Back to The Employment Outlook for Kentucky WomenBy Roger Sugarman
Kentucky Council on Postsecondary Education
From The Future Well-Being of Women in Kentucky
pp. 47-55, published 1999
In the past, women typically achieved lower levels of education than men here and across the nation. Here, the author examines the new gender gap, the dramatic reversal of long-standing trends in college attendance and graduation rates by gender. In recent years, young women have begun to enroll in college and complete four-year degrees at higher rates than men at national and state levels. While the academic strengths and pursuits of women differ from those of men, the emergence of higher educational achievement among women may have profound implications for their future status.Kentucky has a long history of low educational attainment among its citizenry. In 1990, the United States Census revealed that Kentucky ranked 48th in the country in the percentage of adults aged 25 and above who reported having earned a four-year college degree or higher.(1) Only 13.6 percent of Kentucky’s adult population had earned at least a bachelor’s degree, compared with the national average of 20.3 percent. If the Commonwealth is to compete successfully in the global marketplace, more Kentuckians will need to have some postsecondary education.
Women in Kentucky and across the nation have traditionally attained somewhat lower levels of education than men have. In the 1990 Census, for instance, 12.2 percent of the women in the Commonwealth reported having earned a baccalaureate degree or higher while 15.3 percent of the men indicated having earned a four-year degree or higher. However, these 1990 census data obscure an underlying trend. The small educational edge that men still held over women in 1990 could be attributed to higher levels of education among the older segments of Kentucky’s population. Indeed, reversal of the male dominance of college enrollment and graduation rates was already well underway among younger Kentuckians. A closer look at the educational attainment of young adults reveals that college women are outperforming men on several key educational indicators.
We begin to see the reversal in educational attainment levels of men and women on closer inspection of the 1990 census data. Figure 1 reveals the educational attainment of Kentucky men and women across various age groups. Between the ages of 35 and 74, men hold a definite edge over women in level of educational attainment. In the 25 to 34 age group, an identical percentage of men and women (15.5 percent) report having earned a bachelor’s degree or higher. But in the youngest group, age 18 to 24, more women than men have earned a bachelor’s degree or higher (6.1 percent vs. 4.5 percent).
In 1997, the U.S. Bureau of the Census conducted a national survey that revealed that the higher education completion rates of women in the 25 to 29 age group had surpassed those of similarly aged men.(2) In this age group, 29 percent of women and 26 percent of men had earned a four-year degree or more. The survey design did not allow for each state’s attainment data to be broken down by age group and gender. However, if present trends persist, the United States Census in the year 2000 should reveal that Kentucky women have surpassed men in educational attainment in both the 18 to 24 and 25 to 34 age groups.
The performance of recent high school graduates on standardized assessment tests also provides an interesting look at the academic skills and abilities of college-bound students. Figure 2 shows that males outscore females on the math and science reasoning sub-scales of the ACT college entrance assessment.(3) Moreover, males hold a slight edge over females on the overall composite score. On the other hand, females outperform males on the English and reading portions of the ACT assessment. This basic pattern of test results has been evident for a number of years.
Figure 2: Mean ACT Scores, by Gender, High School Class of 1998
Interestingly, the high school grades(4) earned by female and male graduates do not reflect the gender differences evident on the ACT assessment. Figure 3 shows that females report having earned higher grade point averages than males in English, math, social studies, science, reasoning, and overall.(5) The superior performance of females in English is consistent with their tendency to score relatively higher on the English portion of the ACT assessment. However, female high school graduates also report having earned higher grade point averages than males in math and natural sciences, two academic areas in which males earn relatively higher ACT scores.
Figure 3: High School Academic Area Grade Averages, by Gender
The reason for this pattern of findings is not entirely clear. One possible explanation is that females are more motivated than males to succeed academically and to become involved in school-sponsored extracurricular activities that integrate them into the fabric of high school life. Relative to male students, females may spend more time doing homework and studying for exams. In Kentucky, empirical data are not available to support this possible explanation. However, the U.S. Department of Education collected national survey data in 1992 revealing that female high school seniors were more likely than male seniors to report involvement in academic clubs, membership in honorary societies, work on the student newspaper or yearbook, and participation in student government.(6)
An important indicator of educational attainment is the rate at which students enter college during the fall semester following their graduation from high school.(7) In recent years, educators and policymakers in Kentucky have become increasingly concerned about the state’s relatively low college-bound rates. A series of national surveys conducted by the Bureau of Labor Statistics found that college attendance rates remained at 62 percent from 1992 to 1995, and climbed to 65 percent in 1996.(8) In Kentucky, the college-bound rate was 44 percent in 1993, rose to 45 percent the following year, and remained at 45 percent in 1995 and 1996.(9) Factoring in the estimated 6 percent of students who attended out-of-state colleges only raises Kentucky’s college-bound rate to around 51 percent.
