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Back in the olden days, it was uncommon for women to earn college degrees. In fact they did not go to college at all. Slowly all women’s institutions were opened where it was safe for women to study. Co-ed education started much later but it has proven to be a boon for women.

Recently, a report released by the council of graduate schools stated that in the past academic year, it has been seen that the number of women applying and achieving PhDs are higher than men.

This report definitely reverses all the notions and the old standing trends where men outnumbered women for PhDs and other higher degrees. Currently at least 50.4 percent of women have been awarded doctorate degrees from a total number of twenty eight thousand, nine hundred and sixty women while there were twenty eight thousand four hundred and sixty men competing with them.

However, many thinkers state that they are not surprised because they always knew women would overtake men in a short period of time. It was bound to happen sooner or later as women were becoming serious about their degrees than the men were.

The last academic year stated that women still lagged behind men where doctorate degrees were concerned. And doctorate degrees in subjects like mathematics, business management, physical science, earth sciences, computer science and engineering were mainly dominated by men.

At least eighty percent of the doctorate degrees awarded in these fields go to men. But women outnumber men in subjects like humanities, arts, literature etc. and by no means has this meant that they do not take subjects that men dominate. There are women there as well but men outnumber them.

Until last year, men remained ahead in doctoral degrees, primarily by dominating engineering, mathematics, computer science, business, and physical and earth sciences, according to Inside Higher Ed. Still, nearly 80 percent of awarded engineering doctorates go to men. However, areas of study that contain mostly women extend beyond the arts and humanities, for example, into health and biological sciences.

Over the years academic reports have stated that women have outnumbered men in undergraduate as well as graduate levels studies. The ratio is now 3:2 which means that there are women to every two men in school and high school.

Earlier it was the men who could easily apply for the doctorate programs while women found it difficult as they had to commit many number of years to education and it is not easy for them to do so. Many argued that it was so because women were torn between gaining higher education and starting a family. But today that is not the case. Either women balance their family life with their PhD studies or they simply opt for education over starting a family as there no societal norms as such any more.

We have seen gender disparities in the number of men who take up teaching position at colleges while women settle for other career options. But if the current trend continues, this too will change.