Male-Dominated1 Occupations Are Those That Comprise 25% or Fewer Women2

Male-dominated industries and occupations are particularly vulnerable to reinforcing masculine

stereotypes that make it even more difficult for women to excel.3

In the United States, only 6.6% of women worked full-time in male-dominated occupations in
2017.4

 Women represented only 38% of non-technical positions in the tech industry, despite
holding 57% of all bachelor’s degrees in 2015.5
o Women held only 20% of leadership roles in the tech workforce in 2015.6

 In 2015, women held only 26% of computer and mathematical occupations and just 36%
of high-tech occupations.7

Women Face Challenges Working in Male-Dominated Workplace Cultures

Women working in male-dominated industries face a variety of challenges, including:

 Pervasive stereotypes, such as that of the "caring mother"8 or the office housekeeper.9
 The view that women are outsiders and threaten the norm.10
 Work/life demands may delay women’s time to PhD, impacting the number of
publications that are so important for promotions in academic science and STEM fields.11
 Fewer mentoring opportunities, which women reported as being important for their
success.12
 Sexual harassment.13

Women use various mechanisms to cope with working in male-dominated work environments,
such as:

 Distancing themselves from colleagues, especially other women.14

 Accepting masculine cultural norms and acting like “one of the boys,” which exacerbates
the problem by contributing to the normalization of this culture.15
 Leaving the industry.16

Sexual Harassment Is More Prevalent in Male-Dominated Industries17

In a 2017 survey, 62% of the women interviewed who work in male-dominated industries in the
United States reported that sexual harassment is a problem in their industry, compared to 46% of
women working in female-dominated industries.18

 49% of women in male-dominated industries said sexual harassment is a problem in their

workplaces, compared to 32% of women whose workplaces had more women than men.19
 28% of women working in male-dominated industries said they had personally
experienced sexual harassment, compared to 20% of women in other industries.20

This heightened level of harassment is a problem even before women enter the workforce. One
study found that women pursuing male-dominated university majors experience higher levels of
harassment than women earning other degrees.21

 About 14% of women with engineering degrees don't enter the labor force.22

There is a Gender Pay Gap in Male-Dominated Industries

Canadian women face a larger gender wage gap in male-dominated industries.23

Occupational segregation is considered to be an important contributing factor to the wage gap in

Europe.24

 Despite legislative changes, occupational segregation has not improved in Europe over
the past ten years.25

In the United States, many of the best-paying occupations are in male-dominated

industries,26 yet women made less than men in median weekly earnings in every male-
dominated occupation in 2017.27

One study examining United States Census research from 1950 to 2000 showed that as large
numbers of women entered male-dominated fields, the overall pay rate declined.28

 Some jobs, such as database administrators and electrical engineers, have too few women
employed to even compare salaries