There Is A Nationwide College-Gender Gap, and Surprisingly, No One Is Talking About It.
By Nikki Novick
The decision of whether to go to college or not is one of the most critical decisions that most young Americans make. Institutional reputation, internships, jobs, scholarships, and even the party atmosphere all factor into that decision.
Image courtesy of Future Educators.
The number of men enrolled at college and universities has fallen behind women by record levels. Women now comprise nearly sixty percent of college enrollment, leaving men trail behind at just over 40 percent of enrollment. Fifty years ago, the gender proportions were reversed.
So, how come this huge switch? A look at the dynamics of the male-female ratio of college enrollment in the U.S. in the past fifty years could provide food for thought. This past year, U.S. institutions had 1.5 million fewer students, compared to five years ago, and men accounted for 71 percent of that decline, according to enrollment data from the National Student Clearinghouse, a nonprofit research group. More women also applied to college than men for the 2021-22 academic year -- 3,805,978 women compared to 2,815,810 men.
According to the Common Application, that gender gap has increased nearly a percentage point higher than the gap from the previous academic year. The Digest of Education Statistics, which is based on the population data from the US Census Bureau shows the percentage of both female and male enrollment in college from 1970 through 2019. The data shows that in 1970, there were 3,537,245 females reported to be enrolled in college compared to 5,043,642 males.
Whereas, in 2019, 11,250,000 females reported to be enrolled in college compared to 8,470,000 males. These total enrollment figures show that since 1970, the female enrollment in college has tripled in amount, surpassing male enrollment in which has only increased slightly. As this data shows, females have been steadily outnumbering their male counterparts since the 1970s.
If this trend continues, two women will earn a college degree for every man within the next few years, Douglas Shapiro, executive director of the research center at the National Student Clearinghouse states.
There are several reasonings to why more young women than men have been choosing a college education over the past fifty years. Between 1968 and 1979, future work expectations of young females increased exponentially as the age at first marriage for college graduate women rose by 2.5 years in the 1970s, which allowed them to focus more seriously on being a student.
Economically speaking, women are better guaranteed to earn a better living with a college degree rather than without one in comparison to men. Another important factor for the gender gap in college enrollment is due to there being far more trades that do not require a college degree that appeal to men, than they do women. While men are more likely to go to college than they were 10 years ago, something seems to be restraining the growth of male enrollment. Or is it just easier for men to find a successful career with no degree required than it is for women?
Tyla Tomaszewski, a senior at Duquesne University studying Psychology, admits that she didn’t feel she had any choice of the matter of whether or not to attend college. That once she graduated high school, college was the only opportunity posed for her to ever earn success in a career.
She explains at the same time, she saw many of her male-counterparts find success right out of high school in trades that do not appeal to women, “I feel that there is an unbalance between the opportunities posed for men to earn success as there is women.” As all of the women in her life has had to earn a degree in order to be successfully independent, whereas, the men in her life were given much more opportunities for careers without degrees required.
As we can see, since the second half of the 20th century, women’s labor force participation has grown dramatically as women are pursuing higher education in greater numbers. Despite women’s exponential growth and progress in surpassing men in college enrollment, in addition to obtaining a college degree in the past fifty years or so, significant wage gaps between men and women continue to persist. The wage gap especially larger for women of color.
According to the U.S. Census Bureau data from 2018, women of all races earned, on average, just 82 cents for every $1 earned by men of all races. Though there is still a wage gap, women clearly see the value their earning potential can gain from achieving a college diploma. The reversal of the college gender gap, rather than just its elimination, was due in part to the persistence of behavioral and developmental differences between males and females. The differences in enrollment numbers are due to an education gap that has been widening for 50 years. In recent years, the growing gender gap in higher education – both in enrollment and graduation rates – being due to an education gap has been a growing topic of conversation and debate.
A program implemented in the education system, known as the STEM Program, is partly to blame for the education gap between boys and girls due to this program contributing to the lack of focus on college preparation for young boys. There has been a nationwide push aimed at young girls to steer them into going to college to study in areas including science, technology, engineering and math. The STEM Program was strongly pushed on young women in public education, starting as early as grade school, to show them that these areas of study are just as appropriate for them as it is their male peers. This program was thought to allow more women to find lasting careers in these traditionally male-dominated fields. But all this program seems to be doing is contributing to the education gap as well as shifting educators' attention away from an even larger gender gap issue.
The larger gender gap issue being the lingering social convention that women need to “prove” themselves when it comes to entering the workforce. That it is much more attainable for men to obtain a decent living without a degree, in comparison to women. Contributing to the education gap by teaching women that in order to get a quality occupation, you’ll need a degree. Whereas at the same time, teaching men that they have many long-lasting career options with no degree needed.
All that this reversal of the college gender gap has proved is that, despite women’s exponential growth and progress in surpassing men in both college enrollment and in obtaining a college degree in the past fifty years or so, there still remains an unfair balance in the workplace between women and men. The differences in enrollment numbers are due to an education gap that has been widening for 50 years by bringing upon programs to teach young women that they need to work harder in comparison to men to be accepted in male- dominated fields, and that a college degree is required to make any decent living. Yet through all this growth and progress women have undercame, it will continue to go unnoticed as the wage gap persists, while colleges are dominated by female students in hopes to get a degree in order to get a job in the still male-dominated fields. It goes to show just how hard women must work in order to get little to no recognition or change at all.
Sophie Dennis, a senior Nursing student at Duquesne University, explains that her decision to attend college was merely provoked by the fear of not being able to support herself financially without obtaining a degree. She goes on to say that she feels the women in her generation face the unfortunate dilemma of needing a degree in order to receive a respected spot in these male-dominated fields.
So, how is it that women continue to make up the growing majority of both college enrollment and graduation rates, yet women still only make up as little as 28 percent of the workforce in the still male-dominated fields including science, technology, engineering and math?
What the education system is truly lacking in America is the awareness and education on why we still allow for society to be based on outdated misogynistic unfair ideals that contribute to the harsh and unfair opportunity women must fight for; in which men are just given. For society to ever thrive, we must start educating both genders that they are equals, that the path to success should consist of the same requirements for men as they do women.