Women are undeniably keen to learn, but are they learning the right things?
Recent, I finished writing a three part take for men titled, “The Age of Men is Over”… an article where I basically outline how although I believe the age of the 20th century type of man is coming to an end, there is a great opportunity for a new type of thinking to emerge amongst men in the 21st century. The age of men is not over, but the old way of thinking is. I believe (as i stated in the take) that men have the potential to achieve great success in the 21st century economy if they simply wake up to some changing dynamics in the world that are increasingly becoming less favourable towards them. As promised though, this next myTake series will be directed towards women, and how I think women are fairing in this century so far, which we are already 15 years into. I want to avoid repeating too many of the things that I already talked about in the take I made for men, but I will be making references to a few things I mentioned there.
Again, i am writing this take for women, and to be honest I’m a lot more excited about doing this take than I was doing the take for men on GaG for a variety of reasons. In my take for men, I noted that the advantage guys have today over women is out affinity for taking risks. But that is not to say women don’t have advantages of their own. I’ve always found that women are much more attentive and organized than guys are, and this dichotomy is even larger on GaG. I’ve learned that a sizeable portion of guys here will sooner ignore your message than girls would if you don’t blame the opposite gender for things as much as they personally do. It’s the great strength of GaG women in my view, which is why I think the quickest way to loose money is to bet against their ability to accomplish the things they set out to do.
So on to the topic at hand. Like my take for men, this two part take for women will be focused on how women can continue to achieve success in this new century we live in, which began in the year 2000. Women are practically off to the races when it comes to getting an education, and in some ways have become almost supernaturally good at graduating
Women have undoubtedly come a long way since the early years of the 20th century, where they were largely relegated to doing menial house work, or taking the jobs that men did not want. In Part I of my take for men, I outlined some of the statistics on male and female enrolment in college, but lets discuss the trends again, but this time with a more female-oriented perspective. An article by the New York Times goes into the changing dynamics taking place:
“A quarter-century after women became the majority on college campuses, men are trailing them in more than just enrolment.
Department of Education statistics show that men, whatever their race or socioeconomic group, are less likely than women to get bachelor's degrees — and among those who do, fewer complete their degrees in four or five years. Men also get worse grades than women.And in two national studies, college men reported that they studied less and socialized more than their female classmates.”
“What is beyond dispute is that the college landscape is changing. Women now make up 58 percent of those enrolled in two- and four-year colleges and are, over all, the majority in graduate schools and professional schools too.
Most institutions of higher learning, except engineering schools, now have a female edge, with many small liberal arts colleges and huge public universities alike hovering near the 60-40 ratio. Even Harvard, long a male bastion, has begun to tilt toward women.”
"In dozens of interviews on three campuses — Dickinson College; American University; and the University of North Carolina, Greensboro — male and female students alike agreed that the slackers in their midst were mostly male, and that the fireballs were mostly female.Almost all speculated that it had something to do with the women's movement.
So what I gather here is that women of the 21st century have kicked it into high gear when it comes to attaining higher education. This century has opened paths that use to be harder for girls to attain. Some may say that affirmative action is largely the cause for women getting into colleges more often than ever before. Perhaps. But for me, it does not explain why once in college, women seem to be working much harder than the men do on average. The New York Times article touches on this:
On each campus, the young women interviewed talked mostly about their drive to do well.
"Most college women want a high-powered career that they are passionate about," Ms. Smyers said. "But they also want a family, and that probably means taking time off, and making dinner. I'm rushing through here, taking the most credits you can take without paying extra, because I want to do some amazing things, and establish myself as a career woman, before I settle down."
Her male classmates, she said, feel less pressure.
"The men don't seem to hustle as much," Ms. Smyers said. "I think it's a male entitlement thing. They think they can sit back and relax and when they graduate, they'll still get a good job. They seem to think that if they have a firm handshake and speak properly, they'll be fine."
Such differences were apparent in the 2005 National Survey of Student Engagement. While the survey of 90,000 students at 530 institutions relies on self-reporting, it is used by many colleges to measure themselves against other institutions.
Men were significantly more likely than women to say they spent at least 11 hours a week relaxing or socializing, while women were more likely to say they spent at least that much time preparing for class. More men also said they frequently came to class unprepared.
Linda Sax, an associate professor of education at the University of California, Los Angeles, has found similar gender differences in her study of 17,000 men and women at 204 co-ed colleges and universities.Using data from U.C.L.A.'s Higher Education Research Institute annual studies, she found that men were more likely than women to skip classes, not complete their homework and not turn it in on time.
