College gender gap widens: 57% are women

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"There's every reason to celebrate the success of women. And one has to be concerned about what's happening with men," said Russ Whitehurst, director of the Institute of Education Sciences, a research arm of the Education Department.

"Women have been making educational progress, and the men are stuck," he said. "They haven't just fallen behind women. They have fallen behind changes in the job market."

Women Surpass Men in Ph.D. Degrees

Women earned more doctorates than men at American universities in 2002, according to results recently released by the Survey of Earned Doctorates.

Original Article.

Stacy Waite, College Reporter

Badger Herald

2003 December 9

The percentage of males who earned doctorates in 2002 has dropped steadily since 1997 by nearly 15%. While women earned almost 51% of doctorates in 2002, the total number of awarded degrees is falling, the report found.

American students earned the lowest number of Ph.D.s in a decade last year at 39955, a decrease of 2% from the previous year and a 6% drop in the last 5 years.

But experts have differing opinions about the trends these statistics show.

Joan Burrelli, senior analyst at the National Science Foundation, said she felt the drop in males awarded doctorates led to the higher female doctorate percentage.