Number and percentage of bachelor’s, master’s, and doctoral degrees women earned, percent change in the number of degrees women earned, and change in the percentage of degrees women earned, by field of study: Academic years 1990–91, 1995–96, and 2005

Student Effort and Educational Progress: Tables

Completions

Table 27-1. Number and percentage of bachelor’s, master’s, and doctoral degrees women earned, percent change in the number of degrees women earned, and change in the percentage of degrees women earned, by field of study: Academic years 1990–91, 1995–96, and 2005–06

	1990–91		1995–96		2005–06
Field of study	Number	Percent of total	Number	Percent of total	Number	Percent of total	Percent change in the number of degrees earned between 1995–96 and 2005–06	Change in percentage points between 1995–96 and 2005–06

Bachelor’s degrees
Total¹	590,493	53.9	642,338	55.1	854,642	57.5	33.1	2.4
Health professions and related clinical sciences	50,256	83.9	70,145	81.5	79,059	86.0	12.7	4.5
Education	87,390	78.9	79,170	75.1	84,790	79.1	7.1	3.9
Psychology	42,588	72.6	53,580	73.0	68,269	77.5	27.4	4.5
English language and literature/letters	34,173	66.9	32,921	65.9	37,780	68.6	14.8	2.6
Communication, journalism, and related programs	32,241	60.8	28,305	58.8	48,794	63.4	72.4	4.7
Biological and biomedical sciences	20,019	50.8	31,968	52.6	42,527	61.5	33.0	8.9
Visual and performing arts	26,425	62.6	29,170	59.2	51,180	61.4	75.5	2.3
Social sciences and history	56,406	45.1	60,607	47.9	80,686	50.0	33.1	2.0
Business	117,608	47.2	110,078	48.6	158,359	49.8	43.9	1.2
Agriculture and natural resources	4,292	32.7	7,894	36.8	10,990	47.7	39.2	10.8
Mathematics and statistics	6,813	47.3	5,866	46.1	6,655	45.1	13.5	-1.1
Physical sciences and science technologies	5,164	31.6	7,061	36.0	8,487	41.8	20.2	5.8
Computer and information sciences and support services	7,388	29.4	6,749	27.5	9,775	20.6	44.8	-7.0
Engineering and engineering technologies	11,269	14.1	12,656	16.2	14,597	17.9	15.3	1.7

Master’s degrees
Total¹	180,686	53.6	227,220	55.9	356,169	60.0	56.8	4.0
Psychology	8,020	70.7	11,062	73.0	15,691	79.4	41.8	6.4
Health professions and related clinical sciences	16,931	79.3	26,903	79.3	40,750	79.3	51.5	#
Education	66,904	76.6	79,981	76.2	133,920	76.7	67.4	0.5
Communication, journalism, and related programs	2,616	60.5	3,408	61.3	5,134	66.3	50.6	5.0
English language and literature/letters	4,581	67.5	4,930	64.4	5,985	67.7	21.4	3.3
Biological and biomedical sciences	2,400	50.0	3,364	51.4	5,027	57.9	49.4	6.5
Visual and performing arts	4,827	55.8	5,919	57.6	7,729	57.1	30.6	-0.5
Social sciences and history	5,217	42.6	6,919	46.1	8,954	51.6	29.4	5.5
Agriculture and natural resources	1,135	34.4	1,909	41.9	2,360	50.9	23.6	8.9
Business	27,372	35.0	35,154	37.6	62,856	42.9	78.8	5.4
Mathematics and statistics	1,453	40.9	1,473	40.3	2,018	42.7	37.0	2.3
Physical sciences and science technologies	1,458	27.6	1,864	32.1	2,354	39.8	26.3	7.7
Computer and information sciences and support services	2,761	29.6	2,850	26.9	4,585	26.9	60.9	-0.1
Engineering and engineering technologies	3,670	14.4	5,018	17.3	7,864	23.5	56.7	6.1

Doctoral degrees
Total¹	14,538	37.0	17,811	39.9	27,433	48.9	54.0	9.0
Psychology	2,412	61.3	2,761	66.7	3,574	72.6	29.4	6.0
Health professions and related clinical sciences	885	57.7	996	60.3	5,169	72.5	419.0	12.2
Education	3,575	57.8	3,842	61.5	4,920	64.9	28.1	3.4
English language and literature/letters	587	55.6	860	61.6	744	59.3	-13.5	-2.3
Communication, journalism, and related programs	122	44.9	155	44.9	257	55.4	65.8	10.5
Visual and performing arts	372	44.4	543	50.9	744	53.8	37.0	2.9
Biological and biomedical sciences	1,487	36.9	2,106	41.8	2,842	49.2	34.9	7.4
Social sciences and history	1,056	35.1	1,421	37.8	1,696	43.3	19.4	5.5
Agriculture and natural resources	232	19.6	333	26.4	484	40.5	45.3	14.1
Business	309	26.1	394	28.8	662	38.7	68.0	9.8
Physical sciences and science technologies	831	19.6	1,033	22.9	1,346	30.0	30.3	7.1
Mathematics and statistics	188	19.2	239	20.6	382	29.5	59.8	8.9
Computer and information sciences and support services	92	13.6	126	14.5	307	21.7	143.7	7.2
Engineering and engineering technologies	496	9.3	808	12.6	1,508	20.2	86.6	7.6

# Rounds to zero.
¹ Includes other fields not shown separately.
NOTE: See supplemental note 10 for more information on fields of study. Figures are based on data from Title IV degree-granting institutions. See supplemental note 9 for more information. The shaded sections show fields in which women earned at least 50 percent of the degrees in 2005–06. Calculations are based on unrounded numbers. Detail may not sum to totals because of rounding.
SOURCE: U.S. Department of Education, National Center for Education Statistics (NCES). Digest of Education Statistics, 2007 (NCES 2008-022), tables 258, 286, 288, 290–294, 296, 299–301, 303, 305, and 307, data from U.S. Department of Education, NCES, 1990–91, 1995–96, and 2005–06 Integrated Postsecondary Education Data System, “Completions Survey” (IPEDS-C:91–96 ), and IPEDS, Fall 2006.

NCES Headlines