Tracking Women’s Applications and Enrollment at CCDC: A Data-Driven Approach to Gender Equity

Why Gender Data Matters in Education?

Achieving gender equity in higher education begins with understanding the numbers. By measuring how many women apply and enroll, colleges can identify gaps and progress toward equality. Cordillera Career Development College (CCDC) in the Philippines exemplifies this data-driven approach. The institution not only welcomes female students under an open admissions policy, it also systematically tracks the gender breakdown of applicants and enrollees each year. This commitment aligns with national goals for inclusivity – CCDC goes beyond government mandates to integrate Gender and Development (GAD) principles across all operations. In practice, that means every woman’s application and academic journey counts, and the college uses data to ensure women are not left behind.

Open Admission and a No-Discrimination Policy

From the outset, CCDC has enshrined policies to guarantee women full access to education. The college maintains an open admissions policy addressing women’s applications, acceptance, entry, and participation. In effect, all qualified applicants are accepted regardless of gender, ensuring an equal acceptance rate for women. This policy is backed by an Absolute No Discrimination stance – CCDC explicitly prohibits any bias “especially against women and transgenders” in its community. As a result, there have been no recorded cases of female students being denied entry based on gender or race. These policies set the foundation: women who aspire to study at CCDC know the door is wide open, and the college actively monitors admissions to uphold this fairness.

By the Numbers: Women in CCDC Admissions

CCDC’s internal data show that the college carefully measures the share of women among its incoming students – and those numbers have been rising. In 2022, women comprised 45.94% of all students beginning a degree at CCDC. By 2023, that share climbed even higher. CCDC enrolled a total of 427 first-year college students in 2023, of whom 222 were female and 205 male. In other words, just over half of new CCDC students were women – a milestone move toward gender balance in enrollment. This increase represents real growth: the college reports that female student enrollment rose by 2.95% in 2022 compared to the previous year, and the upward trend continued into 2023. Such statistics are not gathered by accident; they indicate CCDC has a system for collecting and analyzing enrollment data by gender each year.

First-Generation Women: Breaking Barriers

Digging deeper into the data, CCDC also tracks which women are coming through its doors – including those breaking new ground in their families. Between 2021 and 2022, the college saw a significant jump in the proportion of female enrollees who were first-generation college students. In 2021, about 55.10% of the women who enrolled at CCDC were the first female in their family to attend college, and in 2022 that figure rose to 63.63%. This trend continued into 2023 with an even higher influx of trailblazing young women: the percentage of women from first-generation backgrounds entering college grew to roughly 64.5% in 2023. In practical terms, out of the new female students that year, nearly two-thirds were the first in their family to pursue higher education. CCDC’s data-tracking makes these achievements visible, highlighting how the college is opening doors for women who historically might not have attended college. Every percentage point increase represents daughters becoming the first in their family to wear a college uniform – a powerful metric of progress for the community.

Comparative Gender Statistics in Enrollment

By monitoring gender metrics, CCDC ensures that women’s participation is not only encouraged but quantifiable. The college’s data show that female students are approaching parity with, or even exceeding, their male counterparts in many respects. For instance, in the 2023 first-year cohort, women slightly outnumbered men (222 vs. 205). CCDC also notes that women consistently make up more than half of its scholarship recipients – indicating that female students are accessing financial aid opportunities at least as much as males. Crucially, these statistics aren’t considered in isolation; they are compared year by year to track progress. The rise in female enrollment from 2021 to 2023 demonstrates a positive trajectory, and CCDC’s administrators can pinpoint this improvement because they collect the data annually. By keeping an eye on women’s application and entry rates, the college can identify if the gender mix starts to slip and respond with targeted outreach (for example, more career guidance sessions for young women in local high schools to encourage applications in underrepresented fields). The numbers serve as both a scorecard and a guide for further action.

Women’s Success from Entry to Graduation

Tracking women’s entry into college is only part of the story – CCDC follows through by measuring outcomes like retention and graduation, providing a fuller picture of gender equity on campus. The data here are striking. In 2021, under half of CCDC’s graduates were female, but just a year later the majority of graduates were women. Specifically, women made up 63.50% of all graduates in 2022, up from 45.22% in 2021. That momentum carried into the next year: by the end of 2023, nearly 65.19% of CCDC’s graduates were female – roughly two-thirds of the graduating class. This surge in female graduates suggests that not only are more women enrolling, they are also completing their programs at high rates. In certain traditionally male-dominated fields the change is even more pronounced: 100% of CCDC’s STEM program graduates in 2022 were women (up from 88% in 2021). Faculty have taken notice of these trends. For example, the Dean of the Criminal Justice Education program observed a growing number of women entering criminology and successfully finishing their degrees, attributing it partly to improved conditions for women in that field. These data points – collected and shared by the college – highlight how tracking female student progress helps CCDC celebrate successes and address any bottlenecks. When the college saw female students falling behind in certain areas, it introduced improved student services and safe spaces; now it sees women thriving academically, which is reflected in the graduation statistics.

Building a Supportive, Gender-Inclusive Environment

Underpinning CCDC’s data-driven approach is a campus culture that actively supports female students from application to graduation. The college’s gender-responsive policies are codified in its student handbook, emphasizing gender sensitivity, non-discrimination, and protection from harassment. In practice, CCDC provides resources that help female students persist and succeed – from counseling and mentoring services (which women students utilize at high rates) to practical supports like on-campus childcare and dedicated facilities for student mothers. These measures complement the numerical tracking: data identified where support was needed, and policies were implemented in response. CCDC even reports that more female students are coming forward to seek help when facing challenges, a sign of growing trust in the systems in place. By coupling a robust tracking system with concrete programs (scholarships, guidance sessions, work-life balance initiatives for student-parents, etc.), the college creates an environment where women not only enroll in greater numbers but also feel empowered to continue and excel.

Conclusion: Data as a Tool for Gender Equity

CCDC’s experience shows why tracking women’s application and entry rates isn’t just about statistics – it’s about accountability and progress in gender equity. By collecting data on how many women apply, enroll, and ultimately graduate, the college can celebrate milestones (like record-high female enrollment and graduation rates) and identify areas for improvement. This data-driven vigilance ensures that policies like open admissions and anti-discrimination are not just words on paper but realities reflected in the student body. Moreover, sharing these metrics publicly signals CCDC’s commitment to women’s education. It humanizes the numbers by telling a story: each percentage increase represents more women getting a chance at higher education and succeeding. In the broader context of higher education, CCDC provides a model for how measuring what matters – in this case, the participation of women – can drive and document progress. As the college continues to refine its gender-inclusive strategies, the numbers will be there to chart the journey toward true equity, one incoming class at a time.

All evidence points to a clear conclusion: CCDC is not only committed to empowering women in education, it is meticulously measuring its success in doing so – and the results are encouraging.

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