Graduating, working women outnumber men

Monday, July 6, 1998

Graduating, working women outnumber men

TREND: More females complete bachelor’s degrees, work in UC
system than male counterparts

By Emi Kojima

Daily Bruin Senior Staff

More women than men graduate from UCLA – a fact that fits nicely
into a national trend found in a Census Bureau report released June
28.

The study found that for Americans between ages 25 and 29, a
greater percentage of women completed at least four years of
college in March 1997. Twenty-nine percent of women graduated,
compared with 26 percent of men.

The percentage of women who have completed college has been
rising steadily since 1985, before which men consistently
outnumbered women. The number has risen about 1 percent since 1996,
said the report, "Educational Attainment in the United States,
March 1997."

Jennifer Day, author of the report, attributed the growing
number of women completing college in recent years to an increase
in women who recognize the economic value of education and seek
careers.

"The educational attainment of these young adults indicates a
dramatic improvement by women, who have historically had less
education," Day said.

Last year, and for several years previously, more women received
their bachelor’s degrees from UCLA than men.

In the 1996-97 class, 53 percent of graduating students were
women. The same percentage of women made up the 1995-96 graduating
class.

Given the long-standing trend of having more women than men
graduate at the undergraduate level, the study’s findings are "not
particularly new," said Robert Cox, campus manager for enrollment
planning.

"UCLA, with few exceptions in its history, has had more women
than men enrolled as undergraduates," Cox said.

While more women may attain a degree on the undergraduate level,
Kathy Rose-Mockry, director of the Women’s Resource Center, said
that gender inequality still is alive in higher education.

While significant numbers of undergraduate women complete
college, she said fewer women graduate from master’s and doctoral
programs.

"The higher up you go, the more that you’ll find women drop out
of the system," she said.

Cox said that all of the UCs, with the exception of UC Berkeley,
have also had more undergraduate women than men.

He also said that over a long period of time, women are more
likely to graduate than men are.

"Women are about 2 to 3 percent more likely than men to
graduate," Cox said.

"Things are trending toward women," he said, noting the 55
percent admissions of female students in 1997, up from 51 percent
in 1993.

Like Cox, UCLA students also were not surprised by the
report.

"Maybe women are more focused on what they want. They come in
and do what they have to do," said Charles Muranaka, a fourth-year
economics student.

Jonathan Le Coz, a Los Angeles high school student, agreed with
Muranaka that the results were not shocking. He said that the
increase in women completing college makes sense because his female
peers in high school performed well.

"Women take their studies seriously. Even in high schools we
have women who participate and clearly take care of their work and
responsibilities," he said.

In the UC system, 65 percent of its employees are women, Cox
said.

At UCLA, employees are divided in three categories: professional
and support staff, managers and senior professors, and senior
managers, Cox said.

At the lowest level, the professional and support staff, out of
11,000 employees, 64 percent are women. Out of about 700 managers
and senior professors, 58 percent are women. At the highest level,
there are 51 employees of which 31 percent are women.

While some students attribute the higher number of female
graduates to their competence, Leslie Dutton, the national
president of the American Association of Women said that admissions
criteria may have affected the number of female admissions and
yielded higher numbers of graduates.

"My assumption would be a primary factor could have been
affirmative action," she said.

Dutton said that if affirmative action did affect the higher
number of females, the system was not fair.

Other students, however, disagree with Dutton, and worry that
Proposition 209, the California initiative banning the use of
gender or race in university admissions, will affect the trend of a
higher number of women getting higher education.

"I just hope that the number doesn’t go down, and women don’t
get discouraged," said Monica Reiss, a third-year history
student.

"Without equality, not as many are trying as hard," she
said.

Cox, however, said that the proposition was unlikely to
significantly affect the number of undergraduate women.

Though many debate whether the trend will continue, some said
that having more women completing college will make its mark on
society.

"They’ll contribute to a more egalitarian society and gain more
respect and a higher status," Reiss said.

Le Coz said he thought women would make higher salaries and
receive better medical plans in the future.

"(Women) will make it a better place," Cox said, "At the
university there is already a clear majority of females in the
workplace."