Examining the Gender Gap in Bachelor Degree Awards in Various Disciplines

A new study by the American Enterprise Institute finds that in 2015 women earned 56.4% of all bachelor’s degrees. But the study found that women make up a huge percentage of all degree earners in some fields and very few in others.

For example, women made up 87 percent of all bachelor’s degree earners in the field of family and consumer sciences. Women also earned more than four of every five degrees in the health professions and public administration. Women earned at least three of every four degrees in education and psychology.

At the other end of the spectrum, in 2015, women were awarded only 18 percent of all degrees in computer science and 20 percent of all degrees in engineering. Women earned less than one third of all degrees in theology and less than 40 percent of all degrees in communications technologies, the physical sciences, and philosophy.

The full study, “Bachelor’s Degrees by Field and Gender for the Class of 2015,” may be found here.