New research reveals that females are doing better in school than their male counterparts. Casey Chun/ The Fordham Ram.
By Theresa Schliep
The concept of equality is interestingly complex. While it seems like a simple equation, equality regarding sex and gender has become increasingly more difficult — especially in regard to education and equitable success in universities.
Research has revealed that not only are women outnumbering the amount of men enrolled in college, but that they are also more likely to finish their education and obtain a degree.
Some credit this to governmental programs which encourage women in the fields of science, technology, engineering and mathematics.
Others claim that it could be social conditioning — men historically never had to compete with women in their education, and thus are slow to adapt to the changing landscape.
Most likely, it is due to ignoring the inclinations of boys, who typically prefer to be active but instead are sedentary in desks for the majority of a school day.
Superficially, one might believe that the results of these studies would antagonize gender relations and lead men to believe that education is built against them.
Some insist that this is institutionalized misandry. In an effort to compensate for a lack in female success, governmental programs are instead inhibiting the success of men.
Others may say that programs that encourage girls to achieve more are not discouraging boys from achieving the same amount. These programs never discourage boys, or try to bring them down in order to raise girls up. Instead, these programs focus on attempts to even the playing field.
Amidst the arguments, one fact still stands: collegiate success does not always translate into occupational success. Men and women alike have the right to education and governmental programs that encourage learning.
Institutionalized sexism has always discouraged women from going to school, getting a degree and securing an occupation that allows for fiscal independence.
However, today’s modern workplace does not guarantee equitable access to particular jobs or equal pay. White women earn 77 cents per every dollar white men earn. It is even fewer for minority women: black women earn 64 cents and Hispanic women earn 54 cents for every dollar. Despite receiving the same education as men, women are still stunted in the workplace.
The fact that surpassing men in college achievement does not correlate with financial and occupational success indicates that there are social norms that prohibit women from ever truly obtaining equality.
While domestically, women are acquiring an unprecedented number of degrees — even surpassing men in some states — women abroad have different struggles. Voices of the movement that seeks to obtain equitable education standards between genders, such as the young Malala Yousafzai, are not fighting for just increased numbers of women who earn degrees.
They are fighting for safer spaces in which women can learn. They are fighting for easier access to books. They are fighting for more allocation of their time devoted to learning than walking miles to get clean drinking water.
It is a problem that educational success has never reached an equitable level.
However, the true blemish of the system is that despite their achievements, women are still not as successful as men.
Education is wonderful: it fuels the soul, ignites conversation and perpetuates humanism. But education does not fulfill one of its most important jobs — ensuring the economic success of both sexes — and inhibits the fiscal success of women.
This problem needs fixing. Boys should be just as likely to graduate as girls, and men should continue to increase their enrollment in universities.
Women are still not obtaining the fiscal wealth they deserve. This is the true Achilles’ heel of education in America.
Female educational success in America does not reflect education in other countries. Some girls are still forced into leaving school to focus on domestic work.
There needs to be a global discussion about education and action that encourages both sexes to hit the books.
Theresa Schliep, FCRH ’19, is an undecided major from Point Pleasant Beach, New Jersey.
