Discrimination Against Women and Girls in Education - Fact Sheet

July 1, 1997

Education is widely recognized as the gateway to economic security and opportunity -- particularly for women, whose wages persistently lag behind those of their male counterparts. Indeed, in a rapidly changing economy requiring increasing levels of technical expertise, having a post-high school education has become more and more important in obtaining a well-paying job. Yet the access of girls and women to educational opportunities continues to be limited by sex discrimination at all levels of our educational system, from elementary and secondary school through college and post-graduate programs. Until all vestiges of these inequities are eliminated, affirmative measures to level the educational playing field remain critical for women and their families -- and for our nation as a whole, which cannot afford to be deprived of the full potential of half its population.

Barriers to Equal Opportunity for Women and Girls in Education Remain Pervasive

For most of our nation's history, the doors of many of our nation's finest educational institutions were firmly closed to women. Until the 1970's, many private institutions, as well as state schools funded by tax dollars, systematically excluded women from admission, and from enrollment in particular programs, simply because of their sex. Even though sex discrimination in federally-funded education was finally outlawed with passage of Title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972, women's educational opportunities are still limited, and women lag behind by many measures. For example:

Financial Aid to Women Is Limited

Limitations on financial assistance have played an important role in foreclosing educational opportunities for women, and continue to do so. Today, the average size of awards to female students is smaller than the average for their male counterparts.(1) Women are also disproportionately affected by limits placed on financial assistance for part-time and re-entry students, who are more likely to be women.(2)

In addition, women are denied access to entire classes of scholarships designed exclusively for men, many for study in fields in which men already have a participation advantage. For example, colleges and universities have provided scholarships and fellowships for "deserving" men to pursue careers in medicine(3), male mechanical engineering students who are members of the Sigma Chi Fraternity(4), men from New Jersey(5), men who attended certain high schools(6), and others.(7)

Standardized Testing Unfairly Hurts Talented Female Students

Standardized tests, including the SAT and PSAT, play a decisive role in determining which college a student attends and whether she receives scholarship money. Unfortunately, these tests are flawed assessment tools: although these tests are designed to be an indicator of future performance, young women earn higher grades in high school and in college than boys,(8) while consistently scoring below boys on standardized tests.(9) In addition to evidence of gender bias, studies have documented racial, ethnic, and cultural biases in these tests.(10) Nevertheless, these tests are still used in awarding critical scholarship money and have an enormous impact on girls' educational opportunities: boys get the majority of scholarships based on SAT and PSAT test scores, receiving, for example, an estimated $15 million of the $25 million awarded yearly by the National Merit Scholarship Corp.(11)

Women Face Barriers in Math, Science and Other Nontraditional Areas, and in Attainment of Advanced Degrees

While women now comprise just over half of undergraduates nationwide, they remain excluded from or underrepresented in key nontraditional areas of study, such as engineering, mathematics, and physical sciences. The relative absence of girls and young women in math and science programs has important implications for the career paths they pursue as adults. Girls without math and science backgrounds are less likely to pursue professional careers and therefore less likely to be prepared to enter positions that will provide them with the earning potential necessary to support their families.

Gender differences in math and science grow as students approach secondary school. In third grade, girls think they are good in math in numbers equal to boys, but by high school, girls have begun to doubt strongly their confidence in math.(12) Once in high school, girls are less likely than boys to take the most advanced math or physics courses,(13) and even young women who are highly competent in math and science are less likely to pursue scientific or technological careers.(14)

Women receive only about 16% of undergraduate and 11% of doctorate degrees in engineering; less than 22% of doctorate degrees in math and physical sciences; 28% of undergraduate and 15% of doctorate degrees in computer and information sciences.(15) By contrast, women continue to earn the largest proportion of degrees at all levels (associate through doctoral degrees) in fields they have traditionally dominated, such as health professions (which includes nursing, physical therapy and health administration) (83%) and education (77%).(16)

The rate of movement of women into nontraditional fields of study has been slow. The proportion of degrees earned by women in the physical sciences increased between 1984-85 and 1992-93 by only 4 percentage points, and women's share of engineering degrees increased by only 2 percentage points during the same period.(17)

Although the number of women receiving bachelor's and master's degrees has been steadily rising, women still receive only 38.5% of doctoral and 40% of all first-professional degrees.(18)

Women Hold Lower Ranking College Faculty Positions With Lower Pay

Women are still nowhere near achieving parity in faculty positions in higher education. They are concentrated in the lower ranks of faculty, and their salaries lag behind those of their male counterparts. Indeed, most of the recent gains for minorities and women are among visiting staff and temporary lecturers, not full-time staff.

Women were approximately one-third of all full- and part-time faculty employed by U.S. colleges and universities in 1992, and only 18% of all full professors. By contrast, half of all lecturers were women. And 41% of all female faculty were employed part time, while only 29% of male faculty were part time.(19)

Women of color have made even smaller gains, comprising only 1.5% of full-time professors nationwide.(20)

Women faculty members continue to earn lower average salaries than their male counterparts at all levels. A survey released by the American Association of University Professors (AAUP) in April 1996 found that the salary gap between male and female university professors has remained constant, with men receiving about 30% more than women, even after adjusting for differences in age and hours worked.(21)

Women in academia remain concentrated in certain departments. For example, nationwide, women make up nearly all of the faculty in nursing (98%), but only 6% in engineering.(22) Stanford University reported in 1993 that in 11 departments it had no women faculty, and in 30 departments (43% of all departments) it had no tenured women faculty.

Nationwide, women faculty members are less likely than their male counterparts to have tenure or to hold tenure-track appointments. The AAUP survey found that less than 50% of all female faculty had tenure status, compared with 72% of their male peers.(23)

Athletic Opportunities for Young Women Are Limited

While women are over half of undergraduates in our colleges and universities, their athletic opportunities are still severely limited. The availability of athletic scholarships dramatically increases young women's ability to pursue a college education, and helps them develop self-confidence and critical leadership skills. Nationwide, women are only 37% of all college varsity athletes. Fe