This Issue Brief examines participation in postsecondary education among women and men and among different racial/ethnic groups, from 1974 to 2003. Participation rates are defined here as the proportion of 18- to 24-year-olds who are enrolled in or have completed postsecondary education. Over this time period, the participation rates of young women and of young Whites outpaced that of their male and minority counterparts, so that by 2003 young women had a higher participation rate than young men (reversing the pattern in 1974) and the 1974 gaps in participation rates favoring young Whites over Hispanics grew larger. In 2003, the gender gaps in participation were not significantly different across racial/ethnic groups, nor were racial/ethnic gaps different across gender groups. Moreover, the 10-percentage point gender gap in 2003 was smaller than the racial/ethnic gaps between Whites and Blacks (15 percentage points) and between Whites and Hispanics (23 percentage points).
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