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.
Somebody: Clearly it has something to do with the gap amongst African Americans, though it can hardly be blamed for the disparity in most other groups in this country. Because what's notable is that women are disproportionately attending college across the board. Not only that, but they're vastly outpacing men in attending and completing graduate programs as well:
"In 1960, men earned almost two-thirds of bachelor’s degrees. By 1982, men and women were at parity. In 2005, women got 58 percent of bachelor’s degrees, the study said.
At the graduate school level, the ratio has become even more female-dominated. In 1976, men earned 167,396 master’s degrees, compared to 149,206 for women. Thirty years later, women greatly outnumbered men, earning 356,169 master’s degrees, compared to 237,896 men, according to the U.S. Department of Education’s National Center for Education Statistics."
Link:<http://dallas.bizjournals.com/sacramento/stories/2009/03/02/focus2.html>
These numbers are extraordinary and demand explanation. I have to say from personal and anecdotal experience, women are maturing more rapidly than men and are taking full advantage of the opportunities afforded by the feminist revolution. By contrast, many men of my generation are stuck in a kind of extended post-adolescence.
Moreover, your point about the criminal justice system begs the question why black women may attend college, and often end up working state jobs, while their male counterparts end up in prison. Shouldn't structural racism, poverty, and crime influence both genders?