| American girls today are the daughters of the | | | | 51 percent of professional degrees. |
| revolution -- the first generation that is reaping | | | | The professions of law, medicine, and business |
| the full benefits of the women's movement. Their | | | | administration are increasingly gender-balanced. In |
| mothers and grandmothers fought and won the | | | | 1970, fewer than 10 percent of students earning |
| battles that produced the 19th Amendment to | | | | graduate degrees in these fields were women. In |
| the U.S. Constitution, giving women the right to | | | | each decade since, that number has increased. |
| vote. They spearheaded the efforts that resulted | | | | Today women earn approximately 40 percent of |
| in the 1973 Supreme Court decision of Roe v. | | | | these professional degrees. |
| Wade, which legalized abortion. They pressed for | | | | The 109th U.S. Congress (2005-2007) contained a |
| Title IX, giving girls equal access to sports | | | | total of 84 female members -- the highest |
| participation in school. Thanks in part to the | | | | number in its history, with 14 women in the |
| courage and perseverance of these foot soldiers, | | | | Senate and 70 in the House, including the Minority |
| women today play a wide range of professional | | | | Whip. In 2006, there were three states where |
| sports, have easy access to effective | | | | both senators were women -- California, Maine, |
| contraception, and attend Ivy League colleges and | | | | and Washington. As a point of comparison, in 1991 |
| West Point (Harvard and the U.S. military | | | | there were only four female senators and 28 |
| academies didn't admit women until the mid | | | | congresswomen in total. |
| 1970s). | | | | Since 1971, the number of women serving in |
| From a psychological point of view, the move | | | | state legislatures had increased more than |
| toward economic and social equality for women | | | | four-fold. In 2006, 22.8 percent of the 7,382 state |
| has made our daughters see themselves in ways | | | | legislators in the U.S. were women. Women held |
| that are unfamiliar to those of us who are older. | | | | 20.8 percent of the state senate seats and 23.6 |
| Girls today are growing up in an environment | | | | percent of the state house or assembly seats. |
| where the status of women is at an all-time high. | | | | Three women served as presidents of state |
| The oldest members of the cohort of alpha girls | | | | senates (CO, ME, WA), and two women were |
| we studied were born in the late 1980s -- a | | | | speakers of state houses (OR, VT). Additionally, |
| tipping point of sorts -- just as women began to | | | | women had been elected to statewide executive |
| outnumber men in college. They have grown with | | | | offices in 49 of the nation's 50 states and held |
| women's ascendance. Consider the following: | | | | 25.7 percent of these positions across the |
| The newest data from the National Center on | | | | country. |
| Educational Statistics show widening gaps between | | | | Reprinted from: Alpha Girls: Understanding the |
| men and women at the undergraduate and | | | | New American Girl and How She Is Changing the |
| master's degree levels. For the first time, women | | | | World by Dan Kindlon, PhD (September 2006; |
| earned more first professional degrees than men. | | | | $25.95US/$32.95CAN; 1-59486-255-9) © |
| In the 2004-2005 academic year, 59 percent of | | | | 2006 Dan Kindlon, PhD. Permission granted by |
| all degrees were granted to women. Women | | | | Rodale, Inc., Emmaus, PA 18098. Available |
| earned 62 percent of all associate's degrees, 59 | | | | wherever books are sold or directly from the |
| percent of all bachelor's degrees, 60 percent of all | | | | publisher by calling at (800) 848-4735. |
| master's degrees, 48 percent of doctorates, and | | | | |