The Gender Gap in Graduate Degree Awards Varies Greatly by Particular Discipline

A new report from the Council on Graduate Schools provides data on graduate degree attainments by gender.

During the 2015-16 academic year, women were awarded 326,314 master’s degrees by U.S. colleges and universities. They made up 57.4 percent of all master’s degree recipients. Women made up more than three quarters of all master’s degree recipients in education, public administration, and the health sciences. However women were less than one third of all master’s degree recipients in engineering and mathematics and computer science.

At the doctoral level, women earned 40,407 degrees. This was 52.1 percent of all doctoral degrees awarded. Women were more than 60 percent of all doctoral degree recipients in the social sciences, health sciences and education. But women were less than 34 percent of all doctoral degree recipients in the physical sciences, engineering, and mathematics and computer science.

The full report, Graduate Enrollment and Degrees, 2006 to 2016, may be downloaded by clicking here.