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Table 3. Bachelor's degrees awarded to women, by field of degree and citizenship status of recipients: 2008–18

Field 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018
Female bachelor’s degree recipients, all fields 906,625 927,600 954,891 993,872 1,038,807 1,066,182 1,081,488 1,095,703 1,112,357 1,130,489 1,148,820
Science and engineering 332,640 344,731 361,355 388,103 420,996 447,420 469,140 488,811 506,095 520,855 539,402
Science 319,613 331,848 347,551 373,317 404,902 430,361 450,359 468,606 483,142 495,313 511,613
Computer and information sciences 6,884 6,894 7,306 7,700 8,751 9,209 10,144 10,863 12,222 13,802 16,001
Geosciences, atmospheric sciences, and ocean sciences 2,356 2,414 2,505 2,760 3,045 3,225 3,418 3,656 3,795 3,859 3,885
Atmospheric sciences 263 235 236 217 263 249 258 265 236 267 246
Earth sciences 1,422 1,461 1,556 1,744 1,899 2,012 2,193 2,313 2,404 2,446 2,490
Ocean sciences 671 718 713 799 883 964 967 1,078 1,155 1,146 1,149
Life sciences 144,853 154,057 165,134 181,600 201,901 221,022 238,369 257,313 270,393 281,018 292,021
Agricultural sciences and natural resources 9,747 10,227 11,150 12,313 13,839 15,258 15,969 16,701 17,408 17,826 18,974
Biological and biomedical sciences 48,661 50,451 52,262 55,114 58,466 61,146 63,887 67,615 71,063 73,913 77,537
Health sciences 86,445 93,379 101,722 114,173 129,596 144,618 158,513 172,997 181,922 189,279 195,510
Mathematics and Statistics 6,957 6,971 7,248 7,745 8,536 9,297 9,511 9,922 10,302 10,753 11,490
Physical sciences 7,284 7,451 7,598 7,794 8,284 8,347 8,815 8,765 8,888 9,357 9,607
Astronomy 120 146 140 136 153 128 170 144 140 176 208
Chemistry 5,909 6,106 6,162 6,328 6,730 6,718 7,097 7,108 7,120 7,472 7,588
Physics 988 925 1,015 1,001 1,062 1,162 1,186 1,219 1,347 1,454 1,570
Other physical sciences 267 274 281 329 339 339 362 294 281 255 241
Psychology and social sciences 151,279 154,061 157,760 165,718 174,385 179,261 180,102 178,087 177,542 176,524 178,609
Anthropology 5,967 6,267 6,563 6,859 7,733 8,016 7,946 7,195 6,671 6,114 6,178
Economics 7,754 7,937 8,454 8,729 8,385 8,753 9,318 10,193 10,647 10,832 11,361
Political science 18,293 17,915 17,892 17,825 17,551 16,928 16,431 15,496 15,486 16,116 16,649
Psychology 71,682 73,164 75,336 78,167 84,181 88,329 90,851 91,688 92,069 91,745 92,701
Sociology 20,121 20,129 20,142 20,626 21,169 21,522 21,074 20,389 20,060 19,664 19,922
Other social sciences 27,462 28,649 29,373 33,512 35,366 35,713 34,482 33,126 32,609 32,053 31,798
Engineering 13,027 12,883 13,804 14,786 16,094 17,059 18,781 20,205 22,953 25,542 27,789
Aerospace, aeronautical, and astronautical engineering 441 437 463 439 463 479 488 515 551 555 575
Bioengineering and biomedical engineering 1,290 1,366 1,404 1,580 1,768 1,877 2,175 2,378 2,737 3,061 3,407
Chemical engineering 1,730 1,805 2,014 2,128 2,355 2,478 2,760 2,919 3,313 3,658 4,071
Civil engineering 2,319 2,254 2,377 2,721 2,731 2,894 2,926 2,879 3,253 3,380 3,599
Electrical, electronics, and communications engineering 1,503 1,288 1,336 1,333 1,479 1,548 1,741 1,861 2,058 2,329 2,457
Industrial and manufacturing engineering 1,009 1,056 1,133 1,162 1,273 1,280 1,450 1,635 1,850 2,096 2,203
Materials science engineering 214 224 242 276 314 377 363 415 472 520 537
Mechanical engineering 2,073 1,959 2,145 2,191 2,523 2,676 3,088 3,429 3,994 4,649 5,069
Other engineering 2,448 2,494 2,690 2,956 3,188 3,450 3,790 4,174 4,725 5,294 5,871
Non-science and engineering 573,985 582,869 593,536 605,769 617,811 618,762 612,348 606,892 606,262 609,634 609,418
Education 92,144 91,880 91,506 93,285 94,864 93,670 89,820 84,725 81,893 81,239 80,252
