Gender Equality in the Workplace: Steps in the Right Direction

by Susan Mullin

Women are on the move and gender equality is on its way

Women continue to fight for gender equality and strive for an even playing field in the workplace. Although there are still areas for improvement, recent statistics reflect notable progress in reducing gender inequality in both the professional and academic realms. Here are some positive numbers showing that women are slowly but surely closing these gaps.

gender equality infographic with body text of blog article

Gender Equality in Education

For the class of 2016-2017, women earned the majority of college degrees. More specifically women earned more than half of:

  • Bachelor’s Degrees (57.3%)
  • Master’s Degrees (59.4%)
  • Doctoral Degrees (53.3%)

Furthermore, among all racial/ethnic groups, women outperformed men at all degree levels in 2015-2016. This statistic is especially noteworthy for Black women who obtained the majority of Master’s degrees at 70% and Doctoral degrees at 66% in comparison to their male counterparts.

Also, increasing amounts of women in higher education is nothing new. Gender equality in degree programs has steadily improved with time. Women have earned more Bachelor’s degrees than men since 1982, more Master’s degrees since 1987, and more Doctoral degrees since 2006 (National Center for Education Statistics Data)!

Gender Equality at Home

Today, 31% of women who are married to or cohabiting with a male partner contribute at least half of the couple’s total earnings, up from just 13% in 1980 (Pew Research study).

Gender Equality in the Workplace

In 2018, women held 52% of all management, professional, and related occupations (Bureau of Labor Statistics Databook).

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Posted in , Diversity, Equity and Inclusion, Workplace Culture