Gender Differences in Higher Education by Majors in Modern Russia

The study presents the results of an analysis of data about all students enrolled in Russian universities on full-time forms of education in 2011-2016 years in terms of gender preferences. Majors, where proportion of enrolled men or women consistently exceeded two thirds, were marked as "male" or "female" majors. Those majors where in recent years there was relative equality in the ratio of men and women, were classified as "neutral". Almost the entire group of "male" majors is represented by engineering sciences; at the same time, these sciences practically are not represented in the "neutral" and "female" group. The analysis of the average score of USE (Unified State Exam), used by entrants for admission to the final major, showed that the results of women are in most cases higher, including "male" majors. However, women, thus having more options for choice, do not use them fully - only in a few "male" majors proportion of women steadily increased in recent years. The similar situation, when number of men on engineering majors in higher schools is much higher than the number of women, is typical not only for Russia, but also for many EU countries. A number of studies called the main reason for this phenomenon the influence of widespread stereotypes on the choice of the future profession by men and women.