Women’s Education

In 1963, President Kennedy issued a major report on the status of women. This week his niece Maria Shriver  updates it with a media extravaganza on NBC and affiliated cable networks. “The Shriver Report: A Woman’s Nation Changes Everything,” conducted in conjunction with the Center for American Progress, will look at how women fare today. We are examining some key indicators, too.  

Young women have made extraordinary strides in education. Today their goals are ambitious, and they are clearly preparing themselves for them. According to a survey conducted by UCLA, more young women entering college today expect to get master's degrees and, separately, an advanced professional one, than plan to get a bachelor’s. Fifty-eight percent in another question in the survey say “becoming an authority in their field” would be essential or very important for them.

Source: Cooperative Institutional Research Institute, Higher Education Research Institute, UCLA.