In recent decades, a dramatic shift occurred in higher education throughout the world. Women now enroll in and complete more education than men in the majority of countries. Using a lagged cross-sectional design on a dataset of 75 countries from 1990 to 2008, this study examines the predictors of the current gender gap in tertiary enrollment. I find that prior arguments developed by neo-institutionalist theorists do predict the gender gap in tertiary enrollment to some degree. Countries that have historically supported women's rights and experienced more rapid educational expansion are linked to a larger share of women enrolled in tertiary education than men. However, countries with greater memberships in IGOs and INGOs do not influence women's share of higher education enrollment. Additionally, fertility rates are important predictors of women's share of tertiary enrollment. Countries with lower fertility rates are associated with a larger female share of higher education. The results support the hypotheses that both neo-institutionalists arguments and fertility norms shape the female-favorable gender gap in tertiary enrollment throughout the world.