Gender and the Occupations of Humanities Majors
- Among terminal bachelor’s degree holders (TBHs) who majored in the humanities, the widest gap between men and women was found among those in office and administrative support occupations in 2018 (Indicator III-05a). While 8.5% of male TBHs were employed in these occupations, 17.2% of their female counterparts did work of this kind. Among humanities majors who are also advanced degree holders (ADHs; the advanced degree could be in any field), there was less of a differential, with 3.4% of men and 5.9% of women employed in office and administrative positions (Indicator III-05b).1
- Women who majored in the humanities were almost twice as likely to be employed in precollegiate teaching as men. Among TBHs, 4.5% of men were employed in precollegiate teaching, compared to 8.7% of women. Among those with advanced degrees, 8.9% of men were employed in precollegiate education, compared to 17.1% of women.
- Among ADHs, men were almost twice as likely as women to work in law-related occupations. Just over 16% of male ADHs were found in this type of job, compared to 8.7% of women.
- Male TBHs were considerably more likely than women to be found in the aggregated “other” occupations category, which consists largely of military occupations and the trades (12.1% of men, 3.4% of women).
Endnotes
- 1In 2018, 41% of humanities majors possessed at least one advanced degree, in any field. The American Community Survey does not inquire about the field of postbaccalaureate degrees.
III-05a: Occupational Distribution of Humanities Majors with a Terminal Bachelor’s Degree, by Gender, 2018*
* Degree holders are those employed at any time in the five years preceding their response to the American Community Survey, which is the source of this data. Reported jobs are those respondents currently held or the last they worked. Respondents who worked more than one job at a time were asked to report the job at which they worked the most hours.
** Includes education administrators, teaching assistants, tutors, school psychologists, and workers categorized by the U.S. Census Bureau as “other teachers and instructors.”
† Encompasses military-specific occupations and those in production, transportation, and material moving; construction, extraction, maintenance, and repair; sports; and farming, fishing, and forestry. For further details regarding the occupations included in each category used in the graph, see the ACS-HI Crosswalk.
Source: U.S. Census Bureau, 2018 American Community Survey Public-Use Microdata Sample. Data analyzed and presented by the American Ƶ of Arts Sciences’ Indicators ().
The information presented here on the occupations of college graduates who majored in the humanities is based on an original analysis by the Humanities Indicators (HI) of data from the (ACS), which has been administered on an annual basis by the U.S. Census Bureau since 2005. The ACS replaced the “long form” version of the decennial census and collects information—used to allocate billions in state and federal funding—about Americans’ personal characteristics, family composition, employment, income, and housing.
The HI has chosen to focus its analysis not merely on the currently employed but on those college graduates who were employed at any time in the previous five years, because the objective of this indicator is to shed as much light as possible on what humanities majors go on to do in the way of paid employment and how this compares to the occupational outcomes of those who majored in other fields. To consider only the currently employed would be to lose information regarding, for example, the employment experiences of the recently retired or those who have temporarily exited the paid labor force to care for children or an elderly family member or to go back to school.
The ACS permits respondents to specify up to two fields of bachelor’s degree. For the purposes of this analysis, an individual was counted as having a bachelor’s degree in the humanities if the field of either reported degree was within the scope of the humanities as specified by the HI. Information regarding the (1) occupations included in each category in the graph and (2) specific degree programs grouped under each broad field heading is provided in the ACS-HI Crosswalk.
III-05b: Occupational Distribution of Humanities Majors Who Went On to Obtain an Advanced Degree (in Any Field), by Gender, 2018*
* Degree holders are those employed at any time in the five years preceding their response to the American Community Survey. Reported jobs are those respondents currently held or the last they worked. Respondents who worked more than one job at a time were asked to report the job at which they worked the most hours. The advanced degree may be in any field.
** Includes education administrators, teaching assistants, tutors, school psychologists, and workers categorized by the U.S. Census Bureau as “other teachers and instructors.”
† Encompasses military-specific occupations and those in production, transportation, and material moving; construction, extraction, maintenance, and repair; and farming, fishing, and forestry. For further details regarding the occupations included in each category used in the graph, see the ACS-HI Crosswalk.
Source: U.S. Census Bureau, 2018 American Community Survey Public-Use Microdata Sample. Data analyzed and presented by the American Ƶ of Arts Sciences’ Indicators ().
The information presented here on the occupations of college graduates who majored in the humanities is based on an original analysis by the Humanities Indicators (HI) of data from the (ACS), which has been administered on an annual basis by the U.S. Census Bureau since 2005. The ACS replaced the “long form” version of the decennial census and collects information—used to allocate billions in state and federal funding—about Americans’ personal characteristics, family composition, employment, income, and housing.
The HI has chosen to focus its analysis not merely on the currently employed but on those college graduates who were employed at any time in the previous five years, because the objective of this indicator is to shed as much light as possible on what humanities majors go on to do in the way of paid employment and how this compares to the occupational outcomes of those who majored in other fields. To consider only the currently employed would be to lose information regarding, for example, the employment experiences of the recently retired or those who have temporarily exited the paid labor force to care for children or an elderly family member or to go back to school.
The ACS permits respondents to specify up to two fields of bachelor’s degree. For the purposes of this analysis, an individual was counted as having a bachelor’s degree in the humanities if the field of either reported degree was within the scope of the humanities as specified by the HI. Information regarding the (1) occupations included in each category in the graph and (2) specific degree programs grouped under each broad field heading is provided in the ACS-HI Crosswalk.
