Since 1978, women have outnumbered men in college and university enrollment in the United States. In this episode of the FutureU podcast, hosts Michael Horn and Jeff Selingo speak with Richard Reeves—author of Of Boys and Men and founding president of the American Institute for Boys and Men—about this decades-long trend and its broader implications for higher education and society.
Today, women make up nearly 60% of the undergraduate population, a share that has steadily grown since the 1980s. Reeves attributes this gap to differences in academic preparation during K-12, noting that boys—who tend to mature later than girls—often fall behind early in their education. To address this, he proposes “redshirting” boys by delaying their school start by a year. He also highlights the shortage of male teachers in middle school, where strong male role models can have a significant impact. Additionally, he suggests that higher education institutions refine their outreach efforts to better engage potential male applicants. While Reeves acknowledges that returning to full gender parity in higher education may be unrealistic due to inherent developmental differences, he argues that the current system is “leaving too much male talent on the table.”