Women were underrepresented in computer science, earning only about 20 percent of the associate, bachelor’s, or doctoral degrees in the field. At the master’s-degree level, however, women earned more than 30 percent of the computer-science degrees conferred in 2014-15. In engineering, another field in which men dominate, women earned only 14 percent of associate degrees but 25 percent of master’s degrees. Over all, women outnumbered men in earning degrees at every level, and especially at the associate level.
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| Agriculture, agriculture operations, and related sciences | 28,657 | 5,975 | 38.9% | 19,120 | 53.2% | 2,683 | 56.1% | 879 | 48.9% |
| Architecture and related services | 17,859 | 491 | 30.4% | 9,090 | 43.7% | 8,006 | 48.2% | 272 | 46.7% |
| Area, ethnic, cultural, gender, and group studies | 10,323 | 382 | 61.3% | 7,782 | 70.5% | 1,847 | 63.9% | 312 | 61.5% |
| Biological and biomedical sciences | 137,481 | 4,882 | 66.5% | 109,896 | 59.0% | 14,650 | 57.3% | 8,053 | 53.3% |
| Business, management, marketing, and related support services | 664,361 | 113,660 | 62.1% | 362,397 | 47.4% | 185,188 | 46.8% | 3,116 | 44.9% |
| Communication, journalism, and related programs | 106,909 | 6,034 | 57.3% | 90,650 | 64.9% | 9,581 | 70.6% | 644 | 59.8% |
| Communications technologies/technicians and support services | 10,317 | 4,628 | 31.7% | 5,135 | 34.4% | 554 | 46.8% | - | - |
| Computer and information sciences and support services | 129,454 | 36,401 | 20.9% | 59,581 | 18.0% | 31,474 | 30.4% | 1,998 | 22.5% |
| Construction trades | 4,890 | 4,643 | 6.2% | 247 | 7.3% | - | - | - | - |
| Education | 267,131 | 17,175 | 88.7% | 91,623 | 79.8% | 146,561 | 76.8% | 11,772 | 67.4% |
| Engineering | 159,087 | 4,875 | 13.8% | 97,858 | 20.0% | 46,115 | 24.9% | 10,239 | 23.1% |
| Engineering technologies and engineering-related fields | 54,016 | 31,958 | 12.7% | 16,611 | 11.6% | 5,324 | 28.5% | 123 | 30.1% |
| English language and literature/letters | 58,517 | 2,324 | 65.5% | 45,847 | 69.4% | 8,928 | 65.8% | 1,418 | 60.9% |
| Family and consumer sciences/human sciences | 36,819 | 8,752 | 95.4% | 24,584 | 87.8% | 3,148 | 86.4% | 335 | 76.4% |
| Foreign languages, literatures, and linguistics | 26,404 | 2,102 | 76.0% | 19,493 | 68.9% | 3,566 | 65.2% | 1,243 | 57.2% |
| Health professions and related programs | 590,111 | 199,983 | 84.1% | 216,228 | 84.4% | 102,897 | 81.8% | 71,003 | 58.6% |
| History | 34,010 | 1,283 | 38.9% | 28,038 | 40.1% | 3,703 | 44.4% | 986 | 45.7% |
| Homeland security, law enforcement, firefighting, and related protective services | 115,571 | 43,012 | 44.6% | 62,723 | 46.4% | 9,643 | 50.4% | 193 | 50.3% |
| Legal professions and studies | 61,768 | 9,095 | 85.0% | 4,420 | 69.5% | 7,924 | 53.5% | 40,329 | 48.0% |
| Liberal arts and sciences, general studies, and humanities | 414,155 | 367,618 | 61.6% | 43,647 | 63.0% | 2,794 | 64.2% | 96 | 50.0% |
| Library science | 5,572 | 170 | 85.3% | 99 | 83.8% | 5,259 | 80.5% | 44 | 75.0% |
| Mathematics and statistics | 33,940 | 2,697 | 29.0% | 21,853 | 43.0% | 7,589 | 40.6% | 1,801 | 27.9% |
| Mechanic and repair technologies/technicians | 20,363 | 19,983 | 5.3% | 380 | 6.6% | - | - | - | - |
| Military technologies and applied sciences | 1,576 | 1,229 | 17.4% | 276 | 18.5% | 71 | 38.0% | - | - |
| Multi/interdisciplinary studies | 85,633 | 29,139 | 58.8% | 47,556 | 66.5% | 8,098 | 61.2% | 840 | 54.8% |
| Natural resources and conservation | 23,300 | 1,718 | 27.2% | 17,157 | 49.7% | 3,743 | 53.9% | 682 | 46.9% |
| Parks, recreation, leisure, and fitness studies | 61,625 | 4,669 | 37.0% | 49,006 | 47.1% | 7,639 | 43.3% | 311 | 40.8% |
| Personal and culinary services | 20,129 | 18,693 | 60.3% | 1,402 | 54.6% | 34 | 88.2% | - | - |
| Philosophy and religious studies | 14,443 | 697 | 51.4% | 11,072 | 36.7% | 1,912 | 36.1% | 762 | 31.5% |
| Physical sciences | 47,442 | 5,036 | 41.5% | 29,537 | 38.4% | 7,050 | 37.4% | 5,819 | 34.3% |
| Precision production | 4,434 | 4,382 | 5.3% | 48 | 31.3% | 4 | 25.0% | - | - |
| Psychology | 159,652 | 8,739 | 76.5% | 117,557 | 77.2% | 26,773 | 79.3% | 6,583 | 75.3% |
| Public administration and social-service professions | 90,006 | 8,437 | 85.1% | 34,363 | 82.1% | 46,083 | 75.7% | 1,123 | 66.7% |
| Science technologies/technicians | 3,083 | 2,528 | 38.8% | 501 | 41.5% | 50 | 46.0% | 4 | 25.0% |
| Social sciences | 176,175 | 16,597 | 64.7% | 138,906 | 50.6% | 16,830 | 50.9% | 3,842 | 46.5% |
| Theology and religious vocations | 27,039 | 1,133 | 51.4% | 9,708 | 31.9% | 14,271 | 33.9% | 1,927 | 26.6% |
| Transportation and materials moving | 7,477 | 1,801 | 15.9% | 4,711 | 12.3% | 960 | 17.3% | 5 | 20.0% |
| Visual and performing arts | 136,369 | 20,988 | 59.9% | 95,832 | 60.3% | 17,756 | 57.0% | 1,793 | 53.3% |
| All fields | 3,846,098 | 1,013,909 | 60.9% | 1,894,934 | 57.1% | 758,708 | 59.6% | 178,547 | 52.4% |
Note: Data are for postsecondary institutions in the United States that are eligible to participate in Title IV federal financial-aid programs. Doctoral degrees include Ph.D., Ed.D., and comparable degrees, as well as professional degrees like M.D. and D.D.S. and law degrees. Only first majors were considered. A hyphen indicates the absence of data.
Source: Chronicle analysis of U.S. Department of Education data