Ranking the States by the Percentage of Women Among Their Doctoral Degree Recipients

Over the past several decades women have made considerable progress in higher education in enrollments and degree attainments. But in some areas women still trail men. One important area where women have not reached parity with men is doctoral degree attainments.

According to the annual Survey of Earned Doctorates from the National Science Foundation, in 2013, 24,396 women were awarded doctoral degrees from American universities. Women made up 46.2 percent of all doctoral recipients.

There is a wide disparity between the states in the awarding of doctoral degrees to women. Despite the fact that nationwide men earned nearly 4,000 more doctoral degrees than women in 2013, there were several states where women earned more doctorates than men.

In Vermont, women earned 56.2 percent of all doctorates awarded in 2013. This was the highest percentage in the nation. Maine ranked second and Mississippi was third. In addition to the District of Columbia, the other states where women earned more doctorates than men in 2013 were Montana, Alaska, Hawaii, Minnesota, New Hampshire, Maryland, and Tennessee.

Women earned less than 40 percent of all doctorates in only three states: Utah, Arkansas, and Wyoming.