Women strive for equality in advanced degree programs

Although the number of women in higher education is growing, they have yet to achieve equity. This gap is prominent in dentistry, where men outnumber women in school and in practice. In the 1960s, 10 percent of students in medical, law and MBA programs were women. In the 1990s, the number of graduate student women began to outnumber men.

According to a 2014 report from the White House Council of Economic Advisors, among students in the 25–34 age bracket, female students are 48 times more likely than men to have finished graduate school.

A February 2015 article published in Nature explains that women with bachelor’s degrees are as likely as men to enter Ph.D. programs, though this may be due to fewer men following that track. The article suggests job prospects for Ph.D.’s aren’t as appealing anymore, leading to lower enrollment rates. Women are less likely to pursue careers in academia after a Ph.D., choosing instead to enter professions such as the health sciences.

Read the rest of this article in the January 2017 issue of Contour.

~Taylor Cohen, Las Vegas ’18, and Rachel Bush, Las Vegas ’18