The Gender Gap in Higher Education Is Projected to Widen by 2023

A new report from the National Center for Educational Statistics offers projections on the enrollments and degree attainments of women from now until 2023. The projections state that by 2023, enrollments of women in postsecondary degree-granting institutions are expected to increase by 20 percent. During the same period, the enrollments of men in higher education are expected to increase by only 10 percent. Thus, the gender gap in college enrollments is projected to increase significantly by 2023.

With the gender gap in enrollments projects to increase, coupled with the fact that women who are enrolled are more likely than men who are enrolled to graduate, it is no surprise that the projections show that the gender gap in degree attainments with also widen by 2023.

The number of women earning bachelor’s degrees is projected to increase by 19 percent by the 2023-24 academic year. For men the projected increase is 10 percent. By the 2023-24 academic year, women are projected to earn 59.1 percent of all bachelor’s degrees.

For master’s degrees, women can expect to see an increase of 43 percent by the 2023-24 academic year. For men, the projected increase is 27 percent. By 2023-24, women are projected to earn 62.7 percent of all master’s degrees.

For doctorates, where the gender gap has been relatively small, the number of degrees earned by women is expected to increase by 24 percent by the 2023-24 academic year, while men will see a 21 percent increase. As a result, women are projected to win a slim majority of all doctorates in the 2023-24 academic year.

The full report, Projections of Education Statistics to 2023, may be downloaded by clicking here.