In 1840, Catherine Brewer Benson became the first American woman
to graduate from college, gaining a bachelor’s degree from what
is now Wesleyan College in Georgia. Nine years later, Elizabeth
Blackwell became the first American woman to earn a medical
degree. But women remained a small minority in U.S. higher
education well into the 20th century, concentrated in single-sex
and teachers’ colleges and a rarity in prestigious professional
schools. All that has changed over the past generation. In
1981-82, women for the first time outnumbered men in bachelor’s
degrees awarded. Now, for full-time students in four-year
schools, women’s graduation rates surpass men’s by 7 percentage
points. They finish college faster and get better grades. Today,
they comprise nearly 60 percent of undergraduates and graduate
students in the arts and sciences; in medicine and law schools,
women are only slightly less common than men. Among low-income,
minority, and older students, women dominate the class rolls;
community colleges s