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 children to the dentist, need a lawyer or eye exam, see a therapist, or pick up a prescription:
More and more highly qualified specialists who provide these services are women.
Without much attention, the number of women in the faculties of medicine, law, pharmacy, optometry, dentistry, and veterinary medicine has exceeded 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 steady decline in the number of men choosing to go to college after graduating from high school. Among the reasons for this: girls perform better than boys in grades K-12; professions traditionally reserved for women, such as teaching, nursing and social work, require diplomas; and boys are generally less likely to think they need a college education to get a job.
The result is that the proportion of university students who are women has now reached a record of almost 60 percent, according to the Ministry of Education.
This is good news for women. But there is a catch.
Men make up half of the potential workforce, and their relative absence in higher education is expected to worsen labor shortages in critical fields such as health care. It could also affect the country’s global competitiveness at a time when economically rival countries are increasing university education.
Related: Women far outnumber men in law, medicine, veterinary, and other professional programs.
“If we’re trying to compete globally, the fact that male college attendance rates are so stagnant means we can’t solve this problem until we have more men,” said Claudia Buchmann, a sociologist at Ohio State University and co-author of the book “The Rise of Women.”
Some colleges and universities are trying. They’re adding entrepreneurship competitions, after focus groups showed potential male candidates were attracted to them. They tout hunting courses, forestry programs, and recreational opportunities that appeal to men. And they add sports teams, which sometimes attract men.
But there is a surprising twist. Attacks on diversity policies from the Trump administration could cost these male candidates a long-standing – and legal – advantage they have enjoyed.
Related: Trump’s Attacks on DEI Could Hurt Men’s College Admissions
At many schools, in order to maintain gender balance, high school students applying have been admitted at higher rates than women. But gender also now factors into the administration’s scrutiny of college admissions practices, discouraging recruiters from maintaining this preference for male applicants on campuses where it exists.
One more nuance: despite all the successes women have achieved in medicine, law and other well-paid fields, the gender pay gap stubbornly persists. Women still earn 82 cents for every dollar men earn, on average, virtually unchanged since 2002.
Contact writer Jon Marcus at 212-678-7556, jmarcus@hechingerreport.org Or jpm.82 on Signal.
This story about women exceed men in higher and professional schools was produced byThe Hechinger reportan independent, nonprofit news organization focused on inequality and innovation in education. Subscribe to ourhigher education newsletter.
The article The Rule of Women (in Colleges, Graduate and Professional Schools) appeared first in the Hechinger Report.
