
20 Feb Women’s Studies: Breaking Tradition
Posted at 19:26h
in Versus
Over the last decade or so, women have flocked to nontraditional areas of study, earning increasing numbers of bachelor’s degrees in law enforcement, security, firefighting, and other protective services. The number of women earning health- and fitness-related degrees has jumped as well. The table below lists the areas of study that showed the largest gains in the number of women graduates between the 1999–2000 and the 2009–2010 academic years.
Area of study |
THEN# Women grads
1999–2000 |
NOW# Women grads
2009–2010 |
% Gain |
Homeland security, law enforcement, firefighting, and related protective services | 10,808 | 21,402 | 98 |
Parks, recreation, leisure, and fitness studies | 9,021 | 15,697 | 74 |
Health professions and related programs | 67,521 | 110,328 | 63 |
Visual and performing arts | 34,788 | 56,034 | 61 |
Communication and communications technologies | 34,906 | 54,008 | 55 |
Business, management, marketing, and personal and culinary services | 127,549 | 174,992 | 37 |
Biological and biomedical sciences | 37,051 | 50,535 | |
Multi/interdisciplinary studies | 18,717 | 25,519 | 36 |
Family and consumer sciences/ human sciences | 14,288 | 19,132 | 34 |
Foreign languages, literature, and linguistics | 11,270 | 14,906 | 32 |
Source: U.S. Department of Education, National Center for Education Statistics