Women achieve pay parity in occupations once dominated by men

April 18, 2001

Free Market Foundation

Women are entering fields that have been traditionally male-dominated at increasing rates and those women now earn the same or more than their male counterparts, according to an analysis by Americas Employment Policy Foundation.

The EPF looked at the top 10 occupations where women’s participation has increased most in the past decade, based on 2000 Bureau of Labour Statistics data. It found:

Of women in these fields, women aged 25 to 35 who work full-time earned the same as men, regardless of motherhood status, hours worked or other factors.

Pooling those top 10 occupations, EPF found that women in the 25 to 35 age bracket earn an average of $823 per week, while their male equivalents earned $813 per week in other words, these women earn 101 percent of what men in their field do.

Due to the lower average number of hours worked per week, women age 35-44 earned 80 percent of what men in these 10 occupations did, and women age 45-54 earn 25 percent less than men.

Women in these fields work, on average, 5 hours less compared to their men colleagues; but when earnings are compared on an hourly basis, women in these fields no matter their age earn exactly the same as their male equivalents.

The occupations analysed include veterinarians, top public administrators, mathematics and science teachers, chemistry teachers, industrial engineers, dentists, car salespeople, messengers, physicians assistants and members of the clergy.

Source: Women Breaking Through Male-Dominated Fields, News Release, April 3, 2001, Employment Policy Foundation, 1015 Fifteenth Street, N.W., Suite 1200, Washington, D.C. 20005, (202) 789-8685.

For text http://www.epf.org/media/newsreleases/2001/nr20010403.htm

For more on Equal Pay (“Gender Gap”) http://www.ncpa.org/pd/economy/econ7.html