CENSUS FINDS GARY GENDER GAP

Problems With Drugs And Crime Reduce Male Population, Sociology Professor
Reports.

GARY, Ind. (AP) -- Chris Gardner noticed that men were a minority in most
of his classes at Indiana University Northwest. He and another man are the
only males in one classroom.

"It gives me something to look at," said the 25-year-old computer science
major from Chicago. "But I didn't know if it was the college or the city."

According to the 2000 census, it's the city.

For cities with a population of 100,000 or more, Gary has the lowest ratio
of men to women: 84.6-to-100.

Traditionally, more of the households in Gary, where 84 percent of the
population is black, are headed by women, said IU Northwest sociology
Professor Charles Gallmeier.

Drugs and crime combine to keep the male population down, he said.

"The people who suffer the most in terms of victims are black males," and
blacks are "overrepresented" in the prison population, said Gallmeier.

"Blacks are treated differently in our society. They don't get a second
chance. Blacks are defined as criminals," he said.

Business owner Faye Tippy has another theory involving the streets. She
thinks some parents take their sons to other cities to shield them from the
streets of Gary.

Having more women than men can be advantageous in one area -- dating.

Tippy, however, believes romance doesn't rely on statistics.

"I don't believe just in numbers," she said. "I do believe there is someone
for you, regardless of what statistics say."