Business Women Degrees and Earnings on Rise

Women earn 54 percent of the B.A.s awarded in the United States, 52 percent of the Masters and professional degrees, and 40 percent of the doctorates. However, women are still severely under-represented in certain fields — 26 percent of graduate degrees in computer science, 14 percent in physics, and 16 percent in engineering.

The number of colleges and universities headed by women increased from five percent in 1975 to 10 percent in 1990. Women of color made up less than two percent of these high-level administrators.

In 1910, 20 percent of college faculty were female. In 1997, women comprised only 28 percent of college faculty. This is only an eight percentage point increase in an 87-year period.

In 1995, women made up only 31 percent of the full-time faculty of American colleges and universities, up from 26 percent in 1920, a five percentage point increase in 75 years.

Women make up almost 40 percent of the full-time faculty at public colleges, but only 20 percent of positions at top-ranked public and private research institutions.

Six years after Title IX was passed, women's participation in
intercollegiate sports increased by almost 600 percent.