Women Now Majority of Undergrads

Females now make up the majority of undergraduates nationwide, the National Center for Education Statistics reported this month. According to the study, 56 percent of undergraduates in 2001 were women, and by 2013, women are expected to compose 57 percent, with 8.9 million female students enrolled.

In line with the national shift, females outnumbered males for the first time this year at Harvard College, with 1,016 women enrolling in the class of 2008, compared to 1,013 men.

“The rising trend of women enrolled in undergraduate institutions speaks to a lot of hard work on behalf of civil rights, women’s groups, and women themselves,” said Jean-Marie Navetta, spokeswoman for the American Association of University Women. “Title IX opened a lot of doors and certain fields are more accepting.”

But while women are outstripping men in college enrollment, men and women still do not receive equal returns from a college education, said Barbara Gault, director of research at the Institute for Women’s Policy Research in Washington D.C.

“Even though women are outnumbering men in undergraduate programs, it doesn’t mean they are achieving equality in the workforce,” Gault said. “There is still a gender wage gap. For a woman to earn as much as a man with a bachelor degree she would need a professional degree.”

A typical college-educated woman working full-time earns $44,200 a year compared to $61,800 for college-educated male workers, according to data from the 2000 Census, posted by the American Association of University Women on their website.

Assistant Professor of Sociology Prudence L. Carter, who has done work on the sociology of education while at Harvard, suggested that such continuing gender-based discrimination may shape female educational aspirations.

“If we know that the wage differential is still quite gendered, females may feel compelled to get more education to reach a certain wage bracket,” said Carter. “Parents may also place more pressure on daughters because of a sense that women have a double hurdle to jump.”

According to Carter, other reasons for greater female representation at the college level may include the pursuit of more vocational and military jobs by men, the perception of the school as a female-dominated space or even the greater social control exercised by parents over girls in the academic realm.

The higher percentage of girls in higher education may also be linked to discrimination against men on the high school level, said Professor of Sociology Michèle Lamont.

“One factor is that, in general, teachers at the high school level tend to be tougher on boys than they are on girls,” Lamont said. “Minority boys who come to school in hip-hop fashion are more likely to be perceived as disruptive. Teachers’ perceptions of codes of femininity lead them to reinforce academic achievement for girls.”

Statistics aside, thousands of students across the country will be crossing their fingers this week as college admissions letters arrive. The Harvard Office of Admissions will send out its decisions this Thursday for the Class of 2009.