The Gender Gap in Black Ph.D. Awards

As is the case in almost every measure of African Americans in higher education, black women have come to hold a large lead in doctoral awards. As recently as 1977 black women earned only 38.7 percent of all doctorates awarded to African Americans. By 2000 black women earned 65.7 percent of all doctorates awarded to African Americans. There have been only minor fluctuations since the beginning of the century. In 2006 black women earned 65 percent of all doctorates awarded to African Americans.

Since 1990 African-American women have increased their number of Ph.D. awards from 550 to 1,079. This is an increase of 96 percent. In contrast, the number of Ph.D. awards to African-American men increased from 351 in 1990 to 580. This is a rise of 65.2 percent.

Copyright © 2007. The Journal of Blacks in Higher Education. All rights reserved.