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Who Earns More Degrees: Men or Women?

Women now earn more bachelor's and master's degrees than men. In fact, about 60 percent of both bachelor's and master's degrees go to women. The trend exists even in traditionally male-dominated degrees — about half of all medical and law degrees go to women, as do about 40 percent of all MBAs.

More facts about education:

  • In the United States, there are about the same number of men are getting higher education as there were in the 1980s, but fewer are graduating. Those who do graduate generally have lower grade-point averages than their female peers and often take more than four years to graduate.

  • Despite the fact that women are earning more degrees, most still have a lower salary in the workplace than their male peers. For instance, women who have a high school diploma and are in their mid-20s to mid-30s earn on average $25,000 US Dollars (USD) a year, and their male peers earn about $32,000 USD a year.

  • The growing presence of women in universities isn't confined to the U.S. — in fact, the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) found that, globally, women now outnumber men in both enrollment and graduation rates.

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