WASHINGTON — For the first time, American women have passed men in gaining advanced college degrees as well as bachelor’s degrees, part of a trend that is helping redefine who goes off to work and who stays home with the kids.
Census figures released Tuesday highlight the latest education milestone for women, who began to exceed men in college enrollment in the early 1980s. The findings come amid record shares of women in the workplace.
Among adults 25 and older, 10.6 million U.S. women have master’s degrees or higher, compared with 10.5 million men. Measured by shares, about 10.2 percent of women have advanced degrees compared with 10.9 percent of men — a gap steadily narrowing in recent years.
About 20.1 million women have bachelor’s degrees, compared with 18.7 million men. Women first passed men in bachelor’s degrees in 1996.
