The Gender Gap in Degree Awards in the Sciences and Engineering

A new report from the National Student Clearinghouse Research Center examines the gender gap in degree attainments in science and engineering disciplines. The data shows that in 2016, 29 percent of all bachelor’s degrees earned by women were in the sciences or engineering compared to 40 percent for men. If we exclude psychology and the social sciences, we find that 13 percent of all degrees earned by women were in the natural sciences or engineering, compared to 28 percent for men. Thus, men were more than twice as likely as women to earn bachelor’s degrees in these fields.

As we move up the educational ladder, the gender gap increases. Only 8 percent of all master’s degrees earned by women in 2016 were in the natural sciences or engineering compared to 23 percent for men. At the doctoral level, 23 percent of all degree earned by women were in the natural sciences or engineering. For men, half of all doctorates were earned in these fields.

In 2016, for all science and engineering fields including the social sciences and psychology, women earned 49 percent of the bachelor’s degrees, 42 percent of the master’s degrees, and 39 percent of the doctoral degrees. If we break this data down by degree field, we find large gender disparities. For example women earned 19 percent of the bachelor’s degrees, 30 percent of the master’s degrees, and 21 percent of the doctoral degrees in computer science. In engineering, women earned 25 percent or less of all degrees at the bachelor’s, master’s, and doctoral levels.

In contrast, women earned 63 percent of the bachelor’s degrees, 60 percent of the master’s degrees, and 55 percent of the doctoral degrees in the social sciences and psychology. Women also earned a majority of all degrees at all levels in the biological sciences.

The report also shows that women have made little or no progress in closing the gender gap since 2006.

The five-page report, Science and Engineering Degree Completion by Gender, may be downloaded here.