Male to Female ratio in MPH programs

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According to the ASPH annual data report for 2007, 71% of applicants for MPH programs were females. In programs that I had applied for the percentage of females to males in the programs are as follows:
Tulane University:83% female
Emory University:89% female
GW University: 82% female

There are indeed far more women than men pursuing this field of study.
How does this make the class dynamic? Has anyone noticed any differences coming from undergraduate education where the ratios of men and women were more even?
Why are women so much more inclined to pursue public health related careers? Women's communication skills seem to be more innate and are generally the care givers in society (please note I say generally). Still though, numbers like 89% females are so stark.

Any insight or observations from current or graduate MPH students about this trend?

 

[nimesis]

I am also interested to hear thoughts on this subject from anyone who has done an MPH. I'm one of the few males doing community health sciences so I'm kind of wondering how this dynamic plays out in classes and such.

 

[xscpx]

Hm...not sure if I can really answer that. Gender is something that doesn't really register in my mind because I don't put much heed into it. I don't really think it matters personally. I don't think gender has any more impact on a person than the way in which they pee. 😀 But by what I've seen, women seem to be in majority across all health related fields. Why this is, I don't know. Perhaps they were quicker to catch on that health careers are some of the only ones still totally necessary even in depressions? I really wouldn't put too much thought into any of this. People are people. My undergrad major was a 70/30 of females/males and I can't say that I've seen anything different in terms of class dynamics. Then again, I wasn't looking, and due to my stance on gender, I may have missed it even if I was looking.

Sorry I am not more help! But I honestly wouldn't be concerned about this.

 

[jkmph]

I'm a 1st year MPH at Emory and let me speak on my experience here.

Of the ~350 students, 78% are female (I'm a male). I'm an Epi major and I'd say this has the highest concentration of males at ~50%. As a single male I obviously have no problem with these ratios. However, with that said, I frankly believe that this has absolutely no bearing on my academic experience. Everyone at Rollins is here because they want to be, regardless of gender.

 

[Stories]

I'm a 1st year MPH at Emory and let me speak on my experience here.

Of the ~350 students, 78% are female (I'm a male). I'm an Epi major and I'd say this has the highest concentration of males at ~50%. As a single male I obviously have no problem with these ratios. However, with that said, I frankly believe that this has absolutely no bearing on my academic experience. Everyone at Rollins is here because they want to be, regardless of gender.

Can say almost the exact same thing about BU. BU was something like a 80/20 female/male split. You definitely notice the numbers of females (as a male), and more females make comments about it, but I found that the most of my EP and BS classes had closer to neutral splits.

 

[Acheron]

Do you think that being a male improves the chances of that person being accepted into a program? (Just curious because I am male)

 

[Stories]

Do you think that being a male improves the chances of that person being accepted into a program? (Just curious because I am male)

No. People may claim this kind of thing happens, but it's absolutely false.

 

[DarthNeurology]

According to the ASPH annual data report for 2007, 71% of applicants for MPH programs were females. In programs that I had applied for the percentage of females to males in the programs are as follows:
Tulane University:83% female
Emory University:89% female
GW University: 82% female

I think that there isn't a lot of support for men who want to do public health careers, and as a male I have faced negative comments from female professors who you just get a sense feel that men can't understand the issues properly in public health. There is definitely this bias and I think that prevents men from entering public health or even applying. It makes the field more narrow and has less perspective if there is gender imbalance. If a guy sees a class of 90% females in public health it makes you think about what type of support, if any, a male could get to work on various projects. In the end this level of lack of diversity, i.e. severe gender imbalance, makes the field look bad and illegitimate in a way. . .

 

[bigpharmD]

I think that there isn't a lot of support for men who want to do public health careers, and as a male I have faced negative comments from female professors who you just get a sense feel that men can't understand the issues properly in public health. There is definitely this bias and I think that prevents men from entering public health or even applying. It makes the field more narrow and has less perspective if there is gender imbalance. If a guy sees a class of 90% females in public health it makes you think about what type of support, if any, a male could get to work on various projects. In the end this level of lack of diversity, i.e. severe gender imbalance, makes the field look bad and illegitimate in a way. . .

I dont really agree with this. I see many male public health researchers, espicially ones with MDs. Most professions that deal with health have a high proportion of females.

 

[beebee0]

I dont really agree with this. I see many male public health researchers, espicially ones with MDs. Most professions that deal with health have a high proportion of females.

