Women Doctoral Graduates Rank High in Missouri
Women comprised 47.8 percent of doctoral graduates at Missouri institutions in 2009, higher than the national average of 46.8 percent and almost a percent higher than in 2008. Among border states, Missouri ranked third in having the highest percentage of women doctoral graduates, following Kentucky and Nebraska tied with 50.7 percent each.
In Missouri, the highest number of women doctoral graduates were in the field of Other Non-Science and Engineering Fields (62.3%) followed by Social Science (59.1%), Education (58.9%) and Bioscience (45.4%).
The portion of doctoral graduates that are female in Missouri was higher than the national average in 2008. Although the Physical Science and Engineering fields typically have a smaller portion of female graduates, Missouri exceeds the national average in those fields as well.
| Total Percentage of Women Doctorates by Field of Study in 2009 | ||||||||
| Area | Total % of Women Doctorates | Biosciences | Physical Sciences | Social Sciences | Engineering | Education | Humanities | Other non-S&E fields |
| Kentucky | 50.7% | 65.1% | 34.1% | 58.9% | 20.8% | 61.4% | 41.2% | 41.7% |
| Nebraska | 50.7% | 41.1% | 35.3% | 71.8% | 18.5% | 70.5% | 42.9% | 50.0% |
| Missouri | 47.8% | 45.4% | 39.3% | 59.1% | 25.3% | 58.9% | 37.8% | 62.3% |
| Tennessee | 47.6% | 56.8% | 27.8% | 60.6% | 24.4% | 64.5% | 35.9% | 44.4% |
| Kansas | 47.3% | 57.6% | 25.0% | 53.8% | 14.3% | 61.6% | 56.1% | 51.9% |
| Illinois | 47.1% | 58.5% | 30.5% | 55.1% | 23.2% | 70.4% | 50.4% | 54.5% |
| Arkansas | 46.6% | 46.7% | 35.3% | 47.8% | 34.5% | 63.6% | D | D |
| Oklahoma | 44.4% | 40.6% | 32.8% | 55.6% | 24.5% | 56.2% | 54.1% | 50.0% |
| Iowa | 43.8% | 43.5% | 39.0% | 55.7% | 23.4% | 63.7% | 43.9% | 51.2% |
| United States | 46.8% | 54.5% | 29.5% | 58.4% | 21.3% | 66.9% | 51.9% | 48.5% |
| D - Suppressed to avoid disclosure of confidential information | ||||||||
In 2009, Missouri had 415 women complete doctorates across all fields, behind only Illinois with 1,093 graduates. Following were Tennessee (398), Iowa (294), Kansas (205), Kentucky (221), Oklahoma (186), and Arkansas (97).
| Total of Doctorates Granted in All Fields of Study 2008 | |||
| Area | Male | Female | Total |
| Arkansas | 111 | 97 | 208 |
| Illinois | 1,229 | 1,093 | 2,322 |
| Iowa | 377 | 294 | 671 |
| Kansas | 228 | 205 | 433 |
| Kentucky | 215 | 221 | 436 |
| Missouri | 453 | 415 | 868 |
| Oklahoma | 233 | 186 | 419 |
| Tennessee | 439 | 398 | 837 |
| Nebraska | 150 | 154 | 304 |
| United States | 26,338 | 23,190 | 49,528 |
Nationally, there has been a growing trend of females obtaining doctoral degrees, increasing from 27.0 percent in 1978 to 46.8 percent in 2009. The year 2009 marked the 14th consecutive year in which the representation of female doctorate recipients had surpassed 40 percent.
The proportion of doctorates earned by women has also grown consistently each year within all of the broad fields of study according to the National Science Foundation.
