Women reversing trends in doctorate enrollments

During the past decade, women have led the way in obtaining master’s degrees but lagged behind men in earning doctorates — until now.
The Council of Graduate Schools reports that in 2008-09, women earned 50.4 percent of doctorates. That was the first year that women reversed a long-established trend.
At the University of Missouri, the percentage of doctorates by gender stayed the same in 2008-09 as it was in 2000-01; women earned 46 percent of the doctorates awarded at the university compared to 54 percent for men. But in 2009-10, the percentages flipped — 56 percent women and 44 percent men.
For decades women have outpaced men for doctorates in such fields of study as education, health sciences and arts and humanities. But last year at MU, the number of women obtaining doctorates in social and behavioral sciences and biological and agricultural sciences increased substantially.
In has been in engineering, however, where women have made the biggest impact in completing doctoral studies. In a decade, the number of women earning doctorates in engineering more than doubled from 15 percent in 2000-01 to 32 percent in 2009-10.
Lex Akers, associate dean of the MU College of Engineering, points to the number of high-achieving students entering the college as undergraduates as one reason why the number of women is increasing at the graduate level.
“The number of undergraduate women is still small — only 13 percent — but nearly all of them are among the best undergraduates overall,” Akers said. “Less than a fifth of all undergraduate students are women, but they comprise over half of the students whom we identify as leaders, those who will excel in postgraduate studies.”
Competition for the best and the brightest is especially fierce at engineering schools because corporations are out to grab as many engineers with bachelor’s degrees as they can. High corporate salaries and other perks lure engineers away from staying in school to pursue a master’s degree or doctorate.
To keep engineering students in one of the MU College of Engineering’s seven fields of graduate study, an undergraduate research program pays students $1,000 a semester beginning in their junior year to work in the research lab. “Undergraduate students otherwise would never have an opportunity to see faculty or graduate students in their role as researchers,” Akers said. “It piques their interest in staying in school a while longer.”
Akers said he is proud to see more women obtaining doctorates in engineering, and he would like to see the numbers grow higher. “Getting females to consider engineering in the first place can be difficult because they often are steered away by well-meaning middle school and high school counselors,” he said. “Counselors tend to talk about engineering as a career option only to the best female students, and they tell girls with average grades that engineering would be too difficult for them. We want to also encourage those students to try engineering.”
Emily Baxter of Fulton received her bachelor’s degree in electrical engineering this year and decided to stay at the MU College of Engineering until she completes her master’s degree and doctorate. “The opportunities for women with doctorates in electrical engineering are incredible, so I decided to stay put,” she said. “I’ll be here for at least two to three years; I bought a house in Columbia.”
Baxter said she was always interested in engineering because both of her parents have engineering backgrounds. Even so, high school counselors and others tried to dissuade her from that field. “They told me it would be too hard to complete, but it’s only as difficult as you make it,” she said.
Participating in the College of Engineering’s undergraduate research program gave Baxter the initiative to pursue a doctorate, she said.
“I’ve really enjoyed school and wouldn’t have wanted to do anything else,” she added. “Engineering isn’t the most fun field of study, but it’s challenging. And I’ve always found fun in challenges.”