Same here. Many decision-makers in the health field are male and they do understand many major issues in health care and play major roles.

 

[Stories]

Public Health is a field that caters to women because of the type of work it is. It's a non-money making field that is directed towards improving the life of people. What else falls into this category? Social work and education. Two other fields that are heavily female-biased.

It's quite simple: men are less likely to have the desire to be in a work environment of selfless service. Probably a combination of societal norms and expectations (women are in these field and men are expected to bring home more money).

 

[jkmph]

Public Health is a field that caters to women because of the type of work it is. It's a non-money making field that is directed towards improving the life of people. What else falls into this category? Social work and education. Two other fields that are heavily female-biased.

It's quite simple: men are less likely to have the desire to be in a work environment of selfless service. Probably a combination of societal norms and expectations (women are in these field and men are expected to bring home more money).

I would add that women also find themselves galvanized to address women's health issues through public health that are glaring and unresolved. There is no shortage of womens health problems in first and third world nations alike. This is not necessarily the case for men.

To the poster who brought up this issue - clearly you need to do your homework.

 

[xscpx]

I kinda disagree. PH is not necessarily a non-money making field. Have you seen what the CDC pays? The ACS? Private research hospitals? There is definitetly money to be made. Tenured professors also make very decent money, especially at the bigger named schools.

And I would be careful calling it women's work or making comments that women are more alturistic or something. Making judgements on an entire gender based on the sheer fact that more women happen to be in a particular field is a bit absurd. I think we should just leave it at more women are enrolled in PH programs. You have no way of knowing if there are men with interests but cannot enroll or something like that. You also have no way of knowing anyone's motivations.

As an anthropologist, I don't see this as a societal norms issue, especially in the way you put it. Women are no longer concerned with having their men bring home money, in terms of culturally placed ideals, but rather being self-supporting has become the ideal for american women to strive for. I think we are seeing the begining of the breakdown of gender stigmas. I think in time all professions numbers in terms of gender will start evening out. Hopefully we are on our way to non-gendered bathrooms!!!!

As far as the women's health issues...my comittee member is male and is a perinatalologist and a PhD in perinatal epi. Not only women are concerned with women's health.

My whole point is, none of this should matter. Gender is not something that should be seen as anything of consequence. As far as the dip**** goes who claims to be repressed due to his maleness....meh, not that I believe you in the slightest, quit your complaining. We women have been dealing with that for thousands of years and don't want to hear it!

Who cares if there are more women or more men or more cows? None of it matters! Get the degree in the field you are interested in to get the job you want. Everythin else is inconsequential.

 

[Stories]

I kinda disagree. PH is not necessarily a non-money making field. Have you seen what the CDC pays? The ACS? Private research hospitals? There is definitetly money to be made. Tenured professors also make very decent money, especially at the bigger named schools.

It's a non-money making degree in the sense that a teaching degree or social work degree is. There's always places you CAN make a lot of money, but the field is not known for pumping out employees that make $120k/year.

And I would be careful calling it women's work or making comments that women are more alturistic or something. Making judgements on an entire gender based on the sheer fact that more women happen to be in a particular field is a bit absurd. I think we should just leave it at more women are enrolled in PH programs. You have no way of knowing if there are men with interests but cannot enroll or something like that. You also have no way of knowing anyone's motivations.

If you look at the gender breakdowns in the fields that are more community serving than others (like the aforementioned social work and education), it's heavily heavily skewed towards women. I'm making a generalization based off of those trends.

As an anthropologist, I don't see this as a societal norms issue, especially in the way you put it. Women are no longer concerned with having their men bring home money, in terms of culturally placed ideals, but rather being self-supporting has become the ideal for american women to strive for. I think we are seeing the begining of the breakdown of gender stigmas. I think in time all professions numbers in terms of gender will start evening out. Hopefully we are on our way to non-gendered bathrooms!!!!

While the women are no longer concerned with men bringing in money, that doesn't mean that men don't feel this pressure. There's a reason why more men enter into fields such as engineering and business with greater regularity than women--a significant reason is gender expectation and societal conditioning from past generations. We can't deny the existence of that external factor.

Who cares if there are more women or more men or more cows? None of it matters! Get the degree in the field you are interested in to get the job you want. Everythin else is inconsequential.

I agree. But it's still fun to think about. 😀