Quick Takes

Published: January 2010

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Male-dominated industries and occupations have women as 25% or less of all those employed in the field.¹ While women have made headway into certain industries and occupations, there is still a great gap between women in men in many industries and occupations. Despite shifts in the labor force over recent years that have desegregated certain occupations from being dominated by one gender, women continue to be highly overrepresented in clerical, service, and health occupations, while men tend to be over overrepresented in craft, operator, and laborer jobs.² Male-dominated industries provide particular challenges for women’s advancement. Catalyst research has found that talent management systems are frequently vulnerable to pro-male biases that inevitably result in less diverse employee pools. Because senior leadership teams, which tend to be dominated by men, set the tone for talent management norms, masculine stereotypes can creep into HR tools. All employees are inevitably affected by these tools; employees who meet criteria (potentially based on masculine stereotypes) are selected for promotion and/or tapped as future leaders and/or offered development opportunities. Because male-dominated industries and occupations tend to be particularly vulnerable to masculine stereotypes due to lack of diversity, women may find excelling in these industries or occupations to be particularly difficult.³ Some examples of male dominated industries include²:

• Agriculture, forestry and fishing
• Construction
• Mining
• Oil and gas
• Utilities

Industry	Women’s Share in Canada, 20064	Women’s Share in U.S., 20085
Agriculture, Forestry, Fishing & Hunting	29.6%	23.9%
Construction	12.4%	9.7%
Mining (including oil and gas extraction)	12.1%	12.9%
Mining (excluding oil and gas extraction)	13.1%	N/A
Oil and gas extraction	27.2%	17.5%
Utilities	24.7%	19.5%

*Note: Canada defines their mining industry as Mining & Oil & Gas Extraction, not simply Mining.

Women in Management in Male-Dominated Industries

*Note: Canada defines their mining industry as Mining & Oil & Gas Extraction, not simply Mining.

 

*Note: Canada defines their mining industry as Mining & Oil & Gas Extraction, not simply Mining.

Occupations Dominated by One Gender

The following occupations are the most male-dominated occupations in Canada with 5,000 people or more. Less than 2% of the employees in all of these occupations are women.

 

10 Most Male-Dominated Occupations in Canada 11
Occupation	Total Number of People in Occupation	Share of Women Employees
Steamfitters, Pipefitters, and Sprinkler System Installers	22,190	1.7%
Industrial Electricians	29,960	1.7%
Electricians (Except Industrial and Power System)	72,390	1.6%
Construction Millwrights and Industrial Mechanics (Except Textile)	75,900	1.5%
Refrigeration and Air Conditioning Mechanics	22,240	1.4%
Gas Fitters	5,650	1.4%
Other Small Engine and Equipment Mechanics	6,815	1.2%
Concrete Finishers	11,440	1.2%
Bricklayers	18,885	1.1%
Heavy-duty Equipment Mechanics	39,140	1.1%

 

Female-Dominated Occupations

The following occupations are heavily dominated by women; women make up the vast majority in each occupation.

 

Ten Most Prevalent Occupations for Employed Women in Canada 200613
Occupation	Total Number of People in Occupation	Women’s Share of Occupation
Secretaries	308,565	97.9%
Nurse Supervisors & Registered Nurses	279,725	93.7%
Child Care & Home Support Workers	259,675	91.1%
Assisting Occupations in Support of Health Services	259,095	87.6%
Paralegals, Social Services Workers & Occupations in Education and Religion, n.e.c.	372,705	85.3%
Cashiers	324,855	85.2%
Occupations in Food & Beverage Services	268,710	77.9%
Technical & Related Occupations in Health	219,380	77.4%
Finance & Insurance Administrative Occupations	201,830	77.0%
Administrative & Regulatory Occupations	354,345	73.4%

 

The following occupations are the ten most prevalent occupations in the U.S. that women work in.

