Matriarchy 2018

Posted by ERUDIO in Inspiration on Mar 14th, 2011

Focus your mental telescopes. All the way to year 2018.

Now is the accepted time, not tomorrow, not some more convenient season. It is today that our best work can be done and not some future day or future year. It is today that we fit ourselves for the greater usefulness of tomorrow. Today is the seed time, now are the hours of work, and tomorrow comes the harvest and the playtime. - W.E.B. DuBois

No yelling at you today. No fevered work dreams. And no Cotton Mather “Slackers in the Hands of a Hungry Gene Pool” sermons.

This is a numbers day. Hard number projections. Can it give us any idea of what your world will look like? Maybe.

I want you to look ahead, and see where you and yours will fit into these numbers.

We’ll look at the US Dept of Education’s just-released “Projections of Education Statistics.” Enrollment and earned degrees conferred, by degree-granting institutions.

The USDE report’s assumptions are based on real number projections— college-age populations developed by the Census Bureau. (Some factors that may affect future numbers of degrees, such as choice of degree and labor force requirement, were not included in the projection models.)

Before we stare into the future, let’s recall a few baseline data. For some time, we’ve been riding an upward higher education curve.

Two female graduates in graduation gowns.

First-time freshmen enrollment (in degree-granting institutions) increased 22 percent from 1993 to 2007.

Looking ahead, between 2007 and 2018, first-time freshmen enrollment is projected to rise 8 percent for men, 15 percent for women.

Enrollment rises 12 percent overall. This builds the rising curve of new college students, and females continue to gain in higher education numbers over males.

Degrees, by level of degree and sex of recipient, reinforce these broader trend numbers. Between 1993–94 and 2006–07, the number and proportion of degrees awarded to women rose at all levels.

In 2006–07, women earned the majority of associate’s, bachelor’s, and master’s degrees, and 50 percent of doctor’s and first-professional degrees.

Between 2006–07 and 2018–19, continued increases are expected in the number of degrees awarded to women, as well as men, at all levels (figure H; reference figures 25–29 and tables 27–31).

Associate’s degrees
Between 2006–07 and 2018–19, in the middle alternative projections, the number of associate’s degrees is projected to

Increase 25 percent overall
Increase 16 percent for men
increase 31 percent for women

Bachelor’s degrees
Between 2006–07 and 2018–19, in the middle alternative projections, the number of bachelor’s degrees is projected to

Increase 19 percent overall
Increase 14 percent for men
Increase 23 percent for women

Master’s degrees
Between 2006–07 and 2018–19, in the middle alternative projections, the number of master’s degrees is projected to

Increase 28 percent overall
increase 23 percent for men
Increase 31 percent for women

Doctor’s degrees
Between 2006–07 and 2018–19, in the middle alternative projections, the number of doctor’s degrees is projected to

Increase 49 percent overall
Increase 35 percent for men
Increase 63 percent for women

Each year during that time period, women are projected to receive more doctor’s degrees than men in each set of alternative projections.

A first-professional degree is one that signifies both completion (of the academic requirements for beginning practice in a given profession), and a level of professional skill beyond that required for a bachelor’s degree. Also, a first-professional degree is based on a program requiring at least 2 academic years of work beyond the bachelor’s degree.

Degree fields include dentistry, medicine, optometry, osteopathic medicine, pharmacy, podiatric medicine, veterinary medicine, chiropractic, law, and theological professions.

Between 2006–07 and 2018–19, the number of first- professional degrees is projected to

Increase 24 percent overall
Increase 22 percent for men
Increase 27 percent for women

Wow. More and more women rising in educational levels, while advance for males remain relatively more steady.

More and more women higher in government, in corporate ranks, in all levels of degrees conferred.

Do the numbers indicate an emerging and continuing matriarchy— in 2018 and beyond?

Hillary Clinton with a microphone.

Perhaps this female influence of nurturing intelligence will help save our world? What about it, men? Time to play catch-up?

Dare we hope for a lowered global level of testosterone-fueled business and politics?

Could there be a Mother Courage leadership evolving, in which women gain the power, to play a larger and larger role in all human leadership and affairs?

Matriarchy 2018?

The numbers say YES. It’s all about time!

SOURCE: U.S. Dept. of Education, NCES, 2009. Integrated Postsecondary Education Data System (IPEDS), “Fall Enrollment Survey,” various years; Enrollment in Degree-Granting Institutions Model, 1973–2007; and First-Time Freshmen Model, 1975-2007.