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The Gender Gap in College : Why it Matters and How it has Changed over Time

The Gender Gap in College : Why it Matters and How it has Changed over Time. Prof. Linda J. Sax Graduate School of Education and Information Studies UCLA. Headlines. Disappearing Act: Where Have all the Men Gone? No Place Good Washington Post, December 2005

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The Gender Gap in College : Why it Matters and How it has Changed over Time

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  1. The Gender Gap in College: Why it Matters and How it has Changed over Time Prof. Linda J. Sax Graduate School of Education and Information Studies UCLA

  2. Headlines Disappearing Act: Where Have all the Men Gone? No Place Good • Washington Post, December 2005 At Colleges, Women are Leaving Men in the Dust • New York Times front page headline, July 2006 Wanted: College-Educated Male Leaders (Is That Too Much to Ask?) • Huffington Post, February 2010

  3. Total Enrollment in Colleges and Universities Data gathered from National Center for Education Statistics, 2010

  4. Gender Gap Most Pronounced Among Non-Asian Minorities

  5. Gender Gap Most Pronounced Among Lower-income Students Source: ACE 2010 Gender Equity Report

  6. Beyond the Enrollment Gap • What are gender differences in the characteristics of students who come to college? How has that changed over 40 years? • Do women and men experience college differently? Are there gender differences in the “impact” of college?

  7. Entering Student Trends • “Freshman Survey” conducted by Higher Education Research Institute at UCLA • Data from 1966 to 2009 • More than 8 million students entering more than 1,000 baccalaureate institutions • Trend data combines coeducational and women’s colleges

  8. Key Gender Differences Among First-Year College Students • Socioeconomic Background • Academic Performance and Self-Confidence • Physical and Psychological Well-Being • Career Aspirations

  9. Socioeconomic Background

  10. Academic Performance and Self-Confidence

  11. Physical and Psychological Well-Being

  12. M W M W M W M W Student Clubs 1+ HPW Housework/Childcare 1+ HPW Volunteering 1+ HPW Studying 6+ HPW

  13. M W M W M W M W Exercising/Sports Watching TV Partying Playing Video/ Computer Games

  14. Career Aspirations

  15. Source: CIRP TFS 2009

  16. Source: CIRP TFS 2009

  17. Source: CIRP TFS 2009

  18. Source: CIRP TFS 2009

  19. Source: CIRP TFS 2009

  20. Source: CIRP TFS 2009

  21. Source: CIRP TFS 2009

  22. Gender Differences are Evident at College Entry, But...Are there Gender Differences in the “Impact” of College?

  23. Are there Gender Differences in the Impact of College? • Examined three categories of college outcomes: • Personality and Identity (11 measures) • Political and Social Attitudes (8 measures) • Academic Outcomes (7 measures) • Assessed how these outcomes were influenced by various aspects of college • Type of college attended • Place of residence during college • Financial situation • Characteristics of college student body • Forms of curricular and extracurricular involvement

  24. Institutional and Student Samples *All coeducational institutions

  25. Proportion of Significant College Effects That Are…

  26. Gender Differences in College Effects:Examples Across Two Themes Theme #1: Salience of Family Connections for Women Theme #2: Gendered Effects of Student-Faculty Interaction

  27. Connection to Family

  28. Connection to Family: Implications for Campus Practice and Future Research • Encourage parents to “let go” of their daughters • Be wary of the technology tether • Consider the needs of women who cannot go away to college • Study the consequences of women’s ongoing connections to family • How does the type and frequency of student-parent communication relate to students’ personal, academic and social development during college? • How does this vary by students’ gender, race and class?

  29. Student-Faculty InteractionUnique Effects for Men

  30. Student-Faculty InteractionUnique Effects for Women

  31. Student-Faculty InteractionUnique Effects for Women

  32. Student-Faculty Interaction: Implications for Campus Practice and Future Research • Probe on the student-faculty dynamic in counseling, residential life • Use orientation and first-year seminars to develop realistic expectations among students • Encourage faculty to reflect on their teaching practices and out-of-class demeanor with male and female students • Assess the qualitative dimensions of student-faculty interactions (quality vs. quantity) • How does the nature of student-faculty interactions depend on: • where the interaction takes place? • the academic discipline? • the gender of the professor?

  33. Bottom Line: Consider the Role of Gender in the First Year and Beyond • Campuses must be aware of and responsive to challenges faced by both genders • For men: Access, academic engagement • For women: Financial strain, stress, self-confidence, connection to family, reaction to faculty • Engage in campus conversations • How are women and men faring on our campus? • What changes should we make to programs or services? • Who is “responsible” for addressing gender gaps?

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