In the early colonial history of the United States, higher education was restricted for men only, but since the 1800s, women's positions and opportunities in the educational sphere have increased. Since the late 1970s and early 1980s, women have surpassed men in number of bachelor's degrees and master's degrees conferred annually in the United States.National Center for Education Statistics, Digest of Education Statistics. Retrieved 2015-02-21Molly O'Connor, "Mitch McConnell says more women graduate from college than men do", Politifact, July 18, 2014. Retrieved 2015-02-21 Starting in 2005, female students have also received a majority of doctorates awarded each year.
Statistics Mid 20th Century Ellen DuBois and Lynn Dumenil estimated that the number of bachelor and doctorate degrees from 1950 to 1980 for women were:
Year % of bachelor's degrees % of doctorate degrees 1950 23.9% 9.7% 1960 35% 10.5% 1970 41.5% 13.3% 1980 49% 30.3%
The statistics for enrollment of women in higher education in the 1930s varies depending upon the type of census performed in that year.
According to the U.S. Office of Education, the total number of enrollment for women in higher education the U.S. in 1930 was 480,802. This information was gathered by the U.S. Office of Education on a biannual basis, and reflects an estimate for the academic year (Fall 1929 - Spring 1930).
The U.S. Department of Commerce and Bureau of the Census performed a preliminary estimate for the same year (1930) of women in higher education in the U.S. The total number was 481,000 enrolled. This estimate was based on a calendar year census, in contrast to the academic year estimate performed by the U.S. Office of Education in the same year.
Since the 1970s Since the early 1970s, women have surpassed men in terms of college enrollment and graduation rates. Total undergraduate degree figures show that they outnumbered male students for the first time in the late 1970s. However, since 1981, women have steadily been outpacing men in bachelor's degrees earned, from only a 1% lead in 1980 to 33% advantage in 2015. This means that for every 100 men that graduate, 134 women do. There are a substantial amount of scholarships meant to help women's access to education - "5,864 verified private scholarships, showed that there are 4 times as many scholarships specifically designated for women as opposed to those for men.". Percent of college degrees acquired by women, by yearNational Center for Education Statistics, Digest of Education Statistics. Retrieved 2021-03-12YearAssociate'sBachelor'sMaster'sDoctorate1970-197142.9%43.4%39.3%10.6%1980–198154.7%49.8%49.5%29.0%1990–199158.8%53.9%53.1%39.1%2000-200161.6%57.3%58.2%46.3%2010-201161.7%57.2%60.1%51.4%2020–202161.1%57.7%60.7%54.1%
Graph of degree attainment over time
History Colonial
In Colonial America elementary education was widespread in New England, but limited elsewhere. New England Puritans believed it was necessary to study the Bible, so boys and girls were taught to read at an early age. It was also required that each town pay for a primary school. About 10 percent enjoyed secondary schooling. Few girls attended formal schools, but most were able to get some education at home or at so-called "Dame schools" where women taught basic reading and writing skills in their own houses. By 1750, nearly 90% of New England's women and almost all of its men could read and write. There was no higher education for women.
Tax-supported schooling for girls began as early as 1767 in New England. It was optional and some towns proved reluctant. Northampton, Massachusetts, for example, was a late adopter because it had many rich families who dominated the political and social structures and they did not want to pay taxes to aid poor families. Northampton assessed taxes on all households, rather than only on those with children, and used the funds to support a grammar school to prepare boys for college. Not until after 1800 did Northampton educate girls with public money. In contrast, the town of Sutton, Massachusetts, was diverse in terms of social leadership and religion at an early point in its history. Sutton paid for its schools by means of taxes on households with children only, thereby creating an active constituency in favor of universal education for both boys and girls.
Historians point out that reading and writing were different skills in the colonial era. School taught both, but in places without schools reading was mainly taught to boys and also a few privileged girls. Men handled worldly affairs and needed to read and write. Girls only needed to read (especially religious materials). This educational disparity between reading and writing explains why the colonial women often could read, but could not write and could not sign their names—they used an "X".
Across the South, there was very little public schooling. Most parents either home schooled their children using peripatetic tutors or sent them to small local private schools. A study of women's signatures in Georgia indicates a high degree of literacy in areas with schools. In South Carolina, scores of school projects were advertised in the South Carolina Gazette beginning in 1732.
Early colonial ideology Ideologies held by the majority of early colonial society regarding women's access to education contributed greatly to the lack of opportunity for education among these women. Seventeenth-century attitudes did not stress significant importance on women's education, as evidenced by early opinions in the New England colonies. This majority also considered their access to education as unnecessary or dangerous, as their commonly held roles as mothers prevented society from seeing other possible abilities that would demand a need for education. The primary source of respect among these colonial New England women derived from their completion of domestic tasks, not a desire for or fulfillment of intellectual practices.
