More women are bachelors

women ahead of men by degrees

According to the Australian Bureau of Statistics’ report A Picture of the Nation, released yesterday, 28 per cent of Generation X and Y held a bachelor’s degrees or higher in 2006, compared with 21 per cent of men.

The ABS defines Generation X and Y as Australians aged between 20 and 39, or almost 30 per cent of the population.

The report is based on the data collected at the 2006 census.

It has discovered that each generation is better educated than the last, meaning Generations X and Y are the most highly educated generations on record.

The ABS says this is despite the introduction of user-pays Higher Education Contribution Scheme.

Women are also more involved in the workforce more than ever before, with the number of women either in work or looking for work rising between 1986 and 2006 from 48 per cent to 58 percent.

In real terms, that was a jump from 2.6 million women in work or looking for work to 4.2 million.

In contrast the number of men either in work or looking for work over the same period fell from 75 per cent to 72 per cent.

But men still worked longer hours than women. The census results showed that more than three-quarters of those working more than 49 hours a week were men.

For Brisbane university student Laura Chong, there was never a doubt in her mind about what she would do after finishing school.

“I had always wanted to go to uni,” Ms Chong, 22, said. “I wanted to give myself the best career opportunities.

Ms Chong is in her fifth year at the University of Queensland and is studying a Bachelor of Law and a Bachelor of Arts, majoring in criminology and Chinese.

She chose to study law because, “I wanted to study a course with definite career options”.

And Contrary to days gone by when the discipline was known as a boys; club, Ms Chong’s law lectures are an even balance of men and women. “In the years below me, there are definitely more females than males studying law,” she said. “It seems to be becoming much more popular with women.”

Ms Chong said the growing number of women earning bachelor’s degrees could probably be attributed to changing social norms.

“It's become acceptable more acceptable for women in society to get an education and strive for the best career opportunities,” she said.

“And in my experience, a lot of the boys I went to school with were encouraged to pursue a trade.

“They were told there was just as much money and that we needed more tradesmen.”

Ms Chong, who wants to be a barrister, said the law profession was still an intimidating one for women to enter.

“We learn in criminology that men are favoured in the courtroom, which is always the hurdle to overcome if you want to be a barrister.”

The ABS statistical analysis also provides further evidence that Australians are moving to the city firm the bush and are likely to be more highly educated than their forebears.

The 2006 census found that just over 12 per cent of Australians were living in rural areas, while nearly a century ago, in 1911, 42 per cent of the population was living in the bush.

Just over three-quarters of Australians in 2006 lived in towns and cities within 50km of the coast.

The current generation also is less likely to be religious, but more likely to be charitable, than earlier generations.

The ABS say that in 2006 three-quarters of the so-called lucky generation – which fell before the baby boomers and included those born between 1926 and 1946 – were afflicted with a Christian denomination.

In comparison, just over half of the Generations X and Y thought of themselves as Christians.

Volunteering, however, is on the rise. In 2006, 35 per cent of people aged 18 years and older had volunteered in the previous year, whereas in 1995 it was only 24 per cent.

Sarah Elks - The Australian Friday January 30 2009

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