We Can Do It! 7 Job Sectors Where Women Are Growing

It’s been nearly 80 years since Rosie the Riveter brandished her bicep, telling women across America “We Can Do It”. Women flocked to fill a number of manual labor jobs to support the United States and Allies during World War II.

After the end of the War, women largely returned to their homes. Taking care of the children, cleaning the house and cooking for the family were all parts of the average woman. It was a completely different time back then and you’d be shocked to see some of the blatant and sexist advertising directed towards both women and men.

Over the last few decades, however, women have been entering the workforce at a higher rate. In fact, women are dominating workforce participation is some parts of the world, like Australia where women’s participation is nine times that of men.

What fields are we seeing a rise in women participation or in some cases, complete dominance of the field? Skipping the traditional ones (teaching, child care, etc.) let’s have a look!

Writing

If you remember your high school literature class, you might remember the stories of plenty of women who would write under male pseudonyms so their work might actually be sold.

Today, that’s a completely different story with over half of those in the industry being women. There is still bias towards women writers and journalists, but with more growth in the area that will hopefully change.

Physicians

In the United States, more women have gone to medical school than men for the first time in two decades. It’s also showing that more doctors under 40 are now women.

While the majority of doctors over 40 are still men and the majority of leadership positions are still filled by women, it’s a sign for change over the next few decades.

Marketing and PR

Even though Mad Men showed largely a male-dominated area, women are the leaders of the world when it comes to marketing and PR. More women than men enter the field and that trend is still likely to continue.

Similar to medicine, however, men were more likely to be promoted to upper leadership positions whereas women are more likely to reach the level of manager and then stop their upward growth.

Pharmacists

We’ve seen the number of women in pharmacy double since 2000 as women are well over the 50% line in the United States. While women are outpacing men in clinics, pharmacies and hospitals, there are almost no women pharmacy owners.

Similar to medicine and marketing, the majority of leadership jobs are filled by men, but the gap is smaller than in those respective fields.

Construction

While there are conflicting reports about the growth of women in construction, the sector could be ready for a boom over the next 15 years. Currently, about 10% of the construction job force is made up by women. The vast majority of those are in office roles, while around 15% work in transportation and heavy equipment or other field roles.

One of the big problems facing construction is there are hardly any women in leadership roles, making it hard for women to find mentors and leaders. There are a few examples of women reaching the top but unfortunately, those are few and far between.

Veterinarians

Who wouldn’t want to work with cute animals all day? No job has seen faster growth among women over the past 15 years than veterinarians. Women now make up about 60% of vets across the country, a 25% increase since the start of the new millennia.

In 2017, it was reported that about 80% of vet students were women, the first time male enrollment dropped below 20%. This trend shows no signs of slowing down, as female participation continues to grow and grow.

Lodging Managers

Finally, we’ve arrived at a job sector where leadership positions have a female majority! Lodge managers, AKA those who work in hotels, bed and breakfasts, motels, AirBnBs, etc. has increased almost 10% since the year 2000.

This is because the majority of people that work in lodging are women and that trickle up effect has finally paid off over the last few years. This was once a field that was completely male-dominated, but has since changed course.