline in the average score ratio of female-to-male applicants, driven by a reduction in the score threshold needed for women’s admission. The effects were condensed in competitive concentrations, where the overall share of women and women with low SES increased by 17 and four percentage points, respectively. The findings suggest that affirmative action is a viable option for addressing the gender gap in fragile settings.

中文翻译：

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缩小差距：性别配额对阿富汗妇女接受教育的影响

平权行动是解决中低收入国家 (LMIC) 缩小妇女接受高等教育差距这一重大挑战的有希望的解决方案。我使用公立大学 2013-2018 年的入学数据和双重差分估计器来研究性别配额对阿富汗女性教育机会的因果影响。配额使接受治疗的集中组中的妇女比例增加了九个百分点，使社会经济地位较低的妇女比例增加了三个百分点。这一扩张与女性与男性申请人的平均分数比下降 0.04 个单位有关，这是由于女性入学所需分数门槛的降低所致。这种影响集中在竞争性集中，其中女性和社会经济地位低的女性的总体比例分别增加了 17 个百分点和 4 个百分点。研究结果表明，平权行动是解决脆弱环境中性别差距的可行选择。