Slowly but surely? The global expansion of women's participation in science and engineering fields of study, 1972-92

This cross-national study shows that women's enrollments in science and eng ineering fields in higher education increased between 1972 and 1992 through out much of the world. This increase was positively influenced by women's l evel of enrollments in the nonscience and nonengineering fields. This findi ng suggests a positive spillover effect for women. The level of male enroll ments in these fields also had a positive effect, thus suggesting that as f ields of study become more open to men, they also become more open to women . These cross-national findings raise questions about the applicability of the persistence of an inequality perspective to women's expanded access to higher education.