The dominance of males in higher education may finally be ending. New Census data indicates the percentage of men and women with bachelor’s degrees is roughly equal, according to The Chronicle of Higher Education:
About 29 percent of women 25 and older had attained at least a bachelor’s degree in 2009, compared with 30 percent of men. A decade earlier, the proportions were 23 percent and 28 percent, respectively….
The pattern of women’s academic achievement outdoing men’s, on average, goes back more than a decade, and is now expressing itself in the awarding of both undergraduate and graduate degrees. According to the newly reported data, young women have widened the gap in achieving postsecondary degrees in the past decade. In 2009, 35 percent of women ages 25 to 29 held at least a bachelor’s degree, compared with 27 percent of men. A decade earlier, the numbers were much closer: 30 percent versus 27 percent.
And in a speech at George Washington University yesterday, Vice President Joe Biden unveiled a policy change that should strengthen Title IX, the famous legislation that ensures equal funding for men’s and women’s sports.
Quick hits
- An MTA official working on the development of the Purple Line fears former Gov. Robert Ehrlich might slow the project if he defeats Gov. Martin O’Malley this fall, Capital News Service reports.
- Ocean City, Md. is dropping its recycling program, according to The Sun.
- Washington Post metro columnist Courtland Milloy says Prince George’s County Police Chief Roberto Hylton is reaching out to community leaders for support in the wake of the controversy over county police officers beating a university student.
- Prairie View A&M has disbanded a fraternity whose hazing resulted in the death of a pledge, according to The Dallas Morning News.