20 Jobs That Have Become Dominated by Women

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20. Public relations specialists
> 16 yr. change in share of women: 6.4 ppt.
> 2016 female workers: 67,660 (65.3% of total)
> 2000 female workers: 56,410 (58.9% of total)
> Median earnings: $65,386

Public relations was a female-dominated profession already in 2000, and over the last 16 years, it has become even more so. The share of women working as public relations specialists increased by 6.4 percentage points, from 58.9% in 2000 to 65.3% in 2016.

Like several jobs on this list, public relations is a relatively high-paying field. The median annual wage among PR specialists is $65,386, far higher than the median annual wage across all occupations of $45,860. Still, women working in PR typically earn less than their male counterparts. The median annual salary among female workers is just $61,547, about 80% of the median salary among male workers in the profession.

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19. Office machine operators, except computer
> 16 yr. change in share of women: 6.5 ppt.
> 2016 female workers: 16,525 (62.9% of total)
> 2000 female workers: 18,540 (56.4% of total)
> Median earnings: $30,788

Office machine operators perform a range of administrative duties, including photocopying. Duties of office machine operators exclude those performed on computers, and partially as a result, the job is becoming less common. Though the share of women working as office machine operators increased by 6.5 percentage points from 2000 to 2016, the number of women working in the occupation declined by about 2,000. No other job on this list reported a such a steep decline. Today, 62.9% of office machine operators are female, compared to 56.4% in 2000.

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18. Social and community service managers
> 16 yr. change in share of women: 6.6 ppt.
> 2016 female workers: 205,242 (69.3% of total)
> 2000 female workers: 112,730 (62.7% of total)
> Median earnings: $56,610

Social and community service managers is a rapidly growing field. The number of women working in the occupation climbed by about 9,500 since 2000, the largest total increase of any job on this list. Over the same period, the share of women working in the occupation rose from 62.7% to 69.3%. The job typically involves managing community outreach, social work, and counseling.

The typical female worker in the field earns $52,444 a year, or about 76.7% of the annual compensation for the typical male worker. Across all occupations, women typically earn 80.2% of what men earn.

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17. Production, planning, and expediting clerks
> 16 yr. change in share of women: 6.7 ppt.
> 2016 female workers: 162,313 (57.3% of total)
> 2000 female workers: 130,680 (50.6% of total)
> Median earnings: $48,582

Production, planning, and expediting clerks are generally responsible for coordinating the distribution of materials and workflow between departments for a given project and ensuring deadlines are met within budget. Today, women account for 57.3% of workers in the occupation, up from 50.6% in 2000.

While the share of women working as production, planning, and expediting clerks is up by a nearly nation leading 6.7 percentage points since 2000, it is one a minority of occupations with a worsening gender pay gap. Nationwide, the pay gap improved from women earning 72.7% of men’s compensation in 2000 to 80.2% in 2016. In production, planning, and expediting, however, the pay gap worsened from 71.3% to 65.8% over the same period.

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16. Parking enforcement workers
> 16 yr. change in share of women: 6.8 ppt.
> 2016 female workers: 2,401 (50.8% of total)
> 2000 female workers: 1,420 (44.0% of total)
> Median earnings: $39,298

Parking enforcement workers are responsible for patrolling a designated area, often a parking lot or city street, and ticket illegally parked vehicles. In 2000, the majority of parking enforcement workers (56%) were male.In 2000, the majority of parking enforcement workers — 56% — were male. Since then, about 1,000 more women work in the occupation, and now women comprise a slight of 51% majority of all workers in the field. The share of women working in all occupations rose from 41% to 43% over the same period.

Though the majority of jobs on this list are relatively high paying, parking enforcement is not. The typical worker in the occupation earns $39,298 a year, below the $45,860 average earnings across all occupations.