In a first, women surpass men in advanced degrees

[Marshall]

In a first, women surpass men in advanced degrees
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Apr 27, 6:17 AM (ET)

By HOPE YEN

(AP) In this April 18, 2011 file photo, a woman at a job fair in New York talks to an employer....
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WASHINGTON (AP) - For the first time, American women have passed men in gaining advanced college degrees as well as bachelor's degrees, part of a trend that is helping redefine who goes off to work and who stays home with the kids.
Census figures released Tuesday highlight the latest education milestone for women, who began to exceed men in college enrollment in the early 1980s. The findings come amid record shares of women in the workplace and a steady decline in stay-at-home mothers.
The educational gains for women are giving them greater access to a wider range of jobs, contributing to a shift of traditional gender roles at home and work. Based on one demographer's estimate, the number of stay-at-home dads who are the primary caregivers for their children reached nearly 2 million last year, or one in 15 fathers. The official census tally was 154,000, based on a narrower definition that excludes those working part-time or looking for jobs.
"The gaps we're seeing in bachelor's and advanced degrees mean that women will be better protected against the next recession," said Mark Perry, an economics professor at the University of Michigan-Flint who is a visiting scholar at the American Enterprise Institute, a conservative think tank.
"Men now might be the ones more likely to be staying home, doing the more traditional child rearing," he said.
Among adults 25 and older, 10.6 million U.S. women have master's degrees or higher, compared with 10.5 million men. Measured by shares, about 10.2 percent of women have advanced degrees compared with 10.9 percent of men - a gap steadily narrowing in recent years. Women still trail men in professional subcategories such as business, science and engineering.
When it comes to finishing college, roughly 20.1 million women have bachelor's degrees, compared with nearly 18.7 million men - a gap of more than 1.4 million that has remained steady in recent years. Women first passed men in bachelor's degrees in 1996.
Some researchers, including Perry, have dubbed the current economic slump a "man-cession" because of the huge job losses in the male-dominated construction and manufacturing industries, which require less schooling. Measured by pay, women with full-time jobs now make 78.2 percent of what men earn, up from about 64 percent in 2000.
Unemployment for men currently stands at 9.3 percent compared with 8.3 percent for women, who now make up half of the U.S. work force. The number of stay-at-home moms, meanwhile, dropped last year for a fourth year in a row to 5 million, or roughly one in four married-couple households. That's down from nearly half of such households in 1969.
By the census' admittedly outmoded measure, the number of stay-at-home dads has remained largely flat in recent years, making up less than 1 percent of married-couple households.
Whatever the exact numbers, Census Bureau researchers have detailed a connection between women's educational attainment and declines in traditional stay-at-home parenting. For instance, they found that stay-at-home mothers today are more likely to be young, foreign-born Hispanics who lack college degrees than professional women who set aside careers for full-time family life after giving birth.
"We're not saying the census definition of a 'stay-at-home' parent is what reflects families today," said Rose Kreider, a family demographer at the Census Bureau. "We're simply tracking how many families fit that situation over time." She said in an interview that the bureau's definition of a stay-at-home parent is based on a 1950s stereotype of a breadwinner-homemaker family that wasn't necessarily predominant then and isn't now.
Beth Latshaw, an assistant professor of sociology at Appalachian State University in Boone, N.C., notes the figures are based on a narrow definition in which the wife must be in the labor force for the entire year and the husband outside the official labor force for the specifically cited reason of "taking care of home and family."
Her own survey found that many fathers who had primary child-care responsibility at home while working part time or pursuing a degree viewed themselves as stay-at-home fathers. When those factors are included as well as unmarried and single dads, the share of fathers who stay at home to raise children jumps from less than 1 percent to more than 6 percent.
Put another way, roughly one of every five stay-at-home parents is a father.
The remaining share of households without stay-at-home parents - the majority of U.S. families - are cases in which both parents work full time while their children attend school or day care or are watched by nannies or grandparents, or in which fathers work full time while the mothers work part time and care for children part time.
"There's still a pervasive belief that men can't care for children as well as women can, reinforcing the father-as-breadwinner ideology," said Latshaw, whose research is being published next month in the peer-reviewed journal "Fathering." She is urging census to expand its definition to highlight the growing numbers, which she believes will encourage wider use of paternity leave and other family-friendly policies.
The new "Mr. Moms" include Todd Krater, 38, of Lakemoor, Ill., a Chicago suburb. Krater has been a self-described stay-at-home dad for the past seven years to his three sons after his wife, who earned a master's business degree, began to flourish in her career as a software specialist.
Krater said he found it difficult adjusting at first and got little support from other mothers who treated him as an outcast at school functions. He eventually started writing a blog, "A Man Among Mommies," to encourage other fathers to take a larger role in child care and says he now revels in seeing more dads at the park, library and school events.
"What was once an uncommon sight of a dad with the kids during the day is becoming more and more prevalent," said Krater, who is now studying part time to become a registered nurse. "But many still feel the pressure of gender roles and feel if they don't make money they are somehow less of a man."
The census numbers come from the government's Current Population Survey as of March 2010. Among other findings:
_Among adults 25 and older, women are more likely than men to have finished high school, 87.6 percent to 86.6 percent.
_Broken down by race and ethnicity, 52 percent of Asian-Americans had at least a bachelor's degree. That's compared with 33 percent for non-Hispanic whites, 20 percent for blacks and 14 percent for Hispanics.
_Thirty percent of foreign-born residents in the U.S. had less than a high school diploma, compared with 10 percent of U.S.-born residents and 19 percent of naturalized citizens. At the same time, the foreign-born population was just as likely as U.S.-born residents to have at least a bachelor's degree, at roughly 30 percent.
Jeremy Adam Smith, author of the 2009 book "The Daddy Shift: How Stay-at-Home Dads, Breadwinning Moms and Shared Parenting are Transforming the American Family," described a cultural shift as women began to surpass men in college enrollment in the 1980s. The 1983 movie, "Mr. Mom," openly broached the idea that out-of-work fathers can contribute to families as stay-at-home dads, allowing more men to be accepting of the role in subsequent recessions, he said. "Over the long term, the numbers are just going to keep going up," Smith said.

