Yesterday, the Higher Education Quality Council of Ontario released an interesting report on the gap in post-secondary participation between males and females. Since the 80s, women have been graduating in higher numbers than men but policy makers have focused much more on gaps pertaining to other groups, such as aboriginal students, rural and norther students, or students with a disability. Angelika Kerr does a great job summarizing the current state of the gender gap, some possible explanations for its existence, and the impact it is having on employment and earnings for both sexes. I’ll briefly summarize some of the findings here.
As of 2006, 58% of undergraduates were female, a number that has been steadily increasing for decades. The report indicates, however, that the growth of the gap has slowed in the last five years, implying a stable ratio may soon emerge. In addition, the percentage of both males and females attending university as a proportion of the population have continued to grow, just faster for females.
The comparative rise in female participation has resulted in more women in the workforce and a narrowing of the earnings gap between the sexes. That said, it is unlikely the earnings gap will disappear any time soon and in earnings and employment rates, males continue to have the advantage.
For an explanation of the increasing gender gap, the report cites research showing, among other things, that males gives more consideration to options outside of PSE and male graduates earn a higher annual return on their investment in an undergraduate degree. The barriers to male participation, however, reach even further back into primary and secondary school. The report states:
“It appears that gender differences in abilities and achievement exist well before females and males enter postsecondary systems. Females have been outperforming males in a broad range of academic and non-cognitive characteristics at the primary and secondary levels for some time, and these characteristics exert an influence on students’ access to and persistence in PSE. The implication is that, in order to address gender disparities in PSE participation, the differences in male and female student achievement at earlier stages of education require attention.”
So where do we go from here? The report does not contain recommendations but it does point to HEQCO’s plan for a more in-depth analysis. They wish to further disaggregate gender data by characteristics such as socioeconomic status, ethnicity, and geography to provide more nuanced results in order to identify which males and which females may be at risk.
-Alexi White
OUSA Executive Director
