Using a within-student variation across subjects, we examine how student-teacher
gender interactions impact primary school learning outcomes in mathematics and reading
in eleven Sub-Saharan African countries. Our findings reveal that both boys and
girls perform better with a female teacher in reading rather than with a male teacher.
The reverse is true for math—male teachers are better for all students. These findings
suggest that the traditional academic stereotype according to which “males are good at
math and females are good at reading” plays a dominant role in explaining the impact
of student-teacher gender interactions on academic achievement.