RT Journal Article
SR Electronic
T1 The Deepening Gender Divide in Credentials, 2000–2020: Continuity, Change, and Implications
JF RSF: The Russell Sage Foundation Journal of the Social Sciences
FD Russell Sage Foundation
SP 154
OP 177
DO 10.7758/RSF.2025.11.1.08
VO 11
IS 1
A1 Buchmann, Claudia
A1 Dwyer, Rachel E.
A1 Yao, Man
YR 2025
UL http://www.rsfjournal.org/content/11/1/154.abstract
AB In the United States, women have earned more bachelor’s degrees than men since the mid-1980s. We examine the historical continuities in this trend and its sources, as well as changes since 2000 in gender gaps in advanced credentials, fields of study, types of institutions attended, and financing for higher education. The gender gap in bachelor’s degrees has remained stable at a high level over this period and a female advantage in advanced degrees emerged, especially in professional degrees. The deepening gender divide in credentials coincided with rising shares of women attending for-profit institutions and an emerging gender divide in student indebtedness. Thus, women disproportionately carry the promise and bear the costs of educational expansion, with far reaching implications for the future.