Humanities and arts 157,426 157,685 158,199 159,173 160,843 159,790 154,547 146,926 141,551 139,098 136,670
Technologies 12,750 13,366 13,520 14,185 16,275 16,185 17,052 18,247 19,316 20,189 20,602
Other non-science and engineering/unknown 311,665 319,938 330,311 339,126 345,829 349,117 350,929 356,994 363,502 369,108 371,894
U.S. citizens and permanent residents, all fieldsa 883,916 904,014 930,713 967,372 1,008,926 1,033,651 1,047,168 1,058,745 1,071,988 1,087,602 1,103,080
Science and engineering 324,210 335,722 352,041 377,735 409,229 434,392 455,064 473,534 488,917 502,323 518,833
Science 312,004 323,691 339,187 364,039 394,456 418,819 437,946 455,137 468,121 479,213 493,771
Computer and information sciences 6,474 6,493 6,904 7,305 8,263 8,726 9,508 10,080 11,238 12,568 14,140
Geosciences, atmospheric sciences, and ocean sciences 2,311 2,363 2,451 2,711 2,988 3,156 3,316 3,545 3,691 3,735 3,733
Atmospheric sciences 261 233 233 217 261 243 253 260 234 257 240
Earth sciences 1,392 1,433 1,517 1,710 1,864 1,964 2,108 2,222 2,318 2,357 2,366
Ocean sciences 658 697 701 784 863 949 955 1,063 1,139 1,121 1,127
Life sciences 141,979 150,903 161,964 178,205 198,338 217,207 234,567 253,456 266,191 276,575 287,162
Agricultural sciences and natural resources 9,618 10,062 10,971 12,104 13,604 14,911 15,589 16,291 16,986 17,366 18,443
Biological and biomedical sciences 47,240 48,974 50,733 53,418 56,771 59,308 62,131 65,803 68,996 71,626 75,017
Health sciences 85,121 91,867 100,260 112,683 127,963 142,988 156,847 171,362 180,209 187,583 193,702
Mathematics and Statistics 6,646 6,638 6,841 7,145 7,676 8,209 8,318 8,536 8,585 8,723 9,286
Physical sciences 6,971 7,117 7,242 7,411 7,880 7,877 8,325 8,254 8,328 8,735 8,982
Astronomy 116 136 134 131 147 121 156 138 126 165 192
Chemistry 5,663 5,825 5,863 6,023 6,422 6,354 6,703 6,702 6,671 7,013 7,132
Physics 941 890 970 940 984 1,078 1,117 1,129 1,261 1,307 1,422
Other physical sciences 251 266 275 317 327 324 349 285 270 250 236
Psychology and social sciences 147,623 150,177 153,785 161,262 169,311 173,644 173,912 171,266 170,088 168,877 170,468
Anthropology 5,887 6,195 6,478 6,794 7,644 7,941 7,848 7,101 6,576 6,017 6,071
Economics 6,877 7,009 7,340 7,317 6,763 6,787 7,102 7,597 7,822 7,953 8,426
Political science 17,955 17,539 17,521 17,349 17,075 16,424 15,901 14,993 14,897 15,551 16,021
Psychology 70,534 71,893 74,008 76,893 82,624 86,672 89,014 89,753 89,881 89,458 90,216
Sociology 19,868 19,892 19,893 20,377 20,866 21,183 20,719 19,986 19,627 19,236 19,421
Other social sciences 26,502 27,649 28,545 32,532 34,339 34,637 33,328 31,836 31,285 30,662 30,313
Engineering 12,206 12,031 12,854 13,696 14,773 15,573 17,118 18,397 20,796 23,110 25,062
Aerospace, aeronautical, and astronautical engineering 421 410 426 410 435 447 434 486 503 500 521
Bioengineering and biomedical engineering 1,214 1,279 1,319 1,476 1,664 1,778 2,052 2,215 2,572 2,857 3,155
Chemical engineering 1,589 1,637 1,861 1,948 2,132 2,207 2,468 2,619 2,985 3,276 3,666
Civil engineering 2,243 2,184 2,280 2,606 2,596 2,736 2,742 2,690 3,013 3,094 3,294
Electrical, electronics, and communications engineering 1,321 1,125 1,153 1,117 1,205 1,265 1,447 1,523 1,678 2,014 2,054
Industrial and manufacturing engineering 929 976 1,025 1,068 1,138 1,133 1,275 1,455 1,621 1,836 1,954
Materials science engineering 201 208 231 259 291 342 326 372 415 449 472
Mechanical engineering 1,998 1,879 2,064 2,098 2,394 2,525 2,921 3,229 3,740 4,325 4,692
Other engineering 2,290 2,333 2,495 2,714 2,918 3,140 3,453 3,808 4,269 4,759 5,254
Non-science and engineering 559,706 568,292 578,672 589,637 599,697 599,259 592,104 585,211 583,071 585,279 584,247
Education 91,290 91,000 90,636 92,247 93,840 92,826 89,007 83,866 80,957 80,294 79,249
