BRING YOUR DAUGHTERS TO WORK | a look at the results

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Yesterday, I ranted a little bit about the dilution of a good idea when we expanded Bring your Daughters to Work Day to include male offspring and changed it to Bring OUR Daughters and Sons to Work Day. I thought I should take a look at the actual results of women in education and in the workforce, because maybe, just maybe I was over reacting.

EDUCATION

33% of women 25 to 29 had attained a bachelor’s degree or higher in 2007, which exceeded that of men in this age range (26%). (source)

28% of women 25 and older obtained a bachelor’s degree or more as of 2007. This was up 11 percentage points from 20 years earlier. (source)

Women earned 58% of the bachelor’s degrees during 2008-09; 60% of the master’s degrees; and nearly 50 percent of first-professional degrees, such as law and medical. (source)

All good news.

EMPLOYMENT

In 2007, women earned 77.5 cents for every $1 earned by men. (source)

Not such good news. And even more frightening:

The 10 most prevalent occupations for employed women in 2008 were—
  1. Secretaries and administrative assistants, 3,168,000
  2. Registered nurses, 2,548,000
  3. Elementary and middle school teachers, 2,403,000
  4. Cashiers, 2,287,000
  5. Retail salespersons, 1,783,000
  6. Nursing, psychiatric, and home health aides, 1,675,000
  7. First-line supervisors/managers of retail sales workers, 1,505,000
  8. Waiters and waitresses, 1,471,000
  9. Receptionists and information clerks, 1,323,000
  10. Bookkeeping, accounting, and auditing clerks, 1,311,0

(source)

But...

Women accounted for 51% of all workers in the high-paying management, professional, and related occupations. They outnumbered men in such occupations as public relations managers; financial managers; human resource managers; education administrators; medical and health services managers; accountants and auditors; budget analysts; biological scientists; preschool, kindergarten, elementary, middle, and secondary school teachers; physical therapists; writers and authors; and registered nurses. (source)

I don't know. Maybe I should just get with the program and bring all my children to work and make sure I talk to my daughters about plenty of career opportunities.

WHAT DO YOU THING? Leave your perspective on this topic in the comments section. I would love to read what you think.