While the number of women in the workforce has increased in the past decade, they haven’t made strides in male-dominated fields that typically offer higher pay.
A new report by Career Builder finds that in 2014, 49 percent of jobs were held by women compared to 48 percent in 2001, representing an additional 4.9 million workers. The number of men in the workforce increased by just 2.2 million, but they gained a greater share of employment in 72 percent of all occupations.
Despite their gains in the overall workforce, women have lost employment share in 48 of the 50 highest paying jobs, including surgeons, chief executives, lawyers, and software developers.
Related: Why Men and Women Still Can’t Get Along at Work
“We need to move beyond the simplistic, antiquated notions of pink-collar, blue-collar, and white-collar jobs and focus on bringing the best people, regardless of gender into the roles required of a healthy economy,” Rosemary Haefner, CareerBuilder’s chief human resources officer said in a statement. “Men are contributing in a wider variety of occupations then at the turn of the century, and as women continue to make up a larger share of the workforce, we must ensure that they have the same access and opportunity for success in all professions.”
Part of the reason for the discrepancy might be a result of choices that women make in college. The report found that 5.6 million more women than men attained college degrees from 2004-2013, but men continue to dominate in programs that lead to higher paying jobs, such as computer science (83 percent of 2013 grads), engineering (79 percent), and postgraduate business (54 percent).
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