Female students choose same disciplines as 50 years ago

Female students in Belgium continue to choose the same disciplines as 50 years ago, according to a study by the Free University of Brussels (VUB), which examined the study choices of young women enrolled in Belgian universities in the years 1958, 1988, 2005 and 2011.

The results of the study are published in the first episode of a series of reports on Flemish gender research in De Standaard.

Sociologists Ignace Glorieux and Ilse Laurijssen found that the proportion of women to men in certain disciplines remained remarkably stable over the past five decades, with both genders in general making the same study choices. Women are largely represented in disciplines that involve the social sciences or the human body. Technology remains a male-dominated field of study.

"We already knew that women and men tend to have different interests," says Laurijssen in De Standaard. "But there is so little change in the study choices made by both genders over the decades, which is quite surprising.”

Flemish education Minister Hilde Crevits (CD&V) is also surprised by the findings. "A balanced gender ratio is important. Each sector benefits from a good mix of educated men and women," she said. Crevits will therefore focus on a better study orientation, without forcing female students in any particular direction.