Indicator 13: Education Attainment for Females
The percentage of females among adults aged 25-64 who have attained specific levels of education provides an indication of sex differences in the levels of education attained by adults and, consequently, the differential skill levels that males and females bring to the workforce. A value of 50 indicates that males and females are equally represented in the population that has attained a specific level of education, whereas a value less than 50 indicates that there are fewer females than males at a given level. Since education is a major determinant of labor market qualifications and participation, income, occupational mobility, and quality of life, large sex differences in education attainment favoring males imply that females on average are at a major disadvantage in the world of work and in society.
In all of the countries reported (G-7 and other), females aged 25-64 were systematically underrepresented in university higher education and were frequently overrepresented at the lower education levels as of 1992. To illustrate, 68 percent of Germans whose highest level of education attainment was lower secondary* or less were female, in contrast to only 35 percent of those individuals attaining university-level higher education. In the United Kingdom, the figures were 59 and 36 percent, respectively. Compared with most of the countries reported here, the sex differences in education attainment were small in the United States (50 percent for lower secondary or less and 46 percent university education).
The sex difference in university-level education attainment was relatively smaller for 25- to 34-year-olds than it was for 25- to 64-year-olds in the G-7 countries reported and was practically eliminated in the United States, Canada, France, and Italy, indicating a narrowing of the sex difference in university-level education attainment. (See supplemental tables 2 and 3.)
- In many countries, attaining a nonuniversity higher education was predominantly either a male or a female achievement. In France, the United Kingdom, the United States, Belgium, Denmark, New Zealand, and Portugal, a substantially greater proportion of females than males attained nonuniversity higher education, whereas in Germany, Spain, and Switzerland, the reverse was true. Of the G-7 countries for which data were available, only Canada had equal proportions of males and females at this education level. These patterns may be due in part to differences in the education level at which training for traditionally male and female occupations is concentrated.
*For further explanation of levels of education, see the sidebar entitled ISCED levels of education.
Table 13: Women as a percentage of the total population 25-64 years of age who have completed specific levels of education, by highest level of education completed and country: 1992
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Lower Higher Higher secondary Upper education education Population Country and below secondary (nonuniversity) (university) aged 25-64 ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- G-71 Canada 50 55 50 45 51 France 55 46 56 46 51 Germany 68 49 35 35 49 Italy 52 48 (2) 43 51 United Kingdom 59 46 60 36 50 United States 50 53 56 46 51 Other Australia3 61 35 50 45 50 Austria 65 43 (2) 43 50 Belgium 51 47 60 34 50 Czechoslovakia4 66 46 (2) 40 51 Denmark 55 43 57 47 49 Finland 49 52 52 42 50 Ireland 47 58 54 41 50 Netherlands 56 45 (2) 21 49 New Zealand 57 39 68 40 51 Norway 51 50 51 40 49 Portugal4 52 46 74 48 52 Spain 53 46 34 48 51 Sweden 47 50 54 46 49 Switzerland 66 52 25 32 50 Turkey 52 34 (2) 30 50 ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
1/ No data available for Japan.
2/ Data included in another category.
3/1993 data.
4/1991 data.
NOTE: See supplemental tables 2 and 3 for additional data on sex differences in education attainment. See supplemental note to Indicator 13 for details on indicator calculation for Australia, Austria, Belgium, Canada, Czechoslovakia, Finland, France, Germany, Ireland, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Portugal, Sweden, Switzerland, Turkey, the United Kingdom, and the United States.
SOURCE: Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development, Center for Educational Research and Innovation, International Indicators Project, 1995.
Figure 13: Women as a percentage of the total population 25-64 years of age who have completed various levels of education, by highest level of education completed and G-7 country:1, 2 1992.
1/ No data available for Japan.
2/ Countries are reported in alphabetical order.
3/ Data included in another category.
NOTE: A value of 50 indicates equal proportions while a value less than 50 reveals that there are fewer women than men at a given level of education.
SOURCE: Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development, Center for Educational Research and Innovation, International Indicators Project, 1995.
See supplemental notes to Indicator 11 and supplemental tables 2 and 3.
[Indicator 12]
[Indicator 14]