US: Business the top college major for women

Business is the number one college major for women and men in America, according to a recent analysis by the AAUW (formerly the American Association of University Women) of the Department of Education's Condition of Education 2009 report, writes Ruchika Tulshyan for Forbes. Business degrees now comprise 18% of all degrees awarded to women, nearly twice as high as the second most popular major, health professions and clinical sciences.

Despite more women moving into this field of study, there is a continuing gender imbalance in the majority of undergraduate college majors. Engineering and computer science remain overwhelmingly male (numbers three and four respectively for men) while women continue to dominate 'soft' majors such as education, psychology and English (numbers three, five and nine respectively).

"Research has shown that women tend to gravitate towards fields of studies and career paths where they can have a positive social impact and work with others, often collaboratively," said Linda Basch, president of the National Council for Research on Women. "This is why you see so many women in the fields of health care and education. When women do gravitate toward the sciences, it is usually the life sciences." The surprise is biological and biomedical sciences at number eight on the list, the only female undergraduate top 10 'hard' science.
Full report on the Forbes site