Detailed Findings

In the majority of jobs on this list, the number of women working in the occupation increased at a faster rate than the number of men. In seven jobs on this list, the number of men actually declined since 2000 as the number of women increased.

Some occupations dominated by women have fewer women working today than in 2000. Two occupations that have become dominated by women actually have fewer women working today than in 2000. Today, there are 2,015 fewer office machine operators and 1,034 fewer fabric and apparel patternmakers than there were in 2000. Either the number of men working in these jobs fell at a far faster rate than the number of women, or the number of men in the occupation has historically been relatively small.

The majority of jobs now dominated by women are relatively high paying. Across all occupations, the typical American worker earns $45,860 a year. In 10 of the jobs that have become dominated by women, the median income is higher than the national median.

However, increasing female representation in the workplace does not always translate to more equitable pay. Overall, the pay gap has narrowed considerably in the last 16 years. Since 2000, the median annual wage among men in the United States increased by 34.1%. Meanwhile, the median wage among women increased by 47.9%.

Still, just eight of the 20 jobs on this list reported a greater than average increase in women’s pay. In seven jobs on this list, the pay gap has widened since 2000. While there are occupations on this list — like pharmacists and technical writers — for which the pay gap is now nearly non-existent, in the majority of jobs on this list, the pay gap is worse than the average across all occupations of 80 cents on the dollar.

Despite being increasingly represented in these jobs, women do not earn more than their male counterparts in any of the jobs on this list.

Methodology

To identify the 20 jobs that have become dominated by women, 24/7 Wall St. reviewed Census data from 2000 and 2016 on employment composition by gender in over 300 occupations. Data from 2016 comes from the U.S. Census Bureau’s American Community Survey while 2000 data from decennial census. Job codes from 2016 were matched to their equivalent from 2010. In order to be considered, an occupation needed to be at least 50% female in 2016. Only the 20 jobs with the largest percentage point increase in female employment composition were ranked.