 

Ten Most Prevalent Occupations for Employed Women in the U.S., 200814
Occupation	Total Number of People in Occupation	Women’s Share of Occupation
Secretaries and administrative assistants	3,296,000	96.1%
Receptionists and information clerks	1,413,000	93.6%
Registered nurses	2,778,000	91.7%
Bookkeeping, accounting, and auditing clerks	1,434,000	91.4%
Nursing, psychiatric, and home health aides	1,889,000	88.7%
Elementary and Middle School Teachers	2,958,081	81.2%
Cashiers	3,031,000	75.5%
Waiters and waitresses	2,010,000	73.2%
Retail Salespersons	3,416,000	52.2%
First-line supervisors/managers of retail sales workers	3,471,000	43.3%

 

Catalyst Award Winners

The Catalyst Award annually honors innovative organizational approaches with proven, measurable results that address the recruitment, development, and advancement of all women, including women of color.

Four of the companies that won the Catalyst Award were in male-dominated industries.

• CH2M Hill (2009)¹⁵
• Nissan (2008)¹⁶
• BP (2006)¹⁷
• Georgia Pacific (2005)¹⁸

 

SOURCES

¹ Department of Labor, Women’s Bureau, "20 Leading Occupations of Employed Women," 2008 Annual Averages (2009).

² Barbara Wootten, Gender Differences in Occupational Employment (April 1997).

³ Warren, Anika K., Cascading Gender Biases, Compounding Effects: An Assessment of Talent Management Systems (Catalyst, 2009).

⁴ Stats Can, "Industry - North American Industry Classification System 2002 (433), Class of Worker (6) and Sex (3) for the Labour Force 15 Years and Over of Canada, Provinces, Territories, Census Metropolitan Areas and Census Agglomerations, 2006 Census - 20% Sample Data," 2006 Census.

⁵ Current Population Survey, Bureau of Labor Statistics, "Table 18: Employed persons by detailed industry, sex, race, and Hispanic or Latino ethnicity," Annual Averages (2008).

⁶ Catalyst, "Appendix 3: Number and Percentage of Women Corporate Officers by Industry," 2008 Catalyst Census of Women Corporate Officers and Top Earners of the FP500.

⁷ Rachel Soares, Nancy M. Carter, and Jan Combopiano, "Appendix 8: Women’s Representation by NAICS Industry," 2009 Catalyst Census: Fortune 500 (Catalyst, 2009).

⁸ Catalyst, 2007 Census of Women Board Directors of the FP500: Voices from the Boardroom (2008).

⁹ Statistics Canada, "Statistics Canada catalogue no. 97-564-XCB20060062006: Industry - North American Industry Classification System 2002 (433A), Sex (3) and Selected Demographic, Cultural, Labour Force, Educational and Income Characteristics (227), for the Population 15 Years and Over of Canada, Provinces, Territories, Census Metropolitan Areas and Census Agglomerations, 2006 Census - 20% Sample Data," Census of Population (2006).

¹⁰ BLS, "Quick Stats on Women Workers, 2008."

¹¹ Statistics Canada, "Statistics Canada catalogue no. 97-559-XCB20060112006: Occupation - National Occupational Classification for Statistics 2006 (720), Class of Worker (6) and Sex (3) for the Labour Force 15 Years and Over of Canada, Provinces, Territories, Census Metropolitan Areas and Census Agglomerations, 2006 Census - 20% Sample Data," Census of Population (2006).

¹² Department of Labor, "Quick Facts on Nontraditional Occupations for Women" (April 2009).

¹³ Statistics Canada, "Occupation - National Occupational Classification for Statistics 2006 (720), Class of Worker (6) and Sex (3) for the Labour Force 15 Years and Over of Canada, Provinces, Territories, Census Metropolitan Areas and Census Agglomerations, 2006 Census - 20% Sample Data: Statistics Canada catalogue no. 97-559-XCB2006011," 2006 Census of Population (2006).

¹⁴ Department of Labor, Women’s Bureau, "20 Leading Occupations of Employed Women," 2008 Annual Averages (2009).

¹⁵ Catalyst, "CH2M HILL-Constructing Pathways for Women Through Inclusion" (2009).

¹⁶ Catalyst, "Nissan Motor Co., Ltd.-Women in the Driver's Seat: Gender Diversity as a Lever in Japan" (2008).

¹⁷ Catalyst, "BP p.l.c.-Global Path to Diversity and Inclusion" (2006).

¹⁸ Catalyst, "Georgia-Pacific Corporation-Bridging Cultures, Leveraging Differences" (2005).

UPDATED January 14, 2010