Wide Gender Disparities in Doctoral Degree Awards in Specific Disciplines

New data from the National Science Foundation shows that in 2011, 26,237 men and 22,751 women earned doctorates at universities in the United States. The data shows wide gender disparities in specific disciplines.

Women earned less than one third of all doctorates in fields such as computer science, mathematics, physics and astronomy, and engineering. In contrast, women earned 69.4 percent of all doctorates awarded in education fields and 72.1 percent of all doctorates in psychology.

Men also earned more doctorates than women in economics and business and management. Women earned more doctorates than men in biological and biomedical sciences, health sciences, humanities and social sciences.