Last year (2016) marked the first year that female enrollment in the Juris Doctor program surpassed male enrollment. This is the graduate entry professional degree in law that is earned once completing law school in the United States.
The majority of students who hold a JD degree must pass a bar exam and then are able to practice law in their state. The program originated in the early 20th century when women were scarce in any type of collegiate program.
Time has a way of changing things, though, and based on this infographic you can see the upward trend of females choosing to become lawyers.
Below is a summary of what research has concluded regarding women and their JD law choice:
- 55,766 women are currently studying for their JD program compared to 55,059 men. That’s a close number, but women, for the first time, are ahead.
- Howard University and North Carolina Central University make up the top two schools with the highest percentage of females.
- The Eastern and Southern parts of the United States have the most schools with female JD enrollment.
- California and the District of Columbia are the top two states with most females enrolled in the program.
- Brigham Young University and the Appalachian School of Law have the lowest female JD enrollment.
Law schools are trying to broaden the enrollment of their schools, but according to the New York Times, there are many new requirements that have tightened the standards that law schools must meet for bar passage rates for their graduates.