What’s Behind the Significant Advances Women are Experiencing?
There is really nothing negative about admitting that you have earned a college degree. Even if one is not working in a career in which they majored while attending college. In addition, there are also non-pecuniary benefits of college which has nothing to do with earnings or higher earnings. In other words, just being educated diminishes human risky behaviors such as excessive drinking, smoking, using illicit drugs, having a criminal record, or poor and unhealthy eating habits. Not doing these things are all examples of non-pecuniary benefits. Furthermore, one’s lifetime earnings tend to be higher for people who graduate from any post-secondary institution. Men are more likely to drop out of college or avoid enrollment entirely. As a matter of fact, 71% of college dropouts are men. This has been constant for at least the last 5 years. “Of the more than 2 million bachelor’s degrees conferred by post-secondary institutions during the 2019-2020 academic year, 58% awarded to women” (Bryant, 2022, Best Colleges). This steady decline will more than not have a negative effect when considering male military officers, the stability of families, as well as an unstable labor market due to males’ lack of post-secondary training, which negatively impact their opportunities in the labor market. Too many males cannot even apply for certain middle to upper status career jobs due to outdated skillsets and a lack of post-secondary training. Sadly, many men just avoid working and walk away or walk away from their family and children altogether. Absent fathers have a profoundly negative impact on children. Which may ultimately expose children to Adverse Childhood Experiences or (ACEs).
Figure 1
Figure: Percentage of Bachelor’s Degrees Conferred by Sex, 1980-2020
Figure 2
In 2013, Inside Higher Ed, reported women were more likely to go to college, perform better academically, and major in an unlimited number of careers. The Pew Research Center (2021), findings are glaringly clear and positive for women. Stanford Graduate School of Education found significant differences regarding how boys and girls in grades 3rd-8th performed in the areas of mathematics and English Language Arts. The research study used data from 10,000 school district.
Figure 3: Males and Female Gender Gaps in Math and English Language Arts Scores
Reardon 2018, stated they expected to measure consistent stereotype driven patterns. However, that was not the case. In affluent districts, the researchers were able to find a pattern. For example, in highly educated and predominantly white districts, boys fair better than girls in mathematics. In less affluent or poverty-stricken school districts with more racial diversity, girls scored higher than boys in math (Stanford School of Education, 2018). Stanford Professor Sean Reardon and his team also realized that in almost every public school district, females performed better in reading. In some of the United States more affluent districts, boys on average scored higher in mathematics by two-fifths of a grade level, but are half a grade level behind on reading and writing (Stanford School of Education, 2018). “In many of the poorest districts, however, the gap favors girls by one-fifth of a grade level in math and four-fifths of a grade levin in English” (Stanford School of Education, 2018). Stanford School of Education, 2018 findings show “Girls surpass boys in reading and writing in almost every U.S. school district regardless of local wealth or racial makeup. In 3rd grade, females out performed boys by roughly half a grade level. By the end of 8th grade, girls were almost a full grade ahead”. In addition, Stanford discovered that females and males’ gaps in grades 3rd through 8th have closed significantly over the last 10 years. Math gaps were surprisingly different. Girls had closed the math gap according to the 2015 students’ performance test scores.
Pew Research Center, 2021 findings also show young women are more likely than men to be enrolled in some post-secondary system. Believe it or not, when considering ages 25 to 34, the college completion gap is even wider.
Figure 4
There have been tons of moments when I have walked into men barbershops in Louisiana, Wisconsin, Missouri, or Illinois and I have heard guys say “women have changed and they are trying to control everything, take over, and tell them what to do.” Men often say, “women are trying to wear the pants.” However, they all say that it would never happen in their house. Many of the men admit their woman must submit to them and that they get the last word when it matters most. Though, I have heard these things from men over the last 20 plus years, I more than not push back or their 1600-1700’s Puritan thought patterns. I often hear men in the barbershop as well as at sports bars say “women are too weak to lead. GOD chose men to lead the family and the world.” Their rationale is, women are too emotional. As result of these out-of-control emotions, women are believed to be too weak to lead anything. Of course this is not true. Women have and continue to make tremendous contributions in the many areas of leadership. Now we have a more than qualified female Vice President Kamala Harris running for president and most political polls have her leading against a former president who is a male.
