Gender Inequality: College Enrollment and Completion

Gender disparities in higher education have shifted significantly over time. While for much of the 20th century there was great concern over improving college access for women, in the past 30 years, women have come to outnumber men in both college enrollment and graduation. However, despite making huge gains in college enrollment and graduation, women still face obstacles in college admissions as schools struggle to maintain a gender balance on campus. There are significant variations by race and income level in the gender gap favoring women in college enrollment and completion, which furthers inequalities among some groups.

Before the Civil War, American women had few higher education options, and these were mostly limited to women's colleges or sister schools to elite universities such as Harvard/Radcliffe and ...