Still More American Women Than Men in U.S. Colleges and Universities

Women have been beating men in college enrollment since the 1980s.

American colleges and universities are experiencing what some are calling a “man-cession,” as the gap between men and women enrollment grows wider.

The U.S. census’ data shows that, in 2010, 10.6 million women earned a master’s degree or higher compared to 10.5 million men. Women have been beating men in college enrollment since the 1980s and began earning more bachelor’s degrees in 1996.

“There was a brief time when everybody went back to raising families like ‘Happy Days’ in the ’50s after World War II,” said Mike McCurry, Extension sociologist with South Dakota State University during an interview with The Rapid City Journal.

“But you look around now, and we have a lot more talented women who have a lot more opportunities than they used to.”

Taking the Happy Days analogy a step further, stay-at-home moms make up only a quarter of today’s married-couple households. Whereas, in 1969 around half the homes in America had a stay-at-home mom.

The numbers also show that more education for American women is leading to more money, but it’s still not exactly equal. Women now earn 78.2 per cent of what men earn; a big jump from 64 per cent in 2000.