Three decades ago, women and men between 24 and 35 years old were just as likely to have completed an undergraduate education, with about a quarter of each group holding bachelor’s degrees in 1995. Today, the share of young women in the United States with a college degree has skyrocketed to 47 percent, compared to 37 percent of young men, according to a new study from the Pew Research Center.
The increasing gender gap between bachelor’s degree-holders in America was found across every major racial group, with the largest race-gender gap found among Black Americans. Today, roughly 38 percent of young Black women have earned a college degree, compared to just 26 percent of Black men. Three decades ago, 16 percent of Black men and only 14 percent of Black women held a bachelor’s degree.
In comparison, White women are 10 percentage points more likely than White men (52 percent versus 42 percent), Asian women are 6 percentage points more likely than Asian men (77 percent versus 71 percent), and Hispanic women are 9 percentage points more likely than Hispanic men (31 percent versus 22 percent) to hold an undergraduate degree.
