Women make up a little over 43% of the American labor force. While over 57% of all women in the United States are now working, the participation rate for men is currently over 69%. Women are more likely to work full time (defined as at least 35 hours each week) as well as year-round, but they still earn only 82% of what their male counterparts bring home.
The gender gap has undeniably narrowed since the introduction of Title VII of the 1964 Civil Rights Act, which forbids discrimination by most employers on the basis of sex (among other things). The education level of working women has improved significantly, too. Over the past 50 years, the number of women in the labor force with college degrees has quadrupled. That doesn’t necessarily translate to more upper-echelon jobs, however.
To determine the job most commonly held by women, 24/7 Wall St. reviewed data from the April 2021 U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics report “Women in the Labor Force: A Databook.” Occupations with a labor force that is more than two-thirds female were ranked based on their total number of female workers.
Women account for over 75% of medical professionals, for instance, but make up only 40% of physicians and surgeons. The majority of legal workers are women, but almost 64% of lawyers are men. And only 27.6% of chief executives are women.
Elementary and middle school teachers are the jobs most commonly held by women. Here are some details:
- Total full-time female elementary and middle school teachers: 2,430,000
- Pct. of elementary and middle school teachers that are female: 79.3%
- Median annual earnings for full-time female workers: $56,420 (86.2% of male earnings)
Click here to read about the 25 jobs most commonly held by women.
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