64% of all student loan debt belongs to women. The average student debt for women in the U.S. is $31,726. Women have a median annual salary of $56,170 following college graduation, which is 26% of what men can expect to earn following graduation.
Men have 2% more credit card debt than women. Men have 20% more personal loan debt than women. Men have 16.3% more auto loan debt than women. Men have 9.7% more mortgage debt than women.
In 1995, young men and women were equally likely to hold a bachelor's degree (25% each). Since then, there has been a growing gap between men and women in college completion. Today, 47% of U.S. women ages 25 to 34 have a bachelor's degree, compared with 37% of men.
For graduates with a bachelor's degrees or higher, women's earnings were 71% of men's for the same education across all fields per new data released by the U.S. Census Bureau. The annual median earnings for all adults ages 25 to 65 with a bachelor's degree or higher was $89,300 for men and $63,230 for women in 2022.
Overall, women are paid less than men.
On average, women working full-time, year-round are paid 84% of what men are paid. In other words, the typical woman working full-time would need to work from January 1, 2023, until March 12, 2024, to make what the typical man working full-time made in 2023.
Four years after graduation, black students owe an average of 188% more than white students borrowed. Black and African American student borrowers are the most likely to struggle financially due to student loan debt making monthly payments of $260.
Student loans are owned by the federal government or private institutions, depending on the type of student loan. Federal student loans are owned by the U.S. Department of Education while private student loans are owned by the financial institution that granted them.
Approximately three-quarters of Black- and White-headed families have debt, but the median debt-to-asset ratio is 50% higher among Black than White families (Copeland, 2020), with Black borrowers less likely to fully repay loans (Brevoort et al., 2021).
According to a 2019 Experian study, men carry more debt than women across nearly all categories, including credit card debt — the study found that men have $125 more in credit card debt than women on average.
How big is the gender pay gap? According to the Office for National Statistics (ONS), median hourly pay for full-time employees was 7.0% less for women than for men in April 2024, while median hourly pay for part-time employees was 3.0% higher for women than for men (figures exclude overtime pay).
This is what the World Health Organization (WHO) considers the "expected sex ratio at birth”, which means that, in the absence of gender discrimination or interference, it's expected that there would be around 105 boys born per 100 girls — although this can range from around 103 to 107 boys per 100 girls.
In order to pursue an advanced degree, the average graduate student takes out over $40,000 in loans. When the time comes to repay these loans, the more borrowers find their wages to be insufficient for paying off the debt. The financial benefits of a bachelor's degree decline at an annual rate of 0.86%.
Women and girls have less access to education and healthcare, too often lack economic autonomy and are under-represented in decision-making at all levels. The progress that has been made towards gender equality over the past quarter of a century, though slow and incremental, does however show that change is possible.
Student debt is making it nearly impossible for many women to afford their basic living expenses after graduating from college. AAUW's 2021 Deeper in Debt report finds: Women hold an average of $31,276 in student debt, leaving them with a monthly loan payment of $307 the year after graduation.
If your monthly payment does not cover the accrued interest, your loan balance will go up, even though you're making payments. Unpaid interest will also capitalize each year until your total balance is 10% higher than the original balance. This means you will pay interest on your interest.
Billionaire Robert F. Smith pledged to pay off student loans for every member of Morehouse College's graduating class. The Ivy League-educated business leader made his fortune investing in software firms and other tech companies.
If the debt forgiveness program is permitted to move forward, at a time when consumer spending already is high, it could lead to more inflation, Jones said. “We certainly don't have a consumer spending problem right now,” he said.
Higher percentages of Black (88 percent) and American Indian/Alaska Native (87 percent) students received grants than students who were of Two or more races (79 percent), White (74 percent), and Asian (66 percent).
What is considered a lot of student loan debt? A lot of student loan debt is more than you can afford to repay after graduation. For many, this means having more than $70,000 – $100,000 in total student debt.
In 2022, 36% of Black adults carried student loan debt. One in five white adults (20%), 15% of Hispanic adults, and about 24% of adults of other races carried student loan debt. The median Black student loan debt is $26,000.
In 2022, the worst state for women was Utah, where women who worked full-time year-round on average were paid just 70.3 cents per dollar paid to men (a gender wage gap of 29.7 percent). Vermont, on the other hand, had the highest ranking, with a gender earnings ratio of 91.7 percent (a gender wage gap of 8.3 percent).
There are many reasons why the pink tax exists, including tariffs, product discrimination, and product differentiation. There are many suggested causes of this discrepancy, including price elasticity and the belief that women are more prepared than men to pay higher prices for their purchases.
Key Takeaways. The glass ceiling is a colloquial term for the social barrier preventing women from being promoted to top jobs in management. The term has been broadened to include discrimination against minorities. Marilyn Loden coined the phrase "glass ceiling" at a 1978 Women's Exposition.