More Women Earn Bachelor's Degrees Than Men, Study Shows

Women are 60 percent more likely than men to earn a bachelor's degree by the time they are 23, according to data recently released by the http://www.bls.gov/" target="_hplink">Bureau of Labor Statistics.

The data, mined from the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth of 1997, shows that by the age of 23, 23 percent of women surveyed earned a bachelor's degree -- compared with only 14 percent of men. And as the same amount of men and women are still working toward a degree, the gender gap will not narrow in the next few years, according to Bloomberg BusinessWeek.

Study co-author Jay Meisenheimer told BusinessWeek that the shift can be linked to more professional opportunities for women. "We've seen this great transformation in the workforce away from manufacturing toward more of a service economy," he said. "Now that there are more opportunities for women to work, we're seeing a growing number completing high school and college and going on to graduate and professional programs."

In addition gender gaps, the Bureau of Labor Statistics report (PDF) shows that there are still significant racial gaps in degree attainment. By the age of 23, 22 percent of non-Hispanic whites surveyed reported earning a bachelor's degree, as opposed to only 9 percent of blacks and Hispanics and 8 percent of Hispanics or Latinos.

Some other notable findings:

• 19 percent of respondents earned a bachelor's degree by the age of 23, compared with only 10 percent who had earned their degree by age 22

• At the age of 22, 27 percent of respondents were enrolled at college.

• 47 percent of respondents said they did not enroll in college after graduating from high school

Do these findings surprise you? Weigh in below.

Comments

[From Michigan]

01:13 PM on 03/03/2011

I've heard that, for many years, universities have had "affirmative action" quietly in place for white males. If judged on academic merit alone, women would have outnumbered men at the schools for some time.

[nofriendofrepublicans]

06:39 PM on 02/11/2011

Maybe they should change the name to bachelorette's degree.

[Trojan505]

04:06 PM on 02/11/2011

I don't like stories like this. They do nothing but turn people against each other, in this case men against women and women against men. Working people need to stick together now more than ever, regardless of their gender or race or sexual orientation or religious beliefs.

It is definitely a problem that there are more men than women in upper management positions. As a man, I also find it problematic that more women are receiving degrees than men. Both examples of inequality need to be addressed in my opinion. But I don't want to see people turn on each other when it isn't necessary.

Men need to take care of women, and women need to take care of men.

[Morena]

06:21 PM on 02/11/2011

Only already angry bitter people would receive this information in the spirit of "us against them".

[JujuBean0586]

02:18 PM on 02/11/2011

This young Lady will have her Bachelor Degree in Social Work (BSW) in August of 2011 from........................Florida Atlantic University!

If Rick Scott doesn't cut funding from my school, which will cause less classes to be offered per term, but one can only pray that he doesn't, but after cutting medicaid for the poor ......*sigh*.......I'm not holding my breath!

[JStading]

10:22 AM on 02/11/2011

This is a natural outgrowth of the overcompensation designed to favor girls during the past twenty or so years.  I'm not that old, but I recall "take your daughter to work day," which was announced secretly to the girls and was something that young boys would be punished for participating in.  I also remember a particularly cruel music teacher who, roughly five minutes into every single class, would announce that the boys were being "too loud" and would systematically exclude all males from participation.  The problem with our current elementary system is that it's designed by women for young girls.  We have stripped recess and PE courses out of the day and expect young boys to read books like Ethan Fromme (a book I had the delight of reading in 7th grade) silently in the corner.  When young boys' attention spans wouldn't support these books which, even by my current standards are insufferably boring, parents and teachers insisted that their children be medicated.  The thinking was that it was better to make the boys fit the system than for the system to fit the boys.  This approach simply does not work.

Educators are recognizing the problems that have been created by trying to stomp out anti-female discrimination in primary, secondary, and collegiate education.  To be sure, there was a substantial problem for much of this nation's history, but the answer isn't to push back so strongly that it generates anti-male discrimination.  We need for teachers to embrace the differences between educating young boys and young girls to ensure that young boys are not burned out of the educational system by the time they are ten.

[JujuBean0586]

02:22 PM on 02/11/2011

What the he!! are are talking about.

Men in this country are more likely to be doctors, lawyers, and managers.

