Most of us either absolutely adore or absolutely dread thinking about college. For me, one of the oddly specific things I'm looking for in a college is that I would not like to be outnumbered by men. Please don't attack me in the comments section. In the early nineteen hundreds, most colleges, with the exception of some schools for educating one gender, had an even ratio of men to women. However, women lagged behind. The reason the rate of women who attended college was the same was because most college educated women at this time went to two year teachers' colleges, as opposed to getting bachelors degrees like men were getting. Thus, it is important to examine how much time women were spending in total on college as opposed to only how many women were in college. Additionally, only 5 percent of women went to all female colleges such as the Seven Sisters. The Seven Sisters is a set of women's colleges created as a counterpart to the male dominated Ivy League schools which refused to admit women at first. These colleges include Wellesley, Bryn Mawr, Smith, Barnard, Vassar, and Mount Holyoke college. These schools were extremely expensive, so only the richest women could afford to go there. To this day, these schools are extremely expensive. The ratio of women to men in colleges changed in the 1930's, when men began to outnumber women, and this only increased in the 1940's when men returned from the war and the GI bill gave them free college tuition. The gap eventually disappeared by the 1980's, and now, the overall number of women in colleges in the US has eclipsed the number of men in college. In the 80's, women earned 45% of all degrees, but now that number is at about 50%. In all, women have made excellent advances in education and it is probably unlikely that the number will fluctuate any more.
https://scholar.harvard.edu/files/goldin/files/the_homecoming_of_american_college_women_the_reversal_of_the_gender_gap_in_college.pdf?m=1360041522
Stellar post!
ReplyDeleteSince this is mountain view/los altos, you shouldn't have to worry about people attacking you for beliefs. It was interesting to read how in the early 1900's schools were equal gendered, or at least relatively close to it, I didn't know that.
I love this post and although we have come really far I think that there is always more to do! As seen in other countries women are still lagging behind. I just wanted to put this idea out there... ok. Because we in America have the access to higher education, should we in fact support others. (I know there is controversy about being international police) For me this is clearly obvious but I am sure there is definitely a dispute but you don't need to be a raging feminist to see equality in some fields are still dramatically different in terms of ratios.
ReplyDeleteJust fruit for thought.. Let me know your opinions!
It is great to know that despite other inequalities that still surface today, higher education between genders has greatly balanced and equalized. Like you mentioned, it is important to note what people were being encouraged to study, as women were often casted for jobs such as teaching, jobs men would normally not be doing at that time period. Although women are now getting college education as often as men do, women do not get the same jobs nor the same pay for the same jobs. The wage gap was prevalent throughout history, slowly and quickly diminishing, never fully. During the 60s and 70s civil rights movements, women protested the wage gap and demanded equality. When the Equal Pay Act was passed in 1963, the wage gap decreased from the 50% difference to about 20%. Today, women still make about 80% of what men do on average, proving that the genders are not yet equal in all aspects of life, but at least in education.
ReplyDeleteThere is still so much work to be done. Women of color make significantly less money than white women. Black women make 68% as much money as white men do, and Latina women make 62% of what white men make. This is an issue that needs to be addressed now.
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