Humanities and arts 153,943 154,013 154,504 155,565 157,097 155,833 150,550 142,511 136,672 133,995 131,331
Technologies 12,526 13,129 13,272 13,923 16,027 15,899 16,785 17,980 19,024 19,789 20,194
Other non-science and engineering/unknown 301,947 310,150 320,260 327,902 332,733 334,701 335,762 340,854 346,418 351,201 353,473
Temporary visa holders, all fields 22,709 23,586 24,178 26,500 29,881 32,531 34,320 36,958 40,369 42,887 45,740
Science and engineering 8,430 9,009 9,314 10,368 11,767 13,028 14,076 15,277 17,178 18,532 20,569
Science 7,609 8,157 8,364 9,278 10,446 11,542 12,413 13,469 15,021 16,100 17,842
Computer and information sciences 410 401 402 395 488 483 636 783 984 1,234 1,861
Geosciences, atmospheric sciences, and ocean sciences 45 51 54 49 57 69 102 111 104 124 152
Atmospheric sciences 2 2 3 0 2 6 5 5 2 10 6
Earth sciences 30 28 39 34 35 48 85 91 86 89 124
Ocean sciences 13 21 12 15 20 15 12 15 16 25 22
Life sciences 2,874 3,154 3,170 3,395 3,563 3,815 3,802 3,857 4,202 4,443 4,859
Agricultural sciences and natural resources 129 165 179 209 235 347 380 410 422 460 531
Biological and biomedical sciences 1,421 1,477 1,529 1,696 1,695 1,838 1,756 1,812 2,067 2,287 2,520
Health sciences 1,324 1,512 1,462 1,490 1,633 1,630 1,666 1,635 1,713 1,696 1,808
Mathematics and Statistics 311 333 407 600 860 1,088 1,193 1,386 1,717 2,030 2,204
Physical sciences 313 334 356 383 404 470 490 511 560 622 625
Astronomy 4 10 6 5 6 7 14 6 14 11 16
Chemistry 246 281 299 305 308 364 394 406 449 459 456
Physics 47 35 45 61 78 84 69 90 86 147 148
Other physical sciences 16 8 6 12 12 15 13 9 11 5 5
Psychology and social sciences 3,656 3,884 3,975 4,456 5,074 5,617 6,190 6,821 7,454 7,647 8,141
Anthropology 80 72 85 65 89 75 98 94 95 97 107
Economics 877 928 1,114 1,412 1,622 1,966 2,216 2,596 2,825 2,879 2,935
Political science 338 376 371 476 476 504 530 503 589 565 628
Psychology 1,148 1,271 1,328 1,274 1,557 1,657 1,837 1,935 2,188 2,287 2,485
Sociology 253 237 249 249 303 339 355 403 433 428 501
Other social sciences 960 1,000 828 980 1,027 1,076 1,154 1,290 1,324 1,391 1,485
Engineering 821 852 950 1,090 1,321 1,486 1,663 1,808 2,157 2,432 2,727
Aerospace, aeronautical, and astronautical engineering 20 27 37 29 28 32 54 29 48 55 54
Bioengineering and biomedical engineering 76 87 85 104 104 99 123 163 165 204 252
Chemical engineering 141 168 153 180 223 271 292 300 328 382 405
Civil engineering 76 70 97 115 135 158 184 189 240 286 305
Electrical, electronics, and communications engineering 182 163 183 216 274 283 294 338 380 315 403
Industrial and manufacturing engineering 80 80 108 94 135 147 175 180 229 260 249
Materials science engineering 13 16 11 17 23 35 37 43 57 71 65
Mechanical engineering 75 80 81 93 129 151 167 200 254 324 377
Other engineering 158 161 195 242 270 310 337 366 456 535 617
Non-science and engineering 14,279 14,577 14,864 16,132 18,114 19,503 20,244 21,681 23,191 24,355 25,171
Education 854 880 870 1,038 1,024 844 813 859 936 945 1,003
Humanities and arts 3,483 3,672 3,695 3,608 3,746 3,957 3,997 4,415 4,879 5,103 5,339
Technologies 224 237 248 262 248 286 267 267 292 400 408
Other non-science and engineering/unknown 9,718 9,788 10,051 11,224 13,096 14,416 15,167 16,140 17,084 17,907 18,421
a These categories include U.S. citizens and foreign citizens on permanent visas (i.e., resident aliens who have been admitted for permanent residency).
NOTE: See technical table A-1 for specific fields included in each category.
SOURCE: National Center for Science and Engineering Statistics, special tabulations (2020) of the Integrated Postsecondary Education Data System Completions Survey, National Center for Education Statistics.