New data from the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development shows how the United States ranks against other developed nations in terms of the percentage of women among all degree earners in various academic disciplines. Overall, women in the United States earn 58.6 percent of all degrees earned in all disciplines. In Estonia, the Czech Republic, Finland, Hungary, the Slovak Republic, Slovenia, and Sweden, women earned more than 60 percent of all degrees earned. At the bottom of the rankings, women earned less than half of all degrees in Japan, Turkey, and Switzerland.
America women earn 40.3 percent of all degrees in the natural sciences, mathematics, and computer science. The highest percentage was in Portugal. There, women earned 55.7 percent of all degrees in these fields. In Italy, women earned 52.7 percent of all degrees in the natural sciences, mathematics, and computer science. In Japan, Chile, Belgium, and the Netherlands, women earned less than 30 percent of all degrees in these fields.
American women were near the bottom of the rankings in the attainment of engineering degrees. Women in the United States earned just 18.9 percent of all engineering degrees. The highest percentage was in Denmark. There, women earned 35.3 percent of all engineering degrees. In Estonia, Greece, Italy, Portugal, and the Slovak Republic, women earned more than 30 percent of all degrees in engineering. In Japan, Switzerland, and Ireland, women earned less than 15 percent of all engineering degrees.