Women rule (in college and graduate and professional schools)

“There’s a tectonic shift underway that most Americans may not think about, but see every day when they take their pets to the vet or their kids to the dentist, need a lawyer or an eye exam, see a therapist or pick up a prescription: More and more of the highly educated specialists who provide these services are women. Without much attention, the number of women in medical school, law school, pharmacy school, optometry school, dental school and veterinary school has surpassed the number of men . Women now earn 60 percent of master’s and doctoral degrees, according to the U.S. Department of Education. It’s a trend that begins with the steadily declining number of men who choose to go to college after graduating from high school. Among the reasons for this: Girls do better in grades K-12 than boys; traditionally female-oriented occupations such as teaching, nursing and social work require degrees; and boys are generally less likely to think they need college educations to get jobs. The result is that the proportion of college students who are women has now reached a record nearly 60 percent, the Education Department says. This is good news for women. But there’s a catch. Men represent half of the potential labor force, and their relative absence from higher education is expected to worsen worker shortages in critical fields such as health care. It also could affect the nation’s global competitiveness at a time when economic rival countries are increasing college-going. Related: Women far outnumber men in law school, med school, vet school and other professional programs “If we’re trying to compete on a global level, the fact that men’s college-going rates are so stagnant means we can’t fix this problem until we get more men,” said Claudia Buchmann, an Ohio State University sociologist and coauthor of the book “The Rise of Women.” Some colleges and universities are trying . They’re adding entrepreneurship competitions, after focus groups showed that male prospective applicants are drawn to those. They’re touting hunting classes, forestry programs and recreational opportunities they’ve found men like. And they’re adding sports teams , which sometimes draw men. But there’s a surprising twist. Attacks on diversity policies from the Trump administration could cost those male applicants a longtime — and legal — advantage they’ve enjoyed. Related: Trump’s attacks on DEI may hurt men in college admission At many schools, to keep the genders balanced, high school boys who do apply have been admitted at higher rates than women. But gender has also now gotten caught up in the administration’s scrutiny of college admissions practices, discouraging recruiters from continuing this preference for male applicants on campuses where it exists. Yet another nuance: For all of the success that women have enjoyed in medicine, law and other high-paying fields, the gender wage gap stubbornly persists . Women still earn 82 cents for every dollar men do, on average, a figure nearly unchanged since 2002. Contact writer Jon Marcus at 212-678-7556, jmarcus@hechingerreport.org or jpm.82 on Signal. This story about women outpacing men in graduate and professional school was produced by The Hechinger Report , a nonprofit, independent news organization focused on inequality and innovation in education. Sign up for our higher education newsletter . The post Women rule (in college and graduate and professional schools) appeared first on The Hechinger Report .

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