In 1950, according to U.S. Census Bureau figures, 2.3% of black men and 3.2% of black women had a college degree or higher. Fast forward to 2002 and the education gap has narrowed, in a sense. In 2002, 17.4% of black men ages 25-29 had a college degree, compared to 17.7% of black women of the same age group. Dr. Roderick Harrison, a demographer at the Joint Center for Political and Economic Studies and a professor of sociology at Howard University, says that using the 25-29 age group is an advantage "because it gives you a better picture of what people have been doing in the past decade" instead of other reports that "weighted by what people were doing 20 and 30 years ago." He continues, "in [almost] every race group, women are now earning more B.A.'s than men. It's not a race issue. It's a gender issue."
Although 24% of black women have entered the professional class, compared to 17% of black men, Harrison is quick to note that these black women earn only about 74.5% of their black male counterparts." He points out that many black women are represented in lower-paying managerial and administrative positions. According to the 2002 Census, 11% of black women executives and managers are in public administration, compared to 8% of black men. And when it comes to pay, 8.5% of black men in managerial and professional occupations earn over $100,000, while only 3% of black women can say the same. So, although black professional women are finally on the map, they still have a long way to go to achieve economic parity.
| Certain statistical pegs undergird Siobhan Benet's Black Enterprise article "Black Women Still Rising"
posted in articles on August 1, 2003 2:56 AM | t (0)
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