The chart illustrates the number of men and women in Britain who pursued further education in three different academic years (1970/71, 1980/81, and 1990/91), divided into full-time and part-time study modes.
Overall, it is clear that part-time education was far more popular than full-time education among both genders throughout the period. While the number of men studying part-time declined slightly, the number of women in both categories rose steadily over time.
In 1970/71, around 1 million men were engaged in part-time education compared to about 700,000 women. However, male participation in this category fell to roughly 900,000 by 1990/91, whereas the figure for females increased dramatically, reaching about 1.1 million.
A similar upward trend can be seen in full-time education. The number of male full-time students rose moderately from around 100,000 to about 200,000, while the number of female full-time students grew much more significantly – from below 100,000 in 1970/71 to around 200,000 in 1990/91.
In summary, over the two decades, women not only closed the gender gap in further education but also outnumbered men in part-time study by the end of the period.