Earlier this month, the U.S. Department of Education released statistics that showed that women lead men at every level of higher education in the number of degrees received. Here's a quick look at the numbers for 2009 (a speculative graph can be found here):
Bachelor's Degrees: 142 for women for every 100 for men.
Master's Degrees: 159 for women for every 100 for men.
"First-Professional" Degrees: 104 for women for every 100 for men.
Doctoral Degrees: 107 for women for every 100 for men.
Law degrees are lumped with M.D. and D.D.S. in the first-professional degrees.
The news is good in many lights. It shows the access to education is there, and that access is being utilized. But, one can't help but feel like these statistics cannot be too heavily relied upon as signs of changing cultures or professions. For one thing, female law students have been close to or over half of law students for quite a few years, but the profession is still slow to see change. We also can't ignore the many reports of the Iranian elections that are accompanied by the fact that although women make us 65% of univeristy students in that country, many women in that country are fighting hard for much more basic changes and opportunities.
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