NSF PR 99-2 - January 21, 1999
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Women, Minorites Make Huge S&E Education Gains, But
Are Still Underrepresented Overall
The number of women and underrepresented minority group
members earning baccalaureate to doctoral degrees
in Science and Engineering (S&E) fields rose as much
as 68 percent from 1985 and 1995, according to a National
Science Foundation (NSF) Division of Science Resources
Studies (SRS) Data Brief.
Yet despite these huge gains, their representation
in S&E higher education remained below their representation
in the U.S. population of 18- to 30-year-olds.
The number of women receiving S&E bachelor's degrees
increased by 36 percent (from 128,871 to 175,931)
between 1985 and 1995 - for 46 percent of all S&E
bachelor's degrees awarded.
Over the same period, the growth in the number of underrepresented
racial/ethnic minority recipients of S&E bachelor's
degrees was an even more striking 62 percent - from
31,950 to 51,844 - accounting for 13.5 percent of
all S&E bachelor's degrees awarded in 1995 to U.S.
citizens and permanent residents.
Among U.S. citizens and permanent residents, the number
of women earning S&E doctoral degrees rose by 65 percent
(from 4,184 to 6,892) between 1985 and 1995, and the
number of underrepresented minorities rose by 68 percent,
from 711 to 1,194.
In engineering, women earned only 10 percent of all
doctorates in 1995 - while underrepresented minority
men earned about 4 percent, and underrepresented minority
women earned less than one percent. Psychology was
the only S&E field in which more women than men earned
doctorates in 1995.
In 1995, women were 50 percent of the U.S. 18- to 30-year-old
population; African Americans were 14 percent; Hispanics
13 percent; and Native Americans were 0.8 percent.
Women earned, respectively, 46 and 36 percent of all
S&E bachelor's degrees and doctorates in 1995; African
Americans, 7 and 3 percent; Hispanics, 6 and 3 percent;
and Native Americans, 0.6 and 0.4 percent.
The exception among minority groups (U.S. citizens
and permanent residents only) was Asians, who accounted
for 4 percent of the U.S. 18- to 30-year-old population,
but earned 8 percent of all S&E bachelor's degrees
and 19 percent of all S&E doctorates in 1995.
As was the case with undergraduate S&E enrollment,
graduate student enrollment in S&E grew over this
period, with the 18 percent increase due mostly to
the higher participation of women and minorities.
Women S&E graduate students increased by 45 percent
(to 41 percent of all graduate S&E enrollment of U.S.
citizens and permanent residents); Hispanics by 64
percent (to slightly over 4 percent); Native Americans
by 100 percent (to 0.5 of the total).
The Data Brief is available at:
www.nsf.gov/sbe/srs/databrf/db99320.htm
More detailed data on these topics will be included
in an upcoming National Science Foundation Science
Resources Studies report, Women, Minorities, and Persons
with Disabilities in Science and Engineering: 1998.
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