What Methods are women using to take Over the World?
“At this unprecedented moment, women are no longer merely gaining on men; they have pulled ahead by almost every measure.”
–Hanna Rosin, 2021
The silliest statement that stands out the most, is when I hear men say with confidence and conviction that “women are trying to take over the world.” I often push back and say, no women are not trying to take over the world. Women are going to college and men are not. As a result, women are consuming jobs once held by men. This is especially true for Science, Technology, Engineering, & Math (STEM) jobs. The guys, without hesitation say 100% of the time. Everybody doesn’t have to go to college. I reply, “you are correct,” but there are negatives to deciding not to go to some postsecondary institution to learn relevant 21st century skills needed in the labor market. After all, women are doing it. There is definitely a correlation between completing higher education and ones living conditions. Women are having a profound impact on the global economy because they are enrolled in 6 to 9 months training programs, earning associate degrees, bachelor, and graduate degrees. Postsecondary completions lead to better careers, health, dental and vision insurance, and higher lifetime earnings. In 2023, “almost 18.1 million students were enrolled in degree-granting colleges and universities in the U.S.” (Berg, Cohen, Randolph, & Shapiro, 2023). During fall 2023, roughly 55% of undergraduate students were women (Berg, Cohen, Randolph, & Shapiro, 2023). “Over 10.1 million women were enrolled in college, compared to 7.2 million men” (Berg, Cohen, Randolph, & Shapiro, 2023). In addition, graduate school students in fall 2023 were 60% females and 37% were men (2023). Men’s mindsets are still centered around strength and muscles like building railways, highways, and high rise building such as men did from the 1800s through the 1960s. Albeit, with each passing year, “traditional male virtues such as physical strength become less valuable economically and less relevant socially, while many traditionally male personality traits, such as aggressiveness and social assertiveness, are genuine liabilities in the new corporate culture” (New York Post, 2021).
“Of the more than 2 million bachelor’s degrees conferred by U.S. postsecondary institutions during the 2019-2020 academic year, 58% were awarded to women. Women have accounted for over 50% of degree holders for more than 20 years now” (bestcolleges.com). Women outpacing men in college enrollment and college graduation continues to increase. For example, in 2023, the University of Vermont class of 2027 freshman class consisted of 62% females. “A gender gap that has earned Burlington, Vt., a nickname “Girlington” due to very few males on campus (CBS Sunday Morning News, 2023).
Why are men deciding against college when the vast amount of evidence is clear? Those who attend college or receive training beyond 12th grade tend to have higher lifetime earnings. Men are in need of our attention and now. No, not all boys or men have poor academic outcomes. However, far too many men are in this situation and it’s a national chronic social problem. When one sex suffers, both sexes suffer. We cannot take the stance that we can only help one sex at a time. No! Women have not arrived to reach the social status of most men, but they have and continue to make substantial gains. These great leaps and bounds women are embracing have not stopped since the signing of Title 9 in 1972, by President Richard Nixon. Women are capable and desire the same opportunities. The same for males. Men too, are in need of drastic help in the areas of preventing suicide, fatherhood, mental health, self-regulation, non-cognitive skills, and education.
“Over the coming years, two women will earn a college degree for every man who does. Among white men, those who come from low-income households attend college at lower rates than do Latino and African-American men from similar backgrounds. The problem has become so extreme some colleges have started discriminating against female entrants and admitting less qualified men, to maintain a more balanced female-male ratio on campus” (New York Post, 2021).
University of Michigan Professor Justin Wolfers stated in the New York Times, “The simple mathematics of more women than men earning college degrees means that many highly educated women will either have to partner with less educated men, or forgo partnership” (Yee, 2022).
References
CBS Sunday Morning Show (November, 2023)
https://nscresearchcenter.org/wp-content/uploads/StayInformed_DataMethodologyFall2023.pdf