An analysis of college-going rates by gender shows that females who recently graduated from high school attend college at significantly higher rates than males.(10) From 1993 to 1995, college-going rates for females ranged from 49 percent to 51 percent while men’s college-going rates ranged from 39 percent to 40 percent. Thus, females’ college-going rates were, on average, over 10 percentage points higher than for males during this three-year period. The National Center for Education Statistics has conducted studies showing that male high school students are more likely than females to enter the workforce after they graduate.(11) This scenario often occurs when the economy is strong. Male graduates are sometimes tempted to take jobs, such as construction workers or plumbers, that often pay relatively well, but require no postsecondary education.
Recent trends in the enrollment of men and women in higher education are just beginning to be reflected in the educational attainment levels documented by the U.S. Census. For nearly two decades, the Kentucky Council on Postsecondary Education has maintained comprehensive records on enrollments and degrees conferred.(12) In 1981, the earliest year for which reliable data are available by degree level, women comprised over half of the undergraduate (54.0 percent) and graduate (60.6 percent) populations. Since that time, the relative proportion of women enrolled at both levels has continued to grow. In 1996, women comprised 58.5 percent of the students enrolled at the undergraduate level and 62.8 percent of the students at the graduate level.
Since records have been kept, men have constituted the clear majority of students only at the first-professional level (i.e., degree programs in medicine, dentistry, pharmacy, and law). In 1981, women accounted for a little over one fourth (27.9 percent) of the enrollments in first-professional programs. During the past decade, however, women increasingly enrolled in first-professional programs. By 1996, four out of every ten (40.3 percent) students enrolled in first-professional programs were women.
The Southern Regional Education Board (SREB) provides a thought-provoking set of comparisons on the enrollment of women and men in higher education.(13) SREB reports that in 1994 the proportion of women enrolled in undergraduate and graduate programs in Kentucky surpassed the proportion of women enrolled at those levels in the South and the nation (see Figure 4). Women constituted 58.8 percent of Kentucky’s undergraduate population in 1994. On the other hand, women in the 15 states that comprise the SREB area accounted for 56.0 percent of the region’s undergraduates. Across the United States, women comprised 55.5 percent of the undergraduate enrollment. Moreover, Kentucky women showed greater participation in graduate programs than women from both the SREB states and the nation as a whole. Figure 4 shows that 60.9 percent of the graduate students enrolled in Kentucky in 1994 were women. The comparable figures for the SREB states and the rest of the country were 54.5 percent and 53.8 percent, respectively. Kentucky women, however, trailed the South and the nation in their participation in first-professional programs, accounting for only 33.5 percent of students enrolled in first-professional programs in 1994. Women in the SREB states and nation comprised significantly larger proportions of students in the first-professional programs (38.8 percent and 41.0 percent, respectively).
Figure 4: Women as a Percentage of Enrollment, by Level of Degree, 1994
The Council on Postsecondary Education has been tracking baccalaureate graduation rates for the past six years. Graduation rates reflect the percentage of full-time, degree-seeking freshmen who graduate from a public Kentucky university during the six years following their entrance into higher education. Students in the 1991 bachelor’s degree cohort, the most recent group studied, showed graduation rates ranging from 24 percent to 48 percent across the eight public universities. The system-wide graduation rate for the 1991 cohort was 36 percent. Kentucky’s baccalaureate graduation rates have steadily declined since the initial cohort (1987) was tracked. This trend parallels a fall in graduation rates at the national level. In 1997, a national survey conducted by American College Testing(14) found that 44.2 percent of the students attending public four-year institutions and 52.8 percent of students attending all four-year institutions graduated within five years. ACT’s survey results revealed that the five-year graduation rate fell to an all-time low for the second year in a row and the 11th time in the last 13 years. Kentucky’s graduation rates mirror these disturbing national trends. However, it should be noted that a significantly greater percentage of U.S. baccalaureate students graduate in less time than that taken by similar students at Kentucky’s public universities.
Research shows that women in Kentucky(15) and across the nation(16) graduate at significantly higher rates than men. Figure 5 depicts a series of six-year graduation rates by gender for the state’s public university students. Graduation rates for women ranged from 39 percent to 43 percent over the past five freshmen cohorts. On the other hand, men’s graduation rates ranged from 32 percent to 34 percent. Thus, women’s graduation rates are, on average, nearly eight percentage points higher than those of men.
