While women have begun to significantly outnumber men in college degree attainment —with women 21 percent more likely to hold a degree according to White House data — women still face a number of inequities when entering the workforce.
Perhaps the most significant of those inequities is making on average significantly less than men in equivalent professions.
While women have increasingly contributed a larger share of wages to the average family’s earnings, the U.S. still has significantly lower rates of work force participation from women than in other developed countries.
As a result, MSU has a multitude of organizations dedicated to tackling and overcoming the institutionalized barriers that may hinder or prevent women’s success.
Human development and family studies junior Devyn Reed is part of a new organization called Women of Distinction.
The organization focuses on guiding girls through the rigors of college and teaching values that will guide them along the way by seeking not only to highlight women of prestige on campus, but to also mold female students into distinct women.
“My co-founder (Afokeoghene Johnson) and I saw an immense lag in the development of women professionally in order to make them into leaders in the community, here at MSU and in their journeys to their professions,” Reed said.
Strong female organizations like Women of Distinction help the campus and advocate for women graduating from college as well as promote values aimed at helping women succeed.
In a similar vein, Successful Black Women, a registered student organization at MSU, also works with the aim of providing black women with the tools they need to succeed, whatever the field.
“I wanted to become president because I wanted to give back to this organization while also reaching out to girls on campus that would like to make a difference,” said Natalie Elliott, the current president of the organization.
Elliott said there is an appreciation of women on the MSU campus and there are amazing women on campus, which is why she works to ensure her organization can provide the necessary skills for success.
In industries where women have traditionally been underrepresented, women still face challenges breaking into areas such as engineering, business and other high-wage fields.
In order to provide support for their fellow classmates, a number of groups have cropped up around campus devoted to women in specific majors, including Women in Business Students’ Association, Women in Computing and The Society of Women Engineers, among others.
