Academic Discipline Male

Degrees Female

Degrees Percent Female Female-Dominated Disciplines Family and consumer sciences/human sciences 2,754 19,151 87.4% Health professions and related clinical sciences 17,792 102,696 85.2% Public administration and social service professions 4,374 19,477 81.7% Education 21,159 80,549 79.2% Psychology 21,488 72,783 77.2% Legal professions and studies 1,037 2,785 72.9% Foreign languages, literatures, and linguistics 6,302 14,856 70.2% Area, ethnic, cultural, and gender studies 2,735 6,037 68.8% Multi/interdisciplinary studies 11,857 25,587 68.3% English language and literature 17,973 37,489 67.6% Liberal arts and sciences, general studies and humanities 16,616 30,480 64.7% Communication and communications technologies 31,218 51,891 62.4% Visual and performing arts 35,051 54,089 60.7% Biological and biomedical sciences 32,925 47,831 59.2% Close to Gender Parity

Security and protective services 21,073 20,727 49.6% Social sciences and history 85,197 83,303 49.4% Business, management, marketing 177,862 170,123 48.9% Agriculture and natural resources 13,101 11,887 47.6% Parks, recreation, leisure, and fitness studies 16,666 15,001 47.4% Male-Dominated Disciplines

Mathematics and statistics 8,793 6,703 43.3% Architecture and related services 5,797 4,322 42.7% Physical sciences and science technologies 13,299 9,167 40.8% Philosophy and religious studies 7,761 4,683 37.6% Theology and religious vocations 5,950 2,990 33.4% Computer and information sciences and support services 31,215 6,779 17.8% Engineering and engineering technologies 70,675 13,961 16.5%

All Disciplines 685,382 915,986 57.2%



The table above is based on the most recent data on bachelor's degrees by discipline and sex for the class of 2009 from the The table above is based on the most recent data on bachelor's degrees by discipline and sex for the class of 2009 from the Department of Education . Note that:





1. Overall, there were 134 female college graduates with bachelor's degrees in 2009 for every 100 men.





2. Women significantly outnumbered men in 14 academic disciplines, men significantly outnumber women in 7 academic disciplines, and there was approximate gender parity in 5 disciplines.





3. Even though we constantly hear about female under-representation in science, in 2009, women outnumbered men for bachelor's degrees in biology by a ratio of 145 women per 100 men.





4. The concern about gender imbalances for college degrees is frequently selective, with great concern about female under-representation in certain disciplines, but very little concern about female over-representation, both by discipline, and overall for all college degrees.