Figure 5: Baccalaureate Graduation Rates, by Gender, Kentucky, 1987-1991
Women have earned the majority of degrees awarded by Kentucky’s public universities and community colleges since the Council on Postsecondary Education began keeping detailed records.(17) Women received 54.9 percent of the degrees awarded in 1982-83 and 60.0 percent of the degrees awarded in 1996-97. Women earned the majority of associate degrees (72.1 percent), bachelor’s degrees (55.6 percent), and master’s degrees (63.0 percent) conferred in 1996-97. On the other hand, women earned only about one third (35.3 percent) of the doctorates and less than half (41.7 percent) of the first-professional degrees in 1996-97.
Figure 6 compares the percent of bachelor’s degrees awarded to women by academic area for 1982-83 and 1996-97. For nearly 15 years, women have earned about three quarters of the bachelor’s degrees conferred in the areas of "health and pharmacy" and "education and library science." Women also have earned the majority of bachelor’s degrees conferred in the "liberal and fine arts." However, despite gains made in recent years, women still earn less than half of the bachelor’s degrees awarded in "business" and "math and science." Finally, women earn only one fifth of the degrees awarded in "engineering and computer science." Unfortunately, the percentage of women who earned bachelor’s degrees in engineering and computer science during this period declined 6 percentage points, from 25 percent in 1982-83 to 19 percent in 1996-97.
During the past decade, women have made significant headway in their efforts to earn first-professional degrees. Also clear is that women still have a long way to go in achieving parity with men in this area. Figure 7 shows the percent of first-professional degrees awarded to women in 1982-83 and 1996-97. Pharmacy is the only first-professional degree program in which women earned the majority of the degrees conferred. Women earned about two thirds of the Pharm.D. degrees awarded in 1982-83 and 1996-97. Since the early 1980s, women pursuing advanced degrees in dentistry and medicine have made great progress. About four of every ten degrees conferred in dentistry and medicine were earned by women during the 1996-97 academic year. Thus, the percentage of first-professional degrees in dentistry earned by women has nearly doubled since 1982-83, and the percentage of medical degrees awarded to women has increased by 16 points. Finally, the percentage of law degrees awarded to women has shown modest growth over the past 14 years, increasing from 32 percent in 1982-83 to 38 percent in 1996-97.
Today, women in Kentucky are more likely than men to take advantage of the educational opportunities available to them. On several academic indicators, young women, in particular, are performing at significantly higher levels than young men. The academic accomplishments of Kentucky women include the following:
Female students earn better grades than male students in high school.
Compared to male students, female high school students are more likely to attend college following their graduation.
Women comprise the majority of students at both the undergraduate and graduate levels.
The baccalaureate graduation rates of women are significantly higher than they are for men.
Women earn the majority of associate degrees, bachelor’s degrees, and master’s degrees awarded annually.
While Kentucky women are outperforming men on a number of key educational indicators, it is important to place many of these accomplishments within the context of national norms. Kentucky’s high school graduates of both genders attend college at rates that are significantly below the national average. In addition, the baccalaureate graduation rates of men and women in Kentucky are also well below the rates for students in other states. Quite simply, more Kentuckians need to enroll in postsecondary institutions, and they need to persist until they earn a college degree.
It is encouraging to find many older women taking advantage of a variety of postsecondary educational opportunities in the Commonwealth. In fall 1997, one out of every four students enrolled at a public university or community college in Kentucky was a women over the age of 24. Many older women who attend college have their own special challenges. In her monograph on women in higher education, Linda Knopp, a research analyst at the American Council on Education, summarizes the results of a few small-scale studies that focus on the concerns of older women.(18) She cites research showing that nontraditional female undergraduates find their studies interrupted more often than male students. Moreover, female graduate students returning to college are concerned about balancing job and family responsibilities with their academic schedules; financing the soaring costs of higher education; feeling guilty about not attending to the needs of their spouses and children; and internalizing strong expectations to perform at a high level academically. Colleges and universities are just beginning to accommodate the needs of this special population. Clearly, postsecondary institutions could better assist older female students by expanding on-campus day-care programs, establishing accessible counseling for academic and psychological problems, and offering an array of courses in the evenings.
Women clearly need to make progress in a couple of areas. Female students in Kentucky now earn only about one third of the Ph.Ds and less than half of the first-professional degrees awarded each year. In general, the degrees earned by women are primarily in fields that traditionally have been dominated by women, such as education and nursing. These factors account, in part, for the discrepancies in salaries paid to women and men. Few people would argue that women often face many formidable barriers of discrimination in the workplace. But is also clear that women can advance their economic power and status in the community by pursuing advanced degrees in disciplines that have been traditionally sought after by men.