They get paid more, and respected more, and treated with a double standard when it comes to women.

I'm majoring in Social Work, where probably 90% of Social Workers are women.

Do you know what's the gender of Social Work managers and supervisors?
I'll give you a hint, it doesn't have a uterus.

[JStading]

02:43 PM on 02/11/2011

"Men in this country are more likely to be doctors, lawyers, and managers."

Which of course ignores the finding of this study.  If women make up 60% of college degrees, wouldn't it stand to reason that they will make up 60% of graduate students/professionals sooner, rather than later?  Waiting to address disparities before the disparities are fully entrenched makes literally no sense. 

As a general aside, you would do well to pull the demographic information from your local law or medical school.  Odds are that it's closer to 50-50 than not.

"They get paid more, and respected more, and treated with a double standard when it comes to women."

As someone who just graduated law school, I can tell you that's simply not true.  Do they get paid more?  Perhaps, but that's because a solid 90% of the women from my school opted for public sector jobs. Why? Because they only require 40 hours a week and can't put in the 75 that I, and most other men from my class, are willing to do.  Why? Because they want families.  Private choice isn't indicative of discrimination in society.

As for the double standard, I totally agree. Women are extended substantial maternity leave and are given massive benefits in terms of applying for "diversity" jobs that most males are denied.

[h0tr0d]

07:55 AM on 02/14/2011

This statement is utterly false. Men may be more likely to be engineers, but certainly not doctors, lawyers and managers....you better go back and check your stats. When accounting for experience and hours worked...they do NOT get paid more either. In fact there are more women managers than men in this country....and they generally have less experience and work less hours.

[fem56]

06:03 PM on 02/11/2011

I agree with you on basically all accounts. This started about 30 some years ago. I remember taking a women's studies class in my freshman year in college. It has been good for girls in a lot of ways only I don't think it is good for them to see themselves as the victim or to think they are superior to boys. I too was-still am very upset by some of the messages being given to innocent young boys. I am not sure if men are too stoic to rightly complain as you have or afraid of losing their ladies approval. Thanks for all your great point that are so well stated.

[wind-upbird]

12:11 PM on 02/12/2011

Ugh. Oh, your poor oppressed men of the world...

[JStading]

10:15 AM on 02/11/2011

Sounds like it's time for some affirmative action for males.  Let's see how long it takes to get that.

[Veeve]

10:49 AM on 02/11/2011

It'll never happen. The stoic nature of the male gender will in and of itself be the prohibitive factor. You should have heard my ex complain about the Department of Revenue when she was a non custodial parent. If more women had to pay child support, the worst abuses of the D.O.R. would never stand.

[h0tr0d]

11:39 AM on 02/11/2011

The worm is turning. Take a stand.

[h0tr0d]

07:01 AM on 02/11/2011

http://www.ted.com/talks/ali_carr_chellman_gaming_to_re_engage_boys_in_learning.html

[rlaspari]

03:43 AM on 02/14/2011

That was interesting. My only point of contention is a brief aside she makes when she says women still don't make as much money as men. That's not quite true. It's kind of true of women who have been in the workforce a while. But when you compare new entries into the workforce, women actually earn several percent more than men now. That's not talked about so much. The pendulum has already totally swung.

[EyesWideShut7]

04:51 AM on 02/11/2011

Guys are just mad they have more competition to get into programs. I don't understand why most of the comments on here from guys are to the effect of "yah but not in science"... Dude, if no one majored in Education, there would be no teachers to educate you in grade school which means you wouldn't make it to college. There is no logical reason for someone to not encourage equal opportunity. I understand it is difficult for you to get your gpa crushed by some girl's, but hey if you really wanted to call yourself the "best" you wouldn't be afraid of competition.. you would welcome it.

[hommie]

10:47 AM on 02/11/2011

I don't think its about competition it just states there are more women than men and in any population. It has always been there more women than men except for china, and having a 4.0 in psychology isNotEqual to having a 2.78 in electrical engineering they are different fields.

[Morena]

05:55 PM on 02/11/2011

What? You do understand percentages no?