[Fastcars1966]

This is great news for a man with three daughters two with advanced degrees, and the youngest working towards hers now. My daughters seemed to be much more mature than their boyfriends, and more serious about school. I also work with a lady that fits this new model her husband is a stay at home.

[WTF]

Originally Posted by Fastcars1966

I also work with a lady that fits this new model her husband is a stay at home.

Don't tell that to some of the ladies that post here! They will tar and feather the poor bastard.

[guest010613]

Well, over half of my MBA class was ladies, so I saw this trend about a decade ago, They were generally better students, and in many ways better in group leadership roles. It is way overdue; I have never understood this traditional disparity, although academically I "know" the reasons behind it. But then, my mother was the first woman ever to earn a Ph. D. from her university, so I was raised by one of the leaders of the "movement." Guess it might make me a bit biased.

[Carrie Hillcrest]

Originally Posted by WTF

Don't tell that to some of the ladies that post here! They will tar and feather the poor bastard.

Not me! If it's a mutual decision and he's pulling his weight maintaining the house and/or taking care of the kids full time, I see nothing wrong with that.

Sitting on the sofa all day eating bonbons and playing WoW, however, is another thing entirely. I've been in that relationship -- past tense and never again!

[OneHotMale]

Originally Posted by Carrie Hillcrest

Not me! If it's a mutual decision and he's pulling his weight maintaining the house and/or taking care of the kids full time, I see nothing wrong with that.

Sitting on the sofa all day eating bonbons and playing WoW, however, is another thing entirely. I've been in that relationship -- past tense and never again!

Carrie maybe you need to edit your response to WTF as he may be scheduling a date with you and upon arrival have a wedding ring in one hand and his x-box in the other so as to propose.

And yes ladies do seem to be more motivated as far as pursuing their education. Each of my girls has an advanced degree with one being an attorney and the other a Dr.

[atlcomedy]

Women still trail men in professional subcategories such as business, science and engineering

Above from the article

This not a knock on women or strides they have made professionally but put this in the whole...."Great headline...not all the info presented...here's the rest of the story...." file

K-12 education is still dominated by women (as teachers)...more State's Boards of Education have continuted to, if not require, heavily incent (e.g. pay raises) a Masters Degree (not to start but earned over a period of years)

So the article does point out women still trailing in business, science & engineering (generally speaking, much higher paid professions), but fails to mention that it is government mandated educational requirements for teachers driving this.

[Fastcars1966]

That is true, but the gap is closing. My oldest daughter got a free ride to Purdue for grad school and graduated with a 4.0 in engineering. Smart and pretty. worked as a G.A and received pay as well to cover her spending needs. My youngest daughter is also making money to go to school and her major is business with a minor in PR also suma cum lade. Now I do admit that being a smart female opened up a lot of scholarship money but they both graduated from high school with a shit load of college credits and 33 and 34 respectively on the ACT I know that is the average scores of admission to there respective colleges, but to go on and graduate with honors shows they had their priorities in order. Health care is also an area dominated by women with advanced degrees.

Originally Posted by atlcomedy

Above from the article

This not a knock on women or strides they have made professionally but put this in the whole...."Great headline...not all the info presented...here's the rest of the story...." file

K-12 education is still dominated by women (as teachers)...more State's Boards of Education have continuted to, if not require, heavily incent (e.g. pay raises) a Masters Degree (not to start but earned over a period of years)

So the article does point out women still trailing in business, science & engineering (generally speaking, much higher paid professions), but fails to mention that it is government mandated educational requirements for teachers driving this.

[WTF]

Originally Posted by OneHotMale

Carrie maybe you need to edit your response to WTF as he may be scheduling a date with you and upon arrival have a wedding ring in one hand and his x-box in the other so as to propose.

.

Don't listen to him Carrie, I'm a PS3 kinda guy

[Ed Highlight]

It only took about 50 years considering they spotted us a several hundred year head start before women were even allowed to attend colleges and universities with the same regularity as men....Congratulations ladies, you have successfully advanced the species...AND you look better naked!!

[playtimedallas]

wowowie, hopefully these good looking women brainiacs loves sex as well. beauty and brains what a turn on.

[Guest050715-1]

Originally Posted by Ed Highlight

........................AND you look better naked!!

As with all things, that's subject to one's point of view .

Alt has a point. Things are changing. For instance my daughter's degree is geology, and I know many young women in today's crop of college students that are pursuing technical or business related degrees. It's weird though, once something is designated "women's" work: teaching, nursing, social work, etc. very few men will seek these jobs out. I think it is more to do with the stigma attached than the lower pay.

[Sisyphus]

Originally Posted by OliviaHoward

As with all things, that's subject to one's point of view .

Alt has a point. Things are changing. For instance my daughter's degree is geology, and I know many young women in today's crop of college students that are pursuing technical or business related degrees. It's weird though, once something is designated "women's" work: teaching, nursing, social work, etc. very few men will seek these jobs out. I think it is more to do with the stigma attached than the lower pay.

I don't know for a fact but my guess is it's both. Either way, it doesn't say much for us as a society. We either value the wrong things...or we place value on them based upon who pursues them. Pretty pathetic, either way...