The Rise of Women: The Growing Gender Gap in Education and What it Means for American Schools.

• Author: Aymong, Caitlin C.
• Position: Book review

THE RISE OF WOMEN: THE GROWING GENDER GAP IN EDUCATION AND WHAT IT MEANS FOR AMERICAN SCHOOLS

Thomas A. DiPrete and Claudia Buchmann

(New York: Russell Sage Foundation, 2013), 277 pages.

The Rise of Women: The Growing Gender Gap in Education and What It Means for American Schools examines the current gender gap in college graduation rates in the United States. Contemporary women outperform men in school and are more likely to earn college degrees. This gender gap exists across ethnicities and exists in many other industrialized nations. In the book, the authors examine potential causes of the current male shortfall in educational attainment They look at existing arguments for this gap and analyze current research, searching for the truth within these arguments and possible causal variables.

The authors explain how women's natural social and behavioral advantages, better academic performance, and attachment to school at all ages has given women an edge in terms of educational attainment. To bridge the gap, policymakers must increase graduation rates for male students who have higher education aspirations and potential for completing college, but who are unable to achieve these goals due to financial constraints and lack of other support systems.

The authors argue that an effective route to increasing the educational attainment of men is to support a masculine...