Guardian: University gender gap widens as women increase their lead

[Tsiyu]

Matthew Taylor, education correspondent
Thursday January 27, 2005
The Guardian

The gap between the number of men and women going to university is continuing to grow, according to figures published today.
Research by the Universities and Colleges Admissions Service (Ucas) shows that 7% more female than male applicants were accepted on to undergraduate courses in 2004, with the gap widening year on year.

The growing dominance of women in higher education was underlined last week by a report from the Higher Education Funding Council for England which showed that once drop-out rates were taken into account, women were 27% more likely than men to get a degree.

Yesterday the National Union of Students' women's officer, Jo Salmon, said: "It is encouraging to see that female students continue to enter higher education despite the fact that they take longer than their male peers to pay off their debts as a result of the gender pay gap and occupational segregation."

She added: "Women outnumber men in courses such as languages, arts and humanities, teaching and nursing, but men dominate courses relating to science and engineering, which are traditionally better paid."

more:

http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk_news/story/0,3604,1399221,00.html

[fortyfeetunder]

1. More fuel to Summers' fire

"Women outnumber men in courses such as languages, arts and humanities, teaching and nursing, but men dominate courses relating to science and engineering, which are traditionally better paid."

I hope like the heck no one attributes this to the innate qualities of women..it's actually because women are not encouraged to puruse scientific career!

[Tsiyu]

3. Today's Manly World of Science

is brutal to women.

Too much at stake for the ones with outer nads.

[Mystified]

10. Or

It could be that women find these particular fields more to their liking than science or engineering. My opinion is that if you earn a degree in a field simply because it pays more rather than having a passion for the field of study you will most likely not feel your work is very fulfilling.

[Maple]

2. As women gain more confidence

they'll enter science and engineering in greater numbers too.

Just in my lifetime, which is a drop in the bucket of history, women have gone from being banned from certain subjects or levels of education, to dominating them.

[Mend]

4. if men leave school

they can earn tons as mechanics, plumbers, electricians, and the like. Women get to make $10 an hour as a secretary or sales clerk. No wonder women are going to college.

[jdj]

7. so true. And the pay gap in male dominated fields is significant

too.

I recently read that male doctors earn an average of 50% more than women. Wome have come to dominate veterinary medicine in the last decade, so watch for a sever pay drop in that field, even though it's harder to get into vet school than medical school.

[cap]

5. why should women enter science and engineering at all?

these professions initially pay better but are more unstable due to outsourcing/layoffs/early retirement?

[Demeter]

6. Been There, Done That

Engineering is a field which requires a lot, but which management wants to treat as un-unionized blue collar scab labor with no rights to overtime, compensatory time, or much of anything else. Unless you were born to engineer, and only to engineer, you will grow to hate it. If you are female, you will hate it a lot sooner, because that glass ceiling is firmly in place.

[jdj]

8. wow. that totally sucks.

As an ex-factory worker I can vouch for the fact that that we could clean up on overtime (to a point, usually about 10 hours) while the management and engineers got screwed in that dept.

AND I worked for a Japanese owned company, which doubly sucked for the planners, engineers and office personnel in general, because the Japanese have a severely hierarchal system where they can basically treat their subordinates like crap as a matter of course. That and the fact that they work 16 hours a day and referred to us as "lazy Americans."

[WilmywoodNCparalegal]

9. I must confess...

In college, I was one of only 10 female students in a very large class of computer engineers. None of us females ever made it; we either changed majors or some dropped out. At the time, I was 17-19 and not as morally strong as I am today. I could not stand the way the female students were segregated for projects and/or singled out in class. While I and a couple of other students had excellent grades and showed as much aptitude for the science and engineering involved, the best projects, the best internships, etc. went invariable to the male students, including those who were obviously less qualified and talented. For this, I blame the professors more than my peer students, some of whom are among my best friends.

If I were to go back now at my tender age of 32, I am sure I would graduate without any problems. But at that age, I was not prepared for the blatant treatment that I and my female peers received.

Too bad, as the field lost what could have been a fine computer engineer :)

[Tsiyu]

11. Sorry about your experience

I just "love" those who say. "Just don't go into those fields, Little Missy! It's for your own good." You obviously were put off by these Cretin males who have a Male Dominionist Theory that says women DON'T BELONG in our safe, little boy world of Science and other hard stuff.

I swear, sometimes I think some men are so damned in love with themselves they don't even realize what little Nazis they are...

Well, I have a pre-vet daughter and a pre-engineering niece who are giving it their all. And I send out a wicked, evil curse to any male who stands in their way....HA!