Women Professionals and Executives

Between 1983-1996 women as employees in professional ranks increased from 48.1 percent in 1983 to 53.3 percent in 1996. (3)

Female managers:

One-third of managerial jobs were held by women in 1985 and by 1995 women held 48 percent of managerial positions. (4)

While the number of men who are managers has decreased from 16.81 percent in 1982 to 14.10 percent in 1995, the number of women who are managers has increased from 6.28 percent in 1982 to 7.73 percent in 1995. (4)

Female physicians:

The number of women under the age 35 who are physicians has increased from 12.5 percent in 1975 to 34.4 percent in 1995. (2)

The total number of female physicians has more than quadrupled between 1975-1995, rising faster than the increase in the number of physicians. In 1975, 35,636 women were physicians, comprising of 9.1 percent of all physicians, while in 1995 149,404 women were physicians, making up 20.7 percent of all physicians. (2)

Professional staff at higher education institutions:

About 40 percent of instructors and researchers were women in 1995, compared to 27 percent in 1976. (5)

About 43 percent of research and instruction assistants were women in 1995, compared to 33 percent in 1976. (5)

About 44 percent of executive, administrative and managerial staff members were women in 1995, compared to 26 percent in 1976. (5)

Professional staff at public schools:

45 percent of principals and assistant principals were women in 1996, compared to 21 percent in 1982. (6)

41 percent of school officials and administrators were women in 1996, compared to 24 percent in 1982. (6)

Women were 75 percent of all public school teachers in 1996, compared to 68 percent in 1982. (6)

Women as lawyers:

Women make up 24 percent of the nation's lawyers. (8)

The percentage of female lawyers has nearly doubled since 1985, when it was 13 percent. That is an increase from the 3 percent of women who practiced law in 1971. (8)

Women made up 14 percent of partners at law firms in 1997, compared to 8 percent in 1987. (9)

In 1991, 70 percent of women and 74 percent of men were private practitioners. This is an increase from 56 percent of women working in private practice during 1980. (10)

Twelve percent of female lawyers worked for the government and another 9 percent worked in private industry and associations in 1991. (9)

Forty-eight percent of women lawyers in private practice were sole practitioners, compared to 44 percent of male lawyers. (8)

Women practiced at 40 percent of all U.S. law firms (16,648 out of 42,513), compared to 1980 when women practiced at 6,379 firms. (8)

About 40 percent of associates and staff or senior attorneys at law firms are women. (8)

Female law partners by city: (8)

Austin, Texas: 19 percent
Cleveland, Ohio: 11 percent
Denver, Colo.: 22 percent
Hartford, Conn.: 12 percent
New York City, New York.: 12 percent
San Diego, Calif.: 20 percent

Generation X women in law profession:

For the class of 1997, more women than men took judicial clerkship positions (14.2 percent v. 10.1 percent), entered government (14.4 percent v. 13.2 percent), and went into public interest work (4.2 percent v. 1.6 percent). (10)

For that class the percent of men and women forming their own law business was comparable, 14. 8 percent for men and 12.1 percent for women. (10)

Women in the courtroom:

Women federal judges comprised 19 percent of federal judges in 1997, compared to 7 percent in 1987. (9)

Women are about as likely to work as state civil court judges as federal judges, with 20 percent of state court judges being women in 1997. That is an increase from 7 percent in 1986. (9)

Women in law education:

In the educational side of law, women represented 19 percent of full-time professors at law schools and 8 percent of school deans in 1997. (9)

Women in broadcast communications:

Women made up 40 percent of the TV news workforce, with 24 percent of TV directors being women, in 1999. (11)

In radio, women made up 35 percent of the workforce, while 20 percent of radio news directors were women, in 1999. (11)

About 13 percent of general managers in radio newsrooms and 14 percent of general managers in TV newsrooms were women in 1999. (11)

Participation of women in occupations in 1998 (7):