"19 percent of respondents earned a bachelor's degree by the age of 23, compared with only 10 percent who had earned their degree by age 22"


PS: The female population in the U.S. "out numbers" men by < 2%_ NOT a huge deal.

[EyesWideShut7]

05:40 AM on 02/16/2011

Who is to say that all Men choose challenging majors?? The point is that they have more degrees than men, not what field the degree was in. It doesn't make you any better. 5 of my best friends (girls) have degrees in engineering from Cornel, Stanford, Johns Hopkins, and Berkeley.. Women aren't any less intelligent, they are simply playing catch up from being repressed for so long. For a gender (males) that has never been denied a spot in the engineering program because of said gender should have gotten further in time. The point is that Women are proving their intelligence more and more. By the way, all my girlfriends graduated with over a 3.8 in engineering. Fun girls, like to party and hang out. Beats a lame 2.78 in anything..

[HAlexandria]

12:00 PM on 02/13/2011

Women hold the majority of biomedical degrees , so yes we are well represented in the sciences.

[slumlord420]

12:27 AM on 02/11/2011

The obvious solution is to lower admission standards for men, create out reach programs to recruit young males, and end gender biased tests that favor females. Diversity on campus is all important.

[JHberger]

10:11 AM on 02/11/2011

I'm a male who graduated from college years ago. I can't benefit from lowered standards and outreach. I want reparations.

[slumlord420]

04:12 PM on 02/11/2011

I think you are right about reparations. Where is my check?

[AncientTerp]

11:07 PM on 02/10/2011

It's to be expected, given equal opportunity. They're smarter, more mature, and tend to work harder than college boys. Now female representation on faculties is increasing and with that so is collegiality.

[jackstpaul]

11:55 PM on 02/10/2011

You're saying women are smarter than men (in that age group at least). Do you really think that?

[HAlexandria]

12:11 PM on 02/13/2011

It's long been known that the intelligence curve for males and females are different, nobody understands why that is, yet, but men tend to cluster around the tails of the curve, meaning that intelligent men are very intelligent - visionaries and luminaries, where as the ones at the back end are thick as bricks.

The distribution is far form even as well, note there are far more bricks than there are Einsteins.

[DanSc]

12:28 AM on 02/11/2011

Awesome now go to the Post Office and fill out that Selective Service card.

[americanfreedoMYTH]

11:03 PM on 02/10/2011

i wonder how many are in engineering, physics, math....hmmmm

[AncientTerp]

11:08 PM on 02/10/2011

A steadily increasing proportion. To the greater good too.

[h0tr0d]

07:01 AM on 02/11/2011

As long as the govt continues to fund girl only programs.

[rotorhead1871]

10:46 PM on 02/10/2011

what are they getting degrees in?...GI=GO......psyc, soch, humanities junk??? or real science and engineering>??? more info please....

[AncientTerp]

11:09 PM on 02/10/2011

The trend has been a greatly increasing number of women in engineering and the 'hard' sciences.

[DanSc]

10:19 PM on 02/10/2011

Good to know women have found education equality. I think they are now smart enough to register for the Selective Service.

[Morena]

05:59 PM on 02/11/2011

No, ir one is "smart" they'd do quite the opposite_ regardless of gender!

[HAlexandria]

12:23 PM on 02/13/2011

Chest beating is a distinctly male phenomena, so why drag us into it.

[Acert]

04:08 PM on 02/13/2011

The selective service is compulsory.

[rightstroke]

10:09 PM on 02/10/2011

this is sexist. why is there such gender bias at the university...

[yippiekiaay]

09:33 PM on 02/10/2011

Women with degrees also more often throw them away to become trophy wives.
This point of logic has to be equally true.
How many trophy husbands could there possibly be, really!?

[JHberger]

10:22 AM on 02/11/2011

According to that pretzel logic, if most women with degrees become trophy wives, then any man making 6 figures must be a trophy husband.

[yippiekiaay]

12:56 PM on 02/11/2011

I never specified "most" but "more".
If you're going to go after someone's logic you need to be more careful than that.
And given that in those cases, the husband makes use of his degree, he dropped nothing for the relationship.
The husband does become a trophy husband in many instances however. But then it's a matter of alimony.
There is no degree required for the wife to obtain that trophy.