Sunday, October 4, 2009

Gender Gap in Schooling Measures Pendulum's Motion

Womensenews.org
Run Date: 10/04/09
By Bijoyeta Das
WeNews correspondent

Young U.S. women are finishing high school, attending college and earning degrees at higher rates than men. A boys' educational crisis (of arguable extent), two-income families and rising divorce rates help explain the widening gaps, onlookers say.

BOSTON (WOMENSENEWS)--She is excited to leave the nest.
"College is a must. No questions," said Taylyse Wornum, 18. She entered the University of Massachusetts at Amherst this fall as a freshman to study communications.
Young women like Wornum are increasingly outpacing men in the successful completion of high school and college enrollment.
Among Boston public high school 2007 graduates, 153 young women attended college for every 100 men, according to a July study by the Center for Labor Market Studies at Northeastern University, which prepared the report for the Boston Private Industry Council. Among those attending four-year colleges, the gap was even wider: 166 women for every 100 men.
Across the country, in every race-gender group, more women get degrees than men, said Andrew Sum, lead author of the study and director of the Center for Labor Market Studies. "That's true for every degree level: associate, bachelor's and master's."
When it comes to Ph.D.s, there is almost parity.
Jennifer Millien, 21, a public relations student at Massachusetts College of Liberal Arts, North Adams, said she is proud of the inroads women are making in education and is happy to be entering a work force that seems to be in favor of women. "But, despite all the statistics showing so many women pursuing careers, women continue to earn less than men. It is kind of weird."

Full Story: http://www.womensenews.org/article.cfm/dyn/aid/4160/context/cover/

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