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Question

Hello, What's the grammar behind this sentence:

"despite 57% of college graduates in the U.S. being women, only 14% of computer science and engineering degrees are awarded to women."

and which one of these two sentences sounds more correct:

"despite students being informed of Support Services in the University, many still seemed to be either unaware of them"

"despite students' being informed of Support Services in the University, many still seemed to be either unaware of them"

Thanks for your attention.

AlpheccaStars · Accepted Answer

I'm not sure exactly what your first question is. The sentence begins with a prepositional phrase; the subject is the number 14%; and the verb is simple present tense, passive voice.

This one is OK:

Despite students' being informed of Support Services in the University, many still seemed to be ~~either~~ unaware of them.

Pooyan · Answer

Thanks for your reply

As for the first question, I mean the first part of it. The phrase after 'despite' shouldn't have a possessive form? Like the difference between:

despite college graduates being women, . . .

and

despite college graduates' being women, . . .

Thanks.

AlpheccaStars · Answer

Despite 57% of college graduates in the U.S. being women... The object of the preposition despite is the number 57%. "graduates" is the object of the preposition of. It cannot be possessive case, since it must be in object case.
Being women is a participial clause here, with an adjectival function. It is not a gerund because it does not have the function of a noun in the phrase. Here is an example:
Mary, being a woman, has a smaller chance of getting a science degree than her brother John.

Despite being informed of Support Services in the University, - When you remove the word "students'", you can see that the object of the preposition despite is the reduced clause "being informed of Support Services in the University". Thus it is the function of a noun, so being is a gerund. Traditionally, the possessive case for the noun which is the "subject" of the gerund. In this case,
the plural of student is the subject of the gerund, and is in possessive case. The phrase would work well with a pronoun:

Despite their being informed of Support Services in the University....

Note that the traditional rule is changing, and sometimes you will not see possessive case used:
Despite John (John's) being informed...

Here is another set of examples:
Being too tall is a disadvantage when you are flying. (Gerund, subject of the sentence)
Marta's being over six feet tall is a disadvantage for her when she travels on airplanes. (same as above)
Marta, being over six feet tall, has trouble fitting in the cramped space on airplanes. (adjective)

Pooyan · Answer

Thanks a lot AlpheccaStars. It was very helpful

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