Structurally, men undoubtedly held a much greater position of power and control than women, as proves true historically. As a result of this imbalance, an inferior perspective to which women became viewed under carried over into intellectual opportunities. Overall, their abilities were not considered level with those of their male counterparts, so no pressing need to further develop their intellect was acknowledged.
However, as samplers and penbooks show, female children developed basic literacy. Most mothers were able to teach young children at home, and women like Anne Bradstreet and Philis Wheatley wrote published poetry. Samuel Sewall's diary references describe his children, boys and girls alike, taking turns reading Scriptures at night, and being praised equally for doing well. The 1770 diarist Anne Winslow Green wrote to tell her mother that her Aunt Deeming was quite literate, correcting her letters home; this same woman later recounted her own appeals for aid when, as a Tory during the American Revolutionary War, she tried to escape with a carriage of furniture and other belongings after the Siege of Boston was lifted. But resistance to the admission of upper levels of education persisted.
These public attitudes that did not recognize a need for women's education eventually changed. The number of advocates for women's improved access to educational institutions grew gradually. New England's town school in Farmington, Connecticut saw a push for the school to include young girls as well as boys by a minority of people in 1687, a battle which would then extend into the next few centuries.
19th century In the first half of the 19th century, only a minority of American children, both girls and boys, spent any meaningful time in a classroom. An even smaller minority received any secondary education. 18–19th centuries famous for significant changes in the education system. Some of the cities started to include women in the education programs. for instance, Boston gave girls right to attend school during exact hours. The important part was that they could participate only in the early morning or late afternoon, when boys weren't around. This rule existed until the beginning of the 1800s when schools began accepting co-education between boys and girls.
Emma Willard Emma Willard (1787–1870), was a New York educator and writer who dedicated her life to women's education. She worked in several schools and founded the first school for women's higher education, the Troy Female Seminary in Troy, New York, which is now Emma Willard School. With the success of her school, she was able to travel across the country and abroad, to promote education for women. Willard pioneered the teaching of science, mathematics, and social studies to young women. She believed in establishing her own guidelines for better education for women, and her book proceeds helped improve female education throughout the world."Emma Willard: Inventor of the Modern Woman (in 1821), New England Historical Society (2023) online Susan Grigg, "Willard, Emma Hart", American National Biography Online (2000). Willard coauthored one of the most widely used textbooks of American history, as well as the first historical atlas of the U.S. The maps, graphs, and pictures added the details of the nation's geography into the broad popular image of the country as a large, powerful complex nation.Susan Schulten, "Emma Willard and the graphic foundations of American history," Journal of Historical Geography (2007) 33#3 pp.542–564. Republican motherhood idealized a "ladylike atmosphere" and "cultivation". Willard's Female Seminary became a much copied modeled in part because it helped young women fit into their "place in society". She thought the notion of female college graduates "absurd". Elizabeth Cady Stanton, a graduate of Willard's Seminary, was resentful of this attitude, a formative experience that contributed to her feminist activism in later life.
Colleges for women At the college level, a few private schools followed Oberlin's 1833 example of enrolling women, but notably the state schools restricted admission to men.
The second half of the 19th century, on the other hand, produced relatively rapid gains for women's education in the United States. The founding of Vassar in 1865 was followed by Wellesley in 1875, Smith in the same year, Bryn Mawr in 1885, Radcliffe in 1879, and Barnard in 1889. Such institutions were fed by a steady stream of female high school graduates, who throughout this period comprised a majority of graduates. High school enrollment trebled in the 1890s, with girls continuing to represent the lion's share. The expansion of both secondary and tertiary public education that began in 1867 and lasted until the early 20th century created greater opportunities for women. Between 1867 and 1915, 304 new colleges and universities were established, bringing the American total to 563 such institutions. On the liberal arts faculties of state colleges such as Colorado, Iowa, Kansas, Minnesota, Nebraska, Texas, and Washington, women outnumbered men; indeed, the president of the University of Wisconsin was urging quota restrictions.Morgan, 1972.Mary E. Cookingham, "Bluestockings, spinsters and pedagogues: women college graduates, 1865–1910." Population Studies 38.3 (1984): 349–364.
20th century Coinciding with the beginnings of the first wave of feminism in the 20th century came the attempt by women to gain equal rights to education in the United States. After long battles against gender oppression women finally obtained the right to be educated through several government acts/conventions, the opening of facilities willing to educate them, and the opportunity to continue into higher education.Wood, J T. (2009). Gendered Lives. Boston: Lyn Uhl.