Figure D-1. Female share of S&E graduate students, by field: 1996 and 2006
Figure Updated: December 2008
SOURCE: National Science Foundation, Division of Science Resources Statistics, Survey of Graduate Students and Postdoctorates in Science and Engineering, 1996 and 2006.
Women constituted a greater percentage of graduate students in S&E in 2006 (43%) than in 1996 (39%).
- Women accounted for more than half of all graduate students in some science fields. In 2006, women made up 76% of the graduate students in psychology, 56% in biological sciences, and 54% in social sciences.
- Women accounted for 23% of graduate students in engineering and 25% in computer sciences in 2006.
- Roughly 30%–45% of the graduate students in most other science fields were female.
- From 1996 to 2006, women's share of S&E graduate students increased in every field but computer sciences.
