The Changing Gender Balance: An Overview

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1 Fewer Men on Campus A Puzzle for Liberal Arts Colleges and Universities November 15-16, 1999 Goucher College Baltimore, Maryland Thomas G. Mortenson Senior Scholar Center for the Study of Opportunity in Higher Education Council for Opportunity in Education 1025 Vermont Ave NW, Suite 900 Washington, DC Phone: (202) Higher Education Policy Analyst Postsecondary Education OPPORTUNITY P.O. Box 415 Oskaloosa, IA Phone: (515) Fax: (515) Internet: tom@postsecondary.org Postsecondary Education OPPORTUNITY 1

2 My objective: To start a national dialogue on the future of the male gender I. Introduction. A. I am especially grateful to President Judy Mohraz and to Debra Rubino of Goucher College for organizing this conference. It represents a clear breakthrough in awareness of the growing gender imbalance in American higher education. It is especially fitting that it be held at Goucher, a former women's college, that decided to become co-ed and has found it difficult to reach gender parity in its enrollments. B. I am a higher education policy analyst who has been studying the progress of women in higher education since About 1990 I began to notice that while women had made steady and substantial progress throughout the education system, males had not. 2. In March of 1992, when I began publishing my monthly research letter, Postsecondary Education OPPORTUNITY, the very first headline began: Equity of Higher Education Opportunity: Women Reached Equity with Men in In September 1995 I first summarized the issue in OPPORTUNITY under "What's Wrong with the Guys?" I have continued to analyze and report on these data in many subsequent issues of OPPORTUNITY. 4. More recently I have begun to speculate as to causes, such as in the August 1999 issue of The College Board Review. II. Distribution of bachelor degree awards. Note that 51.3 percent of the U.S. population up to about age 30 is male. A. Long-term trends, 1870 to 1997 (see chart 1) to 1940: Decline in the proportion of degrees awarded to males from 85.3 percent in 1870 to 58.7 percent by to 1970: 30 year disruption beginning with World War II to 1997: Decline resumes, from 56.9 percent in 1970 to 44.4 percent by B. States: Since 1970 shift has occurred in all 50 states (see charts 2-4). 1. In 1970 a majority of bachelor's degrees were awarded to males in all 50 states plus DC. 2. By 1997 a majority went to males in only one state, Utah. Next five states are all western states too, often Mormon like Utah. 3. Gender shift between 1970 and 1997 greatest in New Hampshire, New Mexico and Alaska. Gender shift least in Hawaii, Virginia, and Colorado. C. Control: Gender shift has occurred in both public and private colleges between 1970 and 1997 (see chart 5). 1. Public: from 55.1 to 44.8 percent. Crossover occurred in Postsecondary Education OPPORTUNITY 2

3 2. Private: from 58.3 to 43.3 percent. Crossover occurred in D. Race/ethnicity: Data are available from 1977 to 1997 (see chart 6). 1. Non-Hispanic whites: 54.2 to 44.7 percent. Crossover occurred about Black: 42.9 to 35.6 percent. 3. Hispanic: 55.0 to 42.1 percent. Crossover occurred about Asian: 55.4 to 47.2 percent. Crossover occurred in last group. 5. American Indian: 54.2 to 40.3 percent. Crossover occurred about E. Field of study. Male shares of bachelors degrees has shrunk sharply in all fields of study that were predominantly male in 1970 (see chart 7). 1. Business: from 91.3 percent male in 1970 to 51.6 percent by Engineering: in the bootcamp of higher education, from 98.6 percent in 1970 to 81.8 percent by Psychology: from 56.6 percent male in 1970 to 26.1 percent by F. Family income. Chance for college (product of high school graduation rate and college participation rates for those who graduate from high school) is less for males than females at all family income levels, but greatest for those from family incomes below about $20,000 per year (see chart 8). G. Parental educational attainment. Chance for college is less for males than females at all levels of parental educational attainment, but this difference is greatest for those from families with lowest levels of parental education (see chart 9). III. IV. Performance in the education pipeline. This describes the rates at which males and females move through the education pipeline over time. A. High school graduation. Proportion of population 25 to 29 years who have completed high school, 1940 to 1998 (see charts 10 and 11) : males 86.6 percent, females 89.6 percent. 2. Only between late 1960s (Vietnam) and early 1980s did males graduate from high school at higher rates than did women. B. College continuation for high school graduates. Women high school graduates have made simply stunning gains compared to men in the rates at which they pursue collegiate study directly after high school (see chart 12 and 13). 1. Males: from 54.2 to 62.4 percent, between 1959 and Gain: 8.2 percent. 2. Females: from 38.6 to 69.1 percent. Gain: 30.5 percent. From 15.6 percent behind males in 1959 to 6.7 percent ahead by C. Bachelor's degree attainment. The proportion of women ages 25 to 29 years with a bachelor's degree surpassed the male rate in 1991 and is now 3.4 percent ahead of males (see charts 14 and 15). Comments on data and conclusions. A. The canary in the coal mine. These data reflect what is occurring differently in the lives of boys and girls growing up for decades before they get to higher education. They are symptomatic of far larger changes that are occurring in the larger worlds. Postsecondary Education OPPORTUNITY 3

4 B. Key findings from related research: 1. There is a significant decline in the presence of adult males in the lives of boys growing up. This occurs in their families (single parenthood, divorce) and in their schools, particularly elementary grades. Boys are losing adult male role models in key formative years. 2. Adult males are disengaging from traditional labor force, family and civic roles. 3. There are global changes afoot that appear to be affecting men and women differently. These changes are occurring in the labor force in a shift from goods-producing to private service sector jobs that favor women over men. These changes are also occurring as the population of the U.S. urbanizes. C. Higher education should search beyond symptomatic remedies for the growing gender imbalance on college campuses, and apply its superb intellectual horsepower to seeking causes and designing responses targeted on causes, not symptoms. D. Someday we may come to point to Goucher99 as the time and place when the issue emerged on the radar screen of public interest and policy. I commend Goucher for its vision. Postsecondary Education OPPORTUNITY 4

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