"Women do spend more time studying and their grades are better," Professor Sax said, "but their grades are better even more than the extra studying time would account for.”
So its not only the fact that women are making up a larger percentage of the student population in colleges, they also seem to be working much harder than men when they get there. Women are taking their educations seriously, and it shows in the data concerning how many men versus women actually graduate today. Guys in college may be becoming more lackadaisical, because the assumption is there that there will always be a job there waiting for us to fill, because that is how it has always been. Women however are working from the assumption that they need to prove themselves in order to get a high paying job, as it always has been for them. The genders may be working off of two different kinds of assumptions which are leading to two different kinds of results.
Now despite how well women are apparently doing in school this century, there is still the issue of the wage gap between men and women. Despite the rapid rise of female graduation rates, there is still a gap of about 77 cents to every dollar a man makes. Feminists are correct when they point out the existance of the gap, but wrong on their reasons as to why the gap exists. In Part I of my take for men, I went into the problems men are having in terms of recognizing the changing trends of the 21st century, and women are having a similar problem in my view. I do not believe that the majority of the wage gap is due to sexism. Instead, I believe the wage gap is due to the fact women are still pursuing careers that are much too soft, and do not demand the kind of higher pay that other, more difficult careers give. An article by the Huffington Post touches on this issue in detail:
How many times have you heard that, for the same work, women receive 77 cents for every dollar a man earns? This alleged unfairness is the basis for the annual Equal Pay Day observed each year about mid-April to symbolize how far into the current year women have to work to catch up with men's earnings from the previous year. If the AAUW is right, Equal Pay Day will now have to be moved to early January.
The AAUW has now joined ranks with serious economists who find that when you control for relevant differences between men and women (occupations, college majors, length of time in workplace) the wage gap narrows to the point of vanishing. The 23-cent gap is simply the average difference between the earnings of men and women employed "full time." What is important is the "adjusted" wage gap - the figure that controls for all the relevant variables. That is what the new AAUW study explores.
The AAUW researchers looked at male and female college graduates one year after graduation. After controlling for several relevant factors (though some were left out, as we shall see), they found that the wage gap narrowed to only 6.6 cents. How much of that is attributable to discrimination? As AAUW spokesperson Lisa Maatz candidly said in an NPR interview, "We are still trying to figure that out."
One of the best studies on the wage gap was released in 2009 by the U.S. Department of Labor. It examined more than 50 peer-reviewed papers and concluded that the 23-cent wage gap "may be almost entirely the result of individual choices being made by both male and female workers." In the past, women's groups have ignored or explained away such findings.”
Problem Number One: Women are making the right calls in terms of work ethic and acquiring higher education, but the wrong calls in terms of career paths that the 21st century favours
When I addressed this problem for men, the problem was that many men were still pursuing these male dominated fields like construction, manufacturing and finance that have become increasingly bad fields to follow. Some of them are still not aware that the 21st century economy is highly digital and highly scientific. For women the situation is similar, but instead of construction, they go after softer liberal arts degrees that are becoming less and less valuable as this century progresses. Forbes magazine produced an article which talks about this phenomenon at length
Business is the No. 1 college major for women and men, according to a recent AAUW (formerly known as the American Association of University Women) analysis of the Department of Education’s “Condition of Education 2009″ report, the most recent data available. Business degrees now comprise 18% of all degrees awarded to women, nearly twice as much as the No. 2 most popular major, health professions and clinical sciences.
But despite more women moving into this field of study, there is a continuing gender imbalance in the majority of undergraduate college majors. Engineering and computer science remain overwhelmingly male (No. 3 and 4, respectively for men) while women continue to dominate “soft” majors such as education, psychology and English (No. 3, 5 and 9, respectively).
“Research has shown that women tend to gravitate towards fields of studies and career paths where they can have a positive social impact and work with others, often collaboratively,” says Linda Basch, president of the National Council for Research on Women (NCRW). “This is why you see so many women in the fields of health care and education. When women do gravitate toward the sciences, it is usually the life sciences.”
The surprise, then, is No. 8 on the list, biological and biomedical sciences, the only female undergraduate top 10 “hard” science. “Studies have found that boys and girls have different approaches to pursuing science,” continues Basch. “Boys and young men often pursue science for science’s sake, whereas girls and young women tend to view science as a tool for some other purpose, often attached to the social good.”
It’s no surprise, then, that Nos. 5 to 7 on the list are psychology, visual and performing arts and communications, respectively. With these majors, common career paths include sales, counseling and teaching.
