ABSTRACT
The impact this narrow range of choices has on females' economic status is discouraging. For example, the average male college graduate earns approximately $13,215 more per year than the average female college graduate (U.S. Department of Education, 1997). Further examination of the data reveal that female college graduates' salaries fall in the range between males who have only graduated from high school (the females are only $2500 higher) and males with some college but no degree. Therefore it is obvious that the career paths chosen by males and females lead to different life-styles. Over a lifetime this wage gap yields lower social security and retirement benefits for women, which result in a woman receiving an average of half the pension that a man collects (Brunner, 1998). Careers involving mathematics, science, and technology are frequently the high paying occupations of the future. A person's foundation in mathematics has lifelong consequences.
