This is part one of a two-part series regarding the role gender plays in higher education. Part two will discuss the societal factors that contribute to the growing gender gap in education.

Women have long outnumbered men at Eastern.

Last year, women made up close to 60 percent of the student body, according to the Office of Planning and Institutional Studies’ Web site.

This percentage has remained consistent since 2000.

Eastern’s spring 2010 ratio of men to women, 5-to-7, is relatively simple to explain at first glance, as the majority of students who attend Eastern come to obtain their teaching certification, and education is traditionally a female-dominated profession.

“I don’t think you’re going to find this ratio at every school, and this is an education school, a lot of students here want to be teachers, and you know that women in the education field outnumber men,” said Janet Cosbey, a professor in the sociology department.

Yet, there may be more to this figure than meets the eye.

Colleges and universities across the nation have been witnessing a growing discrepancy between the levels of female and male enrollment.

In 2000, 8.6 million women and 6.7 million men were enrolled at American degree-granting institutions; but, in 2007, 10.4 million women and 7.8 million men were enrolled, according to the National Center for Education Statistics.

“I think increased market opportunities for women have led to an increased desire to gain an education, said Linda Ghent, an economics professor. “I would also say that there are more single, independent women today, and so they can’t rely-and choose not to rely-on someone else’s salary.”

Aside from enrollment, more and more women are choosing to pursue graduate degrees and are entering doctoral programs.

Women have been out-performing men in an academic setting, yet wage disparities between the sexes remain.

Also, young men are much more likely to have conduct-related issues.

Chuck Eberly, a professor in the department of counseling and student development, said this is not an easy issue to understand.

Eberly said institutions are behind in understanding the issues college men deal with.

“We have to figure out what’s going on in mens’ lives in order to cause them to conduct themselves the way they do,” Eberly said.

Jason Hardimon can be reached at 581-7942 or jrhardimon2@eiu.edu.