[lbo-talk] The new disparity: women vastly outnumber men in college

Matthias Wasser matthias.wasser at gmail.com
Thu Oct 15 06:19:31 PDT 2009


On Thu, Oct 15, 2009 at 2:56 AM, Somebody Somebody <philos_case at yahoo.com>wrote:


> College Enrollment and Completion: The Intersectionality of Class, Race,
> and Gender
>
> In the U.S. today, men enroll in college at a lower rate and drop out at a
> higher rate. In 2005, there were 57 women on campus for every 43 men.
>
> This is such a significant problem, that college admissions officers are
> letting in a larger percentage of male applicants, even sometimes admitting
> less qualified men over more qualified women.
>
>
> But this isn’t just a gender story.
>
>
>
> Looking at the very bottom line of the table (and just at 2003/2004), you
> can see that the gender gap is largest among lower income students. Men make
> up 40% of undergraduates 18-24 when you consider low-income students only,
> and 49% when you look at upper income students.
>
> The gender gap also correlates with race. Asian students show the smallest
> gender gap, whites the next smallest, with Hispanics and blacks trailing.
>
> You might notice that the correlation of the gender gap with race mirrors
> the class correlation. That is, income and wealth data for racial categories
> follows the same pattern with Asians out earning whites (categorically
> speaking) and whites out earning Hispanics and blacks. So there may be an
> interesting exacerbation effect here.
>
> The gender gaps for each racial/ethnic group, however, decreases as the
> students’ families get richer. And, among the upper income groups, the
> racial difference shrinks to only three percentage points (from 11 among
> low- and middle-income kids).
>
> So, it’s not just about race, it’s not just about class, and it’s not just
> about gender. Then, what is it about being poor, black or Hispanic, and male
> that results in low male enrollment in college and a higher drop out rate?
>
>
>
> Link:
>
> <
> http://contexts.org/socimages/2009/10/14/college-enrollment-and-completion-the-intersectionality-of-class-race-and-gender/
> >
>
> I suspect the criminal justice system might have something to do with it -
the imprisonment rate for young black men is horrifying. There's also the fact that the gender pay gap is proportionally larger among those high school diplomas only than among those with bachelor's degrees.



More information about the lbo-talk mailing list