Abstract
This paper argues that the sex composition of college curricula is the major source of sex inequality in higher education today. Census data are analyzed to demonstrate that while women are obtaining an ever growing proportion of college degrees, fields of specialty are still segregated to an important extent. A model of prejudice and discrimination is constructed and analyzed as a possible explanation of the sex composition of college curricula. College curricula are ranked according to their potential for yielding high levels of income, power, and prestige in the occupational structure. The impact of discrimination in higher education is assessed by examining the extent to which the income, power, and prestige potential of college curricula can explain (a) the sex composition of those curricula, and (b) the female/male attrition rates in those curricula. Results show that men are disproportionately represented in curricula ranked high on the three stratification dimensions, and that those curricula have the highest amounts of prejudicial attitudes against women. Implications are drawn for status attainment research, and the direction of policy development is discussed.
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