Closing the gender gap

After hundreds of years as second-class employees, women deserve the right to make more money. But the idea that they must go through four years of additional schooling to receive these economic incentives further proves the struggle is not over. \nLast week, The Chronicle of Higher Education released information regarding a study in which young American women with associate or bachelor degrees appear to receive more immediate economic benefits than men. Some, like Laura Perna, the study's author and assistant professor of educational policy and leadership at the University of Maryland at College Park, claim the results might help explain the increasing gender gap in college enrollment. \n Perna periodically interviewed 9,909 students between 1992 and 2000, for the study. \n She discovered women with an associate degree earned 8 percent more than those who had never received any beyond a high school diploma. Correspondingly, women with a bachelor's degree earned 24 percent more money. \n While for women wealth increased with education, men couldn't attest to similar economic benefits from education. For years, women have lagged behind men -- economically and educationally. \nNow, we see women are apparently earning more as a result of college. \nBut don't assume that more money because of a college degree suddenly negates all of the continuing struggles women face. Perna's study doesn't conclude women make more money than men after graduation. All it says is education increases economic benefits for women. In other words, women with a degree have more opportunities than women without one. We could have probably figured that out without Perna's help.\nBut, she tells us men don't have this advantage (if that's what you'd like to call it). Apparently, male-dominated fields for high school graduates make more money. So, in essence, men have an advantage from the day they graduate from high school, and all Perna says is this benefit doesn't multiply as a result of college.\nCensus statistics from 2000 indicate women continue to earn less money than men. In Lake County, Ind., alone, the discrepancy resulted in a $13,400 gender gap.\nThough Perna's study only presents with a glimpse of the working world (she mostly deals 26-year-olds), it serves as a reasonable model for economic patterns.\nThe study does little to elucidate the overall economic gender gap, but it might explain why more women choose to go to college. If women know they'll receive such large wage benefits by attending college, they'll make the rational corresponding choice, Perna says. \nColleges across the country -- IU included -- boast higher percentages of female enrollment. \nTake Perna's study for what it is. While it doesn't expound upon the more desirable benefits for women (breaking down the gender gap completely), Perna recognizes the potential a college education can play in a women's world.