Girls Surpassing Boys In Academia, Still Losing In Workplace
October 20, 2009 Grants for Education 1 CommentWe, the male populace, had it coming, I guess. Following centuries of keeping women down with often unfair societal mores and occasionally ridiculous fashion demands, we had to assume that someday there would be a backlash, that someday the “fairer sex” would come out uncaged, chomping at the bit to dispel those centuries of oppression. Well, newsflash for all you males out there and congratulations to all the females: that day has arrived.
Women are officially dominating men in academia. That’s right, the ivory towers once occupied almost exclusively by boys have been invaded, ravaged, and repossessed by females. According to statistics, 60 percent of college students are now women. Females earn 170,000 more bachelor degrees annually than their male counterparts. The ratios of females to males at business and medical schools are steadily going up, and, at law schools, females now hold a majority. Meanwhile, mounting numbers of males from elementary to high school are struggling to meet minimum requirements, leaving schoolteachers and administrators scratching their heads, unsure of what happened.
Where did this trend come from? A handful of theories exist. One claims that women, who tend to be drawn toward cooperation, collaboration, multi-tasking, and sitting quietly, are better suited socially for the conventional school structure. Men, on the other hand, who crave exploration, contest, and physical movement, have a tendency to be square pegs in round holes, so to speak, in academics. Other theories indicate that the feminist movement, with its relentless bombardment of “girl power” messaging, and the relative silence from the male side are responsible for this remarkable move. For almost 40 years now, girls have had armies of supporters telling them they carry the torch for those who didn’t have the opportunities they did, that they must go out establish that they can do it- for their mothers, aunts, grandmothers, and grand-aunts. Men, on the other hand, sitting high on the hog, have had very little to scrap for; support generally comes for athletics instead than school.
Two bastions of male domination still remain, however: administration and earnings. Men still vastly outnumber females in executive jobs. Typical male wages in equivalent jobs routinely outpace those of their female peers.
It may just be a matter of time before those women who now fill universities expand into the corporations of the world. It may just be a matter of time before women come to take over business, politics, and life as we know it. It may be just a matter of time before guys find themselves wearing really tight corsets and having to watch their figures. (Kiss your 32 oz. steaks and burping contests goodbye!)
All of Mom’s counsel about being polite to females totally makes sense now. Back then, it was about good manners. In the future, it may be about survival.
About the author: Marcus Varner earned his MBA in Marketing and a BA in English with a Creative Writing emphasis from Brigham Young University. He specializes in writing about education issues, online education, online colleges, workplace trends, and careers.
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