Class of 2009: College Degrees by Discipline, Sex

Academic Discipline	Male Degrees	Female Degrees	Percent Female
Female-Dominated Disciplines
Family and consumer sciences/human sciences	2,754	19,151	87.4%
Health professions and related clinical sciences	17,792	102,696	85.2%
Public administration and social service professions	4,374	19,477	81.7%
Education	21,159	80,549	79.2%
Psychology	21,488	72,783	77.2%
Legal professions and studies	1,037	2,785	72.9%
Foreign languages, literatures, and linguistics	6,302	14,856	70.2%
Area, ethnic, cultural, and gender studies	2,735	6,037	68.8%
Multi/interdisciplinary studies	11,857	25,587	68.3%
English language and literature	17,973	37,489	67.6%
Liberal arts and sciences, general studies and humanities	16,616	30,480	64.7%
Communication and communications technologies	31,218	51,891	62.4%
Visual and performing arts	35,051	54,089	60.7%
Biological and biomedical sciences	32,925	47,831	59.2%
Close to Gender Parity
Security and protective services	21,073	20,727	49.6%
Social sciences and history	85,197	83,303	49.4%
Business, management, marketing	177,862	170,123	48.9%
Agriculture and natural resources	13,101	11,887	47.6%
Parks, recreation, leisure, and fitness studies	16,666	15,001	47.4%
Male-Dominated Disciplines
Mathematics and statistics	8,793	6,703	43.3%
Architecture and related services	5,797	4,322	42.7%
Physical sciences and science technologies	13,299	9,167	40.8%
Philosophy and religious studies	7,761	4,683	37.6%
Theology and religious vocations	5,950	2,990	33.4%
Computer and information sciences and support services	31,215	6,779	17.8%
Engineering and engineering technologies	70,675	13,961	16.5%
All Disciplines	685,382	915,986	57.2%

The table above is based on the most recent data on bachelor's degrees by discipline and sex for the class of 2009 from the Department of Education. Note that:

1. Overall, there were 134 female college graduates with bachelor's degrees in 2009 for every 100 men.

2. Women significantly outnumbered men in 14 academic disciplines, men significantly outnumber women in 7 academic disciplines, and there was approximate gender parity in 5 disciplines. 

3. Even though we constantly hear about female under-representation in science, in 2009, women outnumbered men for bachelor's degrees in biology by a ratio of 145 women per 100 men.  

4. The concern about gender imbalances for college degrees is frequently selective, with great concern about female under-representation in certain disciplines, but very little concern about female over-representation, both by discipline, and overall for all college degrees.