Women Overtake Men in College Degrees

By - Palak Bijaniya

Women have passed men in gaining advanced college degrees as well as bachelor's degrees, part of a trend that is helping redefine who goes off to work and who stays home with the kids.

Census figures released highlights, the latest education milestone for women, who began to exceed men in college enrollment in the early 1980s. The findings come amid record shares of women in the workplace and a steady decline in stay-at-home mothers.

The educational gains for women are giving them greater access to a wider range of jobs, contributing to a shift of traditional gender roles at home and work. Based on one demographer's estimate, the number of stay-at-home dads who are the primary caregivers for their children reached nearly 2 million last year, or one in 15 fathers. The official census tally was 154,000, based on a narrower definition that excludes those working part-time or looking for jobs.

Women have master's degrees or higher, compared to 10.5 million men. Measured by shares, about 10.2 percent of women have advanced degrees compared to 10.9 percent of men — a gap steadily narrowing in recent years. Women still trail men in professional subcategories such as business, science and engineering.

According to the National Center for Education Statistics, women make up more than “56% of college students nationwide. In the 25-34 age group, 37.5% of women have a bachelor’s degree or higher, while only 29.5% of men do. Women earned more doctoral degrees in 2016 for the eighth consecutive year and they outnumber men in graduate school as well.

With these numbers, one would assume that women are paid equally in their chosen professions, right? Wrong! Although women have made significant strides in college degree attainment, their male college-educated peers still earn higher wages.

We earned almost 400 master’s degrees in the health sciences for every 100 men, making us a dominant force in the healthcare field. Women also earned more than 350 master’s degrees in public administration for every 100 men and more than 300 master’s degrees in education for every 100 men, according to the Council of Graduate Schools Annual Report. Despite these glaring differences in educational attainment, degreed, professional women still earn less in their fields. What’s up with that? How can we change the gender pay gap?