Australian university courses are becoming increasingly skewed by both gender and socio-economic background, as the most female-dominated programmes attract the highest shares of disadvantaged students.

An analysis by the 2050 Alliance has found that people from privileged backgrounds, and men in general, are under-represented in degrees leading to modestly paid professions such as nursing and social work.

Meanwhile, women comprise just one-quarter to one-third – and socio-economically disadvantaged people constitute fewer than one-tenth – of enrolments in lucrative fields such as econometrics, banking and finance.

The figures, outlined in a submission to the House of Representatives Standing Committee on Education, could help explain why men continue to out-earn women in Australia even though women outpace men on most measures of educational participation and performance.

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The data also highlight the risks posed by burgeoning gender disparity, as more young men become aggrieved at being “locked out” of the benefits of education.

The committee is into factors that influence educational attainment, including cultural, geographic and socio-economic background as well as gender. The 2050 Alliance said these factors should be considered in combination and within different fields.

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It said over-concentrations of particular genders in university courses were getting worse, with about 38 per cent of undergraduates enrolled in courses dominated at least three-to-one by one or other of the sexes – up from 32 per cent a decade ago.

Enrolments were also skewed by background wealth. Low socio-economic status (SES) students – those from the most disadvantaged quartile of neighbourhoods – comprised roughly one-quarter of enrolments in nursing and social work and one-third in education, but less than one-tenth in political science, medical studies and architecture. “Interventions to support greater equity need to be course-specific,” the submission says.

It also highlights male underachievement, with just 37 per cent of men aged 25 to 29 holding higher education qualifications – compared with 50 per cent of similarly aged women. The disparity is even starker in regional Australia, the submission says, while low SES men comprise just 5 per cent of publicly funded undergraduates – despite constituting almost 13 per cent of the population.

The Australian Universities Accord recommended that low SES, regional and indigenous enrolments should reach “parity” by mid-century. The 2050 Alliance said the goal should be extended to include gender and socio-economic parity within disciplines.

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“Our nurses, teachers, doctors and engineers [should] closely reflect the Australian population,” the submission says. “A more equal spread [would help] meet skills shortages, foster social cohesion and maximise opportunity for as many students as possible to pursue their ambition.”

In a separate submission, Western Sydney University (WSU) said the gender divide in Australian higher education had been “growing steadily”, with women making up about 62 per cent of new domestic students in 2024, up from 58 per cent in 2015.

The submission cites data suggesting that the proportion of young men who say they are “permanently unable to work” has multiplied fivefold since the turn of the century. “Australia is facing a generation of ‘lost boys’ as young men fall behind, not only at university but throughout the education system,” WSU warns.

“This drift risks a legion of young men being locked out of the best new jobs, with growing risks to social cohesion from those who feel that society has…denied them a ‘fair go’.”

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Another submission, from an international team of researchers, says Australian women’s dominance of educational outcomes – apart from in mathematics – is part of a global trend. The submission says the educational benefits of socio-economic advantage are most pronounced for males during early schooling but for females at tertiary level.

john.ross@timeshighereducation.com