Gender Stereotypes Remain Strong in Career and Technical Education Fields

A new data series from the U.S. Department of Education offers information on students who are enrolled in postsecondary career and technical education. These students are seeking either associate degrees or certificates below the bachelor’s degree level. Some of the data is broken down by gender.

The data shows that in the 2015-16 academic year, 53.1 percent of all women undergraduate students seeking a credential in higher education were aiming for an associate’s degree or a certificate in an occupational field and 46.9 percent were enrolled in bachelor’s degree programs.  More than 43 percent of all women undergraduates were seeking associate’s degrees, 23.8 percent in occupational fields and 13.8 percent in academic disciplines.

Of the undergraduate women seeking certificates, most were in occupational-related fields. Almost half of all women seeking a sub-baccalaureate credential were studying in a health-related field. The next most popular field of study for these women was business administration. For men seeking a sub-baccalaureate credential, manufacturing, construction, repair, and transportation was the most popular field of study followed by engineering, architecture, and science technologies.

Women were 58 percent of all students seeking a sub-baccalaureate credential but 83 percent of all students seeking a credential in healthcare. Women made up three quarters or more seeking credentials in education and public, legal, and social services. In contrast, women were only 5.5 percent of credential seekers in manufacturing, construction, repair, and transportation and 18 percent of those seeking a credential in engineering, architecture, and science technologies.