20 Worst Paying Jobs for Women

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5. Sales representatives, services, all other
> Women’s earnings as pct. of men’s: 67.7%
> Women’s median weekly earnings: $902
> Men’s median weekly earnings: $1,332
> Number of workers: 458,000 (26.2% women)

Sales representative, services, all other is a category that encompasses miscellaneous sale-related jobs. According to the BLS, such occupations include energy brokers, and other sales representatives working in the telecommunications, scientific research, and financial services industries. Like many of the occupations with the widest gender pay gaps, sales representatives, including women, are relatively well paid. But while the median weekly wage for women in the occupation of $902 is above the average wage for women in all occupations, it is equal to just 67.7% of the $1,332 weekly median income for men in the same job.

Women occupy relatively few of these jobs. Of the 458,000 Americans working in the field, just over one-quarter are women.

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4. Emergency medical technicians and paramedics
> Women’s earnings as pct. of men’s: 65.5%
> Women’s median weekly earnings: $733
> Men’s median weekly earnings: $1,119
> Number of workers: 203,000 (28.6% women)

Emergency medical technicians and paramedics take care of the sick and injured in emergency situations and in transit to medical facilities. Often dealing with matters of life and death, the job requires empathy and high tolerance for stress. Far fewer women work as EMT and paramedics than is typical across all occupations. Just 28.6% of the 203,000 workers in the occupation nationwide are female. Additionally, women working in the profession earn only about two-thirds of what men in the profession make, one of the largest pay gaps of any occupation.

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3. Securities, commodities, and financial services sales agents
> Women’s earnings as pct. of men’s: 64.3%
> Women’s median weekly earnings: $911
> Men’s median weekly earnings: $1,416
> Number of workers: 231,000 (33.3% women)

Securities, commodities, and financial services sales agents typically advise clients on investments and mediate the buying and selling of stocks and other securities. A male dominated occupation, only one-third of all workers in the occupation are women. Women also earn just 64 cents for every dollar men in the profession earn. The median annual income for women in securities, commodities, and financial services sales is just $47,372, while the typical man earns $73,632 a year.

Though the occupation has one of the worst gender pay gaps in the country, the gap is considerably improved from a decade ago. Since 2008, wages for women in the occupation have climbed by 19.9%, a faster clip than the comparable 11.3% increase for men.

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2. Administrative services managers
> Women’s earnings as pct. of men’s: 62.2%
> Women’s median weekly earnings: $1,013
> Men’s median weekly earnings: $1,629
> Number of workers: 147,000 (38.8% women)

Administrative service managers are typically responsible for planning and coordinating the administrative needs of their organization. This can include facilities maintenance, mail distribution, budget preparation, and records management. Over the last decade, the salaries of men working in the occupation increased by 61%, the largest increase of any job in the country. For women, the increase was far lower, as overall, wages in the occupation increased by only 22.9% over the same period. Partly as a result, the job has one of the largest gender wage gaps in the country. Women earn just 62 cents for every dollar men in the position earn.

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1. Personal financial advisors
> Women’s earnings as pct. of men’s: 58.9%
> Women’s median weekly earnings: $979
> Men’s median weekly earnings: $1,662
> Number of workers: 398,000 (32.9% women)

No job has a wider pay discrepancy between men and women than personal financial advisors — even as wages for women in the occupation increased and wages for men decreased in the last year. The typical female financial advisor earns less than $1,000 a week compared to the median weekly wage for men in the occupation of $1,662.

A March 2017 paper published by the National Bureau of Economic Research found that following an incidence of misconduct, females in the financial advisory industry tend to face harsher punishments and are less likely to find new jobs compared to male employees. Researchers also found evidence that despite the harsher punishments, incidents involving women were on average less costly, and women were less likely than men to repeat offenses. The discrimination was found to be greater at firms with greater shares of male workers compared to female workers. Across the United States, just 32.9% of personal financial advisors are women, well below the 44.4% share of women working full-time across all occupations.