DANISH GIRL POWER.

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Author: Bernbom, Maria

COPENHAGEN

A life spent slaving over a hot stove holds less and less appeal for young Danish women. Today, members of the so-called weaker sex are entering higher institutes of education in record numbers and are rapidly marginalizing their fellow male students as they go along.

This year, the vast majority of the 60,000 hopeful Danish youths who applied for admission into the country's universities were women. And surprisingly, the number of female candidates was particularly high in traditionally male-dominated fields such as law and medicine. According to the office of the national application system for university and college entry, female students will comprise 70 percent of the total student body at these institutions this year.

The development, however, has not come about overnight. Since 1993, the number of women admitted into five of the country's biggest universities has increased by 30 percent, and today six out of ten students at the universities are women.

But what has triggered young Danish women's rapid progress in terms of education? According to Jakob Lange, who heads up the registrar department at the University of Copenhagen, one of the reasons is the Danish high school system, which is very attuned to female values. It also has a large number of female teachers, who act as successful role models for female students. "Consequently, the girls obtain high grades and develop a desire to pursue further studies," he says.

"Another reason behind the increasing numbers of female candidates [in traditionally male-dominated fields] is that there is already an excess of applicants for the more traditional fields of education, such as teaching and nursing. Today, there is another type of young woman, who chooses to enter the more prestigious studies such as law, medicine, and political science," he comments.

"Similarly, there is a small but constant increase in the number of women among students of engineering and natural science. However, even though we have seen an annual growth of 1 to 2 percent within these fields the last few years, young women still constitute a minority here," Jakob Lange asserts.

In some circles, the slide toward an educational imbalance between the genders has caused concern. One Danish university, Syddansk Universitet, has even chosen to lower the admission requirements for prospective medical students to ensure that some male applicants who would otherwise not be considered eligible are admitted.

Lange, however, does not share that unease. "We must not overestimate the implication of the figures. As long as we have a gender division, which is sixty-forty or even seventy-thirty, either way there is no cause for alarm. Furthermore, the present trend is a sensible step in the development toward sexual equality," he ascertains.

He believes, however, that the development will influence Danish society in the future, and that employers will be among those most immediately affected. "Young Danish women are less willing to work around the clock. At present, this also seems to characterize young Danish men, but women still hold firmer ground on the issue. Therefore, employers will need to change their outlook," he says.

In Lange's opinion, however, the trend also urges the Danish educational system to consider why high schools appeal so much more to Danish girls than boys.

"There are certainly boys who have a lot of potential and who could achieve higher goals. Today, many of these young men end up with a shorter, more practically oriented education. And that is a shame if they have the talent to do more," he remarks.

PHOTO (COLOR): Female students in Denmark are entering universities in record numbers.

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By Maria Bernbom