Gender Segregation in Higher Education

Abstract

Abstract During the second half of the twentieth century, systems of higher education expanded and democratized around the world. Women's participation increased so dramatically that their numbers now surpass men's in many industrialized countries. But gender equalization has not occurred uniformly. Sex segregation of majors and degree programs is a striking feature of modern educational systems and a key reason for the ongoing social and economic inequality of women and men. While significant gender inequality is found within educational systems worldwide, recent evidence shows marked differences among countries and country groups in their degree and pattern of sex segregation. This essay reviews foundational research in this field, identifies emergent trends and cutting‐edge lines of inquiry, and poses questions for future research on men's and women's distribution across educational institutions and fields of study. Much research on sex segregation in higher education has focused on cross‐national differences and historical trends. A major question concerns the persistence of extreme gender differentiation even in the most economically and socially modern contexts. Research findings to date reveal a complex interplay between cultural beliefs, structural forms, and individual cognition in generating and maintaining sex segregation in the modern world. In order to advance research in this field, we suggest that future studies focus on: (i) how patterns of sex segregation differ by race, ethnicity, class, and national origin; (ii) how curricular preferences are formed; (iii) how characteristics of educational systems influence patterns of sex segregation; and (iv) how fields of study (and occupations) become defined as either masculine or feminine.