If present trends continue, women in Kentucky and across the nation will be better educated than men within the next few decades. Nationally, women are expected to earn 57 percent of the bachelor’s degrees awarded in the United States in 1999, compared with 43 percent in 1970 and 24 percent in 1950.(19) By the year 2008, the U.S. Department of Education predicts that women will outnumber men in undergraduate and graduate degree programs by 9.2 million to 6.9 million.(20) As the country moves towards an information- and service-based economy, it is interesting to speculate whether women’s educational advantages will result in more women being promoted to positions of leadership within both the public and private sectors. Will attitudes about women’s role in society evolve in a manner that is congruent with the educational edge that women may soon gain over men? Or will new barriers spring up that prevent women from securing an equal footing with men in top management positions?
The emerging gender gap in education may portend closure of the gender wage gap and create a new economic paradigm, one that could compel a new social order. As U.S. News & World Report reporter Brendan I. Koerner speculates, “If college degrees remain an entree to wealth and status in the 21st century, males may have to get used to the same second-class status that American women so long endured, as highly educated females become the majority among the nation’s intellectual, economic, and even power elite.”(21) Conversely, if women continue to eschew technical fields such as engineering and computer science, their superior educations may be an insufficient force for wage equity, much less improved status. And if separate, male-dominated, fast-track training options continue to emerge, women may be taking the slow road to higher wages while accumulating higher debt.(22) Ultimately, however, the earnings differential between high school and college graduates that has persisted for decades, though small for college-educated women and high school-educated men, likely portends higher earnings and higher status for women in the years to come.
Back to The Employment Outlook for Kentucky Women
Ahead to Welfare Reform and Kentucky Women
U.S. Bureau of the Census, 1990 Census of Population and Housing (Washington, DC: Government Printing Office, 1990). Return to text.
U.S. Bureau of the Census, Current Population Survey, March 1997, Educational Attainment of People 25 Years Old and Over, by Sex. Return to text.
American College Testing (ACT), The High School Profile Report (Iowa City, Iowa: Author, 1998). Return to text.
Students taking the ACT exam are asked to furnish information on the grades they achieved in high school in different subject areas. ACT’s validation studies indicate that students accurately report these grades 85 percent or more of the time. Return to text.
ACT, The High School Profile Report. Return to text.
U.S. Department of Education, "Participation of 10th and 12th graders in extracurricular activities, by selected student characteristics: 1990 and 1992," Digest of Education Statistics 1997, (Washington, DC: Government Printing Office, 1993). Return to text.
College-going rates are calculated by dividing the number of recent high school graduates enrolled in public universities, community colleges, and independent colleges during the fall semester by the total number of students who graduated from high school during the previous academic year. Students who attend out-of-state colleges are not included in this statistic. However, the Kentucky Department of education has estimated that approximately 6 percent of Kentucky’s high school graduates attend out-of-state colleges each year. Consequently, the rates reported here are somewhat lower than they would be if these colleges were included. College-going rates are reported for the four years from 1993 to 1996. Prior to 1993, data were not available for students who attended independent Kentucky colleges. Return to text.
Bureau of Labor Statistics, Press Release, 1998. Return to text.
Kentucky Council on Postsecondary Education, The Status of Kentucky Postsecondary Education: Progress Toward Reform, (Frankfort, KY: Author, 1998). Return to text.
Kentucky Council on Postsecondary Education’s analysis of data from the Department of Education and the Comprehensive Database. Data broken down by gender for 1996 and 1997 were not available. Return to text.
National Center for Education Statistics, "Gender Differences in Earnings among Young Adults Entering the Labor Market," NCES 98-086 (1998). Return to text.
Kentucky Council on Postsecondary Education’s Comprehensive Database. Return to text.
Southern Regional Education Board (SREB), "Enrollment of Women," SREB Fact Book on Higher Education, 1996/97 (Atlanta: SREB, 1998). Return to text.
ACT, "National College Dropout and Graduation Rates, 1997," Press Release (1998). Return to text.
Kentucky Council on Postsecondary Education, Annual Accountability Reports 1993–1998, Frankfort, KY. Return to text.
National Center for Education Statistics, 1990 Beginning Postsecondary Students Longitudinal Study, Second Follow-up (BPS:90/4) (Washington, DC: U.S. Department of Education, 1990). Return to text.
Information for this analysis of degrees conferred is from the Comprehensive Database. Return to text.
Linda Knopp, Women in Higher Education Today: A Mid-1990s Profile, American Council on Education, Research Brief, 6:5, 1995. Return to text.
U.S. Department of Education as cited by Brendan I. Koerner, "Where the Boys Aren’t," U.S. News and World Report 8 Feb. 1999: 47-55. Return to text.
U.S. Dept. of Education in Koerner. Return to text.
Koerner 55. Return to text.
Koemer 54. Return to text.