A new report by the American Council on Education examines educational attainment trends by gender and race/ethnicity. It finds that each generation of young women in the United States continues to reach higher levels of postsecondary attainment. In 2007, women earned 62% of all associate degrees and 57% of bachelor’s degrees.
In the past decade, women also increased their gains in graduate education, with women now earning more graduate degrees than men. The number of master’s degrees earned by women of color doubled from 1997-2007, and the number of doctoral degrees they earned increased 63%. However, men continue to outnumber women in earning bachelor’s degrees in the STEM (science, technology, engineering, and mathematics) fields, except biological/biomedical sciences.
The report found that young Hispanics and African Americans made fewer educational gains in the past decade. College enrollment rates from 1998 to 2008 increased the most among white college-age students, reaching 45%, compared to 34% among African Americans and 28% among Hispanics.