Women In Non-Traditional Jobs

The U.S. Department of Labor - Quick Facts on Nontraditional Occupations for Women:

A nontraditional occupation for women is one in which women comprise 25 percent or less of total employment.   Nontraditional occupations span all major occupational groups and provide many employment options for women.


First, growth in the economy is projected to expand employment in many of these occupations and secondly, there will be strong demand for workers in these fields due to projected retirements or transfers of current workers to other occupations.

Nontraditional jobs are attractive to women because they generally offer higher entry-level wages and a career ladder with pay between $20 and $30 per hour.

Here are some examples of nontraditional jobs for women: architects, computer programmers, computer software and hardware engineers, detectives, chefs, barbers, clergy, engineers, computer and office machine repairers, construction and building inspectors, railroad conductors, machinists, truck drivers, fire fighters, aircraft pilots, and construction occupations.

Women continue to make inroads into nontraditional occupations. As more women enter jobs that were once dominated by men, many jobs that were nontraditional for women in the 1988 were no longer nontraditional for women in 2008. Some of these occupations were purchasing managers; chemists; physicians; lawyers; athletes; postal service mail carriers; bailiffs, correctional officers, and jailers; and butchers and other meat, poultry, and fish processing workers (From http://www.dol.gov/wb/factsheets/nontra2008.htm).

More Resources:

Women's Employment Opportunity Project
Rural and Agricultural Economic Development For Women
Facts About Working Women
Women's Bureau, U.S. Department of Labor