Though it has typically been portrayed on film and television as a male-dominated industry, females have increasingly dominated journalism schools throughout the country.

At the Kansas University School of Journalism, enrollment is currently 70 percent female, according to the school’s dean, Ann Brill.

“I’m sure there are a couple of reasons for this,” Brill said. “It’s probably a right brain/left brain thing. That sounds sexist, but there’s some truth to it.”

Men tend to be drawn to more analytical majors such as engineering or business, whereas women enjoy the creativity that journalism allows for, she said.

“Another reason is probably because the salaries aren’t great,” Brill said. “A lot of men are more concerned with making money.”

Many women are more interested in a stable position in an attractive market, according to Jesse Trimble of Columbus, a 2009 journalism school graduate and summer editor at the University Daily Kansan.

“I think one of the reasons is a lot of women get into the j-school is they want go into advertising sales and television,” she said. “I know the market is attractive, they make a good salary, and it’s a pretty basic concept. If you can do that well, you have stability, and that’s attractive to a lot of females, especially because you can’t just be a housewife anymore.”

Another reason why there may be an increase in the number of women is that some of the professions requiring a journalism degree are attractive to women, Brill said.

“Certain professions — public relations and advertising — tend to attract women,” Brill said.

Though in recent years there has been an increase in the number of women in the journalism school, it was not always that way, Brill said.

“It used to be the opposite. Back in the ’70s and ’80s, there were more men than women,” she said.