For the last 10 years, Canadian women have enrolled in university at a greater rate than their male counterparts. That steady climb seems to have abated
slightly but their numbers are still so high that questions are being asked why
so many men are not enrolling.

This summer, Statistics Canada released its latest enrolment figures from the 2007-08 academic year showing a general slowing from past years. The 0.6% increase in total enrolments was down from the past decade's annual average increase of 2.9%. While growth in female enrolments was negligible, with a 0.1% increase, this compared with the 1.3% for males.

But the rise in male enrolment means little on Canadian campuses where women still far outnumber men: the StatsCan figures reveal that of the almost 1.1 million university students, 613,600, or 57.5%, were female and 452,600 or 42.4% were male. The same proportion of women to men has remained constant since 2002-03.

At the graduate level, women made up 55% of master's students but, as in the previous seven years, they are in the minority among doctoral students, at 46%.

Some observers see connections between the high proportion of women in Canadian universities and poor performances of boys in high school. A recent study by Trent University professor Torben Drewes of 15-year-old high school students found great differences between genders in key areas.

It found that among the students 46% of the girls earned an average of 80 or more (and 54% earned less) while 32% of males earned 80+ (and 68% earned below).The study, conducted by the Educational Policy Institute, also found that girls spent more hours per week studying while the boys tended to skip more classes.

Low male enrolments have been on the universities' radar: "The presidents of the major universities are very concerned that we are not attracting young men in the numbers we should," University of Alberta President Indira Samarasekera told Canwest News. But Samarasekera admitted she and her colleagues were not entirely sure what to do about the situation.

Women's apparent upper hand in enrolments may just be the result of a situation that still sees them earning less than their male counterparts in many professions, including academia. Going to university could be one way to try and fight against that inequality.

philip.fine@uw-news.com

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