Women With Advanced Degrees Outnumber Men For the First Time

According to census figures released Tuesday, the number of women who have finished college, as well as the number holding advanced degrees, is greater than men for the first time, according to AP.

Women began exceeding men in college enrollment in the 1980’s, and surpassed the number of men graduating with bachelor’s degrees in 1996. 

Educational gains lead to a greater range of job opportunities, and with increases in women seeking and attaining more advanced degrees traditional gender roles at home and the workplace are shifting. However, women with full-time jobs only earned 64% of what men made in 2000, and only improving to 78.2 % today.

Out of American adults 25 and older, 10.6 million women hold a master’s degree or higher, versus 10.5 million men. In subcategories like business, engineering and science men still outnumber women.

As far as completing college, 20.1 million women have bachelor’s degrees, compared to 18.7 million men. Also interesting is that for adults 25 and older, women are more likely than men to have completed high school 87.6% to 86.6%.

The census numbers come from the government’s Current Population Survey as of March 2010.

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