There are more women enrolling in college than men

GRAND JUNCTION, Colo. (KKCO) - Almost 200 years after the first woman in the US was allowed to attend college, statehouse majority in Colorado is made mostly of women, and so are most of the universities across the US.

The Center for American Woman and Politics reports in 2023, over 32% of state legislatures are women. And a record number of woman fill almost two-thirds of colorado state house seats.

These trends aren’t only observed in politics... Data collected across the US, Colorado, and even Mesa County shows that in the last decade, women have exponentially pursued enrollment in a public 4-year university over men. That wasn’t always the case for previous generations of college students...

“There was just that general attitude at the time of like, you can’t do that, like, you’re a girl. And so I really had to push back against that,” said history professor Erika Jackson. “And I felt like I had to prove myself a little bit more, but again, I had to be strategic. Like when I got into graduate school, I couldn’t come off as like loud or brash, or overly opinionated, I just kind of had to find that niche for myself, but then prove myself through my own work.”

Professor Jackson detailed the ups and downs of college attending women throughout the 20th century.

After receiving the right to vote, there was an increase in women attending college. Following the great depression and world war two, more women were focused on assisting in factories or other war relief jobs.

Post war, the 1950′s housewife and nuclear family swept through the states, deterring women from college again.

“1960s 1970s, the gender balance of men and women attending college and the same number starts to balance out. And then over time, you actually have more women who are attending college than men in the United States.” Said Jackson.

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