Women continue to major in the sciences and earn degrees in the sciences 

 to a lesser extent than men, even though women now make up a majority 

 of all college students. In 2000, two of five undergraduates in the sciences 

 were women. Similarly, in 2000, while women made up over half of all 

 graduate students, they accounted for less than a third of graduate 

 students in the sciences. 



Women Tend to Pursue 

 More Degrees in Life 

 Science and Fewer in 

 Engineering and 

 Mathematics 



The percentage of women students differs across scientific fields, as 

 shown in figure 3. In 1999-2000, women were a majority of both 

 undergraduate and graduate students in life sciences, while only one-fifth 

 of engineering students were women, at both the imdergraduate and the 

 graduate levels. Regarding degrees earned, the majority of degrees in fields 

 other than the sciences, at aU levels — bachelors, masters, and 

 doctorates — are earned by women. However, with one exception, women 

 continue to earn fewer degrees than men in the sciences, at all levels. 

 Again, the exception is life sciences, in wWch women earned more 

 bachelors and masters degrees — but not doctorate degrees — than men. 

 The proportion of degrees in the sciences earned by women is highest in 

 life sciences and lowest in engineering. (See app. VI for erurollment and 

 degrees earned by men and women by field and level of study.) 



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GAO-04-639 Gender Issues 