Accountants and auditors: 58.2 percent
Actors and directors: 38.7 percent
Architects: 17.5 percent
Airplane pilots and navigators: 3.4 percent
Engineers: 11.1 percent
Chemists (except biochemists): 32.9 percent
Clergy: 12 percent
Computer programmers: 28.5 percent
Computer systems analysts, scientists: 26.9 percent
Construction trades: 2 percent
Correctional institution officers: 25.4 percent
Dentists: 19.8 percent
Editors and reporters: 51 percent
Economists: 46.3 percent
Farm operators and managers: 23.1 percent
Financial managers: 53.3 percent
Guards: 26 percent
Lawyers and judges: 28.6 percent
Medical scientists: 45.2 percent
Pharmacists: 44 percent
Photographers: 38.1 percent
Physicians: 26.6 percent
Physician's assistant: 52.6 percent
Police and detectives: 16.3 percent
Sheriffs, bailiffs, and other law enforcement officers: 17 percent

Women in the executive ranks (3):

Management analysts- 29.5 percent in 1983, 41.1 percent in 1996.

Accountants and auditors- 38.7 percent in 1983, 56 percent in 1996

Managers- medicine and health- 57 percent in 1983, 75.3 percent in 1996

Managers- marketing, advertising and public relations- 21.8 percent in 1983, 37.8 percent in 1996.

Purchasing managers- 23.6 percent in 1983, 45.7 percent in 1996.

Personnel and labor relations managers- 43.9 percent in 1983, 51.6 percent in 1996.

Financial managers- 38.6 percent in 1983, 54 percent in 1996.

Officials and administrators- public administration- 38.5 percent in 1983, 47.7 percent in 1996.

Executive- administrative and managerial- 32.4 percent in 1983, 43.8 percent in 1996.

Women as corporate officers:

Women currently represent 15.7 percent of corporate officers in America’s 500 largest companies, up from 12.5 percent in 2000 and 8.7 percent in 1999. (12)

2,140 out of 13,673 corporate officers are women. That is an increase from 1,622 out of 12,495 women in 2000. (12)

In 2002, women comprise 7.1 percent of the 496 chief financial officers and 16.1 percent of the 453 general counsels, compared to 5.6 percent of the chief financial officers positions and 13.7 percent of the general counsel positions in 2000. (12)

Examples of executive women (1):

Carly Fiorina, ceo and president of Hewlett-Packard
Meg Whitman, ceo and president of eBay
Andrea Jung, president and coo of Avon Products

Women on corporate boards:

Women held in 2001 12.4 percent of all board seats in Fortune 500 companies, up from 11.2 percent in 1999, and 10.9 percent of all board seats in Fortune 1000 companies, up from 10 percent in 1999. (13)

Sources:

1- Fortune magazine, 50 Most Powerful Women listing

2- American Medical Association.

3- US Bureau of Labor Statistics.

4- Wall Street Journal and Equal Employment Opportunity Commission.

5- U.S. Center for Educational Statistics, Fall Staff in Postsecondary Institutions, 1995, March 1998.

6- U.S. Equal Opportunity Commission, Elementary-Secondary Staff information (EE0-5), biennial.

7- U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Employment and Earnings, monthly, January issues, and unpublished data.

8- Curran, Barbara A., Women in the Law: A Look at the Numbers (American Bar Association Commission on Women in the Profession, 1995)

9- American Bar Association Commission on Women in the Profession, Report to the ABA House of Delegates, on the Status of Women in the Legal Profession, August 10, 1988; American Bar Association Commission on Women in the Profession, 1997 Goal IX Report Card; Federal Judicial; Center, National Center for State Courts.

10- Curran, Barbara A., Women in the Law: A Look at the Numbers (American Bar Association Commission on Women in the Profession, 1995); Curran, Barbara A. and Clara N. Carson, The Lawyer Statistical Report: The U.S. Legal Profession in the 1990s (American Bar Foundation, 1994); National Association for Law Placement, Selected Class of 1997 Employment Report and Salary Survey Findings, 1998. 

11- Survey by the Radio and Television News Directors Association.

12- Catalyst, "Catalyst Census Marks Gains in Numbers of Women Corporate Officers in America's Largest 500 Companies," Nov. 19, 2002. 

13- Catalyst, "Catalyst Charts Growth of Women on America's Corporate Boards," Dec. 4, 2002.
 

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