The Black Gender Gap in Educational Attainment: Historical Trends and Racial Comparisons

Abstract

It is often asserted that the gender gap in educational attainment is larger for blacks than whites, but historical trends comparing the black and white gender gap have received surprisingly little attention. Analysis of historical data from the U.S. census IPUMS samples shows that the gender gap in college completion has evolved differently for whites and blacks. Historically, the female advantage in educational attainment among blacks is linked to more favorable labor market opportunities and stronger incentives for employment for educated black women. Blacks, particularly black males, still lag far behind whites in their rates of college completion, but the striking educational gains of white women have caused the racial patterns of gender differences in college completion rates to grow more similar over time. While some have linked the disadvantaged position of black males to their high risk of incarceration, our estimates suggest that incarceration has a relatively small impact on the black gender gap and the racial gap in college completion rates for males in the United States.

Migration Load, Ecological Opportunity, and Obsessive Compulsive Personality Disorder Etiology: Obsessive Character as an Adaptation to Seasonality

“…Further still, this trend persists internationally such that homicide rates, for instance, are highest in Southern Africa and lowest in Western Europe, which is part of an overall trend towards disproportionate violence within equatorial regions (Harrendorf and Heiskanen 2010). Restricted future orientation might also be gleaned through the persistently elevated high school dropout rate among African-American students (Heckman and LaFontaine 2010), who are also less apt to enroll in, or graduate from, college (McDaniel et al 2011). Finally, future-oriented thought, as measured by completing written advance directives and assigning proxies, was lower among African and Hispanic Americans even when controlling for "gender, age, marital status, whether the decedent had children, income, education, religious preference, importance of religion, and frequency of attending religious services" (Burdsall 2014).…”

“…The research of Letkiewicz and Fox (2014) concisely illustrates the case: After reviewing well-cited literature demonstrating that, within groups, conscientiousness is positively associated with longevity, physical health, occupational attainment, job performance, marriage stability, drug abstinence, and asset accumulation, Letkiewicz and Fox (2014) report that African-Americans within their sample had the highest mean self-reported levels of conscientiousness, while Caucasian Americans had the lowest. Though when one looks at their listed objective correlates of conscientiousness, it would suggest the diametrically opposite findings: With the possible exception of drug use, Caucasians surpass African-Americans across these many correlates of conscientiousness: longevity (Rushton 2000), aged physical health (Haas et al 2012), occupational attainment (Wilson 2007), educational attainment (McDaniel et al 2011), employment (Blair and Fichtenbaum 2012), marriage rate and marital stability (Sweeney and Phillips 2004), and asset accumulation (Oliver and Shapiro 1995;Wilson 2007).…”

Engineering Degree Trends for African American Women and Men

“…Consistent with prior work that assesses race and gender, 5 2005 ASEE data shows that the fraction of African American engineering BS degrees reported for females was 32.3%. 3,4 This female fraction is fifty percent higher than the female fraction of engineering BS degrees overall.…”

The Role of Body Size in Mate Selection among African American Young Adults

“…The interaction of race and gender combined with the legacy of the slave system to reshape gender relations among African Americans and the impacts of this system are still visible today (McDaniel et al 2011; Moras et al 2007). African American men and women experience greater economic equality than any other racial group in the United States with African American women earning 90 cents for every dollar earned by African American men (Nobles 2007).…”

“…African American men and women experience greater economic equality than any other racial group in the United States with African American women earning 90 cents for every dollar earned by African American men (Nobles 2007). Over the past 70 years, African American women have also completed college at higher numbers than African American men (McDaniel et al 2011). In the year 2000, for example, African American women earned 66 % of all bachelor’s degrees, 70 % of all Masters degrees, and 64 % of all doctoral degrees given to African Americans (Chapman 2007).…”