The number of S&E bachelor's degrees awarded to women and
minorities has largely increased over the last two decades, but
not in the physical sciences, engineering or mathematics.
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important? Demographic trends and world events contributed to
changes in both the numbers and types of students participating
in U.S. higher education. The number of bachelor's degrees
awarded to women increased in almost all major S&E ﬁelds during
the past two decades. For all racial/ethnic groups (except
white), the total number of bachelor's degrees, the number of
S&E bachelor's degrees, and the number of bachelor's degrees in
most S&E ﬁelds, except computer sciences generally increased
over the past two decades. Women earned more than half of
bachelor's degrees in psychology (78%), agricultural sciences
(51%), biological sciences (62%), chemistry (52%), and social
sciences (54%). Despite considerable progress for
underrepresented minority groups between 1985 and 20