Women who study business believe it will give them a practical edge, says Judy Touchton, founder and CEO of Womenleadersmove.com, a consultancy for women in higher education. “Women are choosing business majors because they, often guided by their parents, think they will be more likely to find jobs after college … In this economy, practicality reigns.”
Still, a business degree does not insure against the income gap. A woman one year out of college and working full time typically earns only 80% as much as her male counterparts. Why? According to the AAUW’s 2007 “Behind the Pay Gap” report, women with business degrees are twice as likely as men with similar degrees to enter administrative, clerical or support positions earlier in their career. On the other hand, men with a business degree are more likely to enter management positions.
But with a highly competitive job market for both men and women, it has become increasingly necessary to develop skills that are tailored to careers. “We do have a high interest from recruiters who are looking for women who have studied the harder sciences, but there are not enough women to fill these roles,” says Lisa MacKenzie, marketing director of Careerwomen.com, an online job board for women.
“Instead, I’m seeing a lot of women with female-dominated majors like social sciences and liberal arts going into sales careers,” says MacKenzie
So really, the problem for women today seems to be that they are directing all this energy and potential in the wrong direction. The 21st century wants STEM (the popular acronym used to represent the fields of science, technology, engineering and mathematics) workers, not historians, English teachers or visual arts wizards. Forbes also did a second article on what the top 15 most valuable college majors are, and ranked them in order. Take a look at what made their top 10 then compare it to that top 10 list i posted above of college majors that women flock to most. You will see that there is a stark underrepresentation of the kinds of fields that the 21st century wants to see more of
The top 10 most valuable majors were:
- Biomedical engineering
- Biochemistry
- Computer science
- Software engineering
- Environmental engineering
- Civil engineering
- Geology
- Management Information Systems
- Petroleum Engineering
- Applied Mathematics
“These aren’t majors that anyone could do. They’re hard, and these programs weed people out,” says Bardaro. “However, there is high demand for them and a low supply of people with the skills, so it drives up the labor market price.”
In the Millennial Branding survey, employers reported engineering and computer information systems majors as their top recruits. Also, nearly half of these employers (47%) said the competition for new science, technology, engineering and math talent is steep. That means while other recent grads fight for jobs, these students will likely field multiple offers.Math and science concentrations are also well-represented on this list. Biochemistry (No. 2), computer science (No. 3), applied mathematics (No. 10), mathematics (No. 11), physics (No. 14) and statistics (No. 15) majors are increasingly in demand and well-paid.
Bardaro believes that the new data-driven market makes math skills, particularly statistics, more and more valuable to employers. Many companies now collect large datasets on consumer behavior, be it online search patterns or user demographics. Statisticians who understand data and can use it to forecast trends and behavior will do especially well, she says.Conversely, the worst-paying college majors are child and family studies, elementary education, social work, culinary arts, special education, recreation and leisure studies, religious studies, and athletic training.”
So just to reiterate, I think the major problem for women today is that they underestimate themselves much too often when it comes to what they are capable of understanding. Unlike a growing number of men today, women understand one of the important new dynamics of this century, which is that higher education is still a valuable asset, despite its rising cost. The issue is that if you are going to go to pay for college in 2015 and beyond, you better be damned sure you are getting a degree that is in demand. In the 20th century, a person could do quite fine with simply getting a high school education and going into something like construction or manufacturing, and landing a very nice paying job at GM or something of that nature. The problem women now have is taking their drive to be in school and putting it to work in a field that will actually value their knowledge. The cost of education is high today, and there is no point in my view, of going to an Ivy League school for a liberal arts degree, and then graduating with a debt the size of a mortgage but no house to show for it.
As I discussed in my take for men however, there is much more opportunity in this century to do better than your parents did, and it doesn’t necessarily require one to get a formal education. My belief is that if women could combine their drive to get a higher education with the kind of investment mindset and geopolitical knowledge I talked about in Part III of my take for men, there really would be no stopping a woman from achieving almost oligarchical status. In part II to this take, I will discuss exactly what I think women can do to put themselves far ahead of the game in terms of achieving their life dreams, using the natural characteristics within women to their advantage, just as men have the capability of doing. For women reading this, if you want a sneak peak into what Part II will probably look like, take a look at Part III of the take I did for men. So far, we've discussed the first problem women have been having when it comes to adapting to the 21st century economy. In part II, amongst the other things I'd like to talk about, I will go into what I see as the second problem that is holding women back.
Stay tuned!
- Watermelonoma
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