Women continue to graduate from high school, enroll in college and graduate from college in greater numbers than men, and the difference is increasing, according to the 2000 U.S. Census.
Statistics in the Census show that 89 percent of women between the ages of 25 and 29 are high school graduates and 30 percent have received bachelor’s degrees, compared to 87 and 28 percent of men.
Since 1988, when 30 percent of both males and females were enrolled in college, the male percentage has risen to 34 percent, while the female percentage has shot up to 37 percent.
Three years later, women ages 25 to 29 surpassed men in college graduation rates for the first time. Since 1991, the percentage of men graduating from college has grown five points to 28, while the female percentage has risen from 23 to 30 percent.
According to Northwestern University Registrar Suzanne Anderson, women have graduated at a slightly, but not significantly, higher rate than men in recent years. In 1994, 92.5 percent of women and 91.4 percent of men graduated from NU.
“We graduate at a high rate all genders and all races,” Anderson said. “When all the students are (this) good, we tend to graduate at a very high level, regardless of gender.”
At NU, next year’s freshman class is expected to include 51 to 53 percent females, said Scott Ham, associate director of undergraduate admissions. “Our applicant pool is relatively equal. It’s a testament to the different programs Northwestern has to offer.”
Over the past decade, the percentage of women at Northwestern has fluctuated around 52 percent.
“We may be at a point where it’ll maintain this ratio,” said Rebecca Dixon, associate provost for university enrollment.
While many traditionally male schools continue to have more men than women despite becoming coeducational in the late ’60s and early ’70s, NU’s higher number of women students reflects nationwide trends, according to Dixon.
“Colleges like NU, traditionally coed, we’re not coming out of the cellar,” Dixon said.
Women at colleges nationwide earn a substantial majority of the bachelor’s degrees in such fields as English, foreign languages, law and public administration.
Most degrees in architecture and environmental design, computer and information sciences, philosophy, theology and engineering continue to be awarded to men.
NU’s McCormick School of Engineering and Applied Science expects an incoming class consistent with the patterns of the last five years, in which classes have been approximately 32 to 34 percent female, according to Associate Dean Steve Carr.
The Census shows that in 1997, 17 percent of bachelor’s degrees in engineering were awarded to women, up from 0.8 percent in 1971. Despite a gender ratio among the highest in the nation, McCormick still aims to increase the percentage of women enrolled.
“Clearly we’re not meeting our ambition, which is to have the percentage of women reflect the overall percentage at Northwestern,” Carr said.
McCormick was 25 percent female in 1980, and enrollment grew to 30 percent female by 1990. Since then, growth has leveled off, which is a national trend, Carr said.
Becky Gorman, a chemical engineering junior, says that the number of males in the school of engineering has never been a problem for her.
“It’s not like males are unaccepting,” Gorman said. “And it seems like Northwestern is more supportive of women in the sciences than other schools.”
