Definition and examples of non-traditional fields

• Non-traditional fields are those in which females make up 25 percent or less of the workforce, according to the U.S. Department of Labor.
• Examples include: engineers, scientists, computer programmers, mathematicians, and other science- or computer-based fields.
• Non-traditional occupations tend to pay more than the occupations to which women are generally directed. For example, in 1998, electrical technicians (a male dominated field) had an annual salary of $35,318 while child care workers (a female dominated field) made $15,700 per year.
• While in vocational schools, females tend to be in concentrations leading to low paying jobs such as clerical and service employment. These female students have been found in greater numbers studying business and occupational home economics while male students dominate programs that lead to high paying jobs.

Unequal treatment of female students in non-traditional studies

• Sexual harassment and gender bias are two great threats to women in both non-traditional studies and non-traditional fields.
• Women and girls in non-traditional fields and studies have to be extremely assertive and "tough" in order to be heard over their male peers and colleagues. According to interviews with the National Women's Law Center, female students are given different tasks and fewer opportunities to participate in hands-on education.
• According to the above-mentioned interview, male students tended to dominate such classes as industrial and engineering, almost excluding the female students from classroom participation.

Women in non-traditional studies

• In 1999, 12.4 % of the 1,888 candidates for engineers, architects, surveying, and related technicians at UNH were female
• Women's colleges produce 4 times as many female research scientists and scholars as do coeducational institutions, and their graduates are twice as likely to earn Ph.D.s Stroke, Dale. IEEE Expert, Vol. 7, No. 4, August 1992.
• 7.8% of computer science and engineering faculties are women, and 2.7% of tenured professors are women Spertus, Ellen. 1991 report: "Why Are There So Few Female Computer Scientists?"
• 30% of the students in two-year technical degree programs are women, while 63% of all other two-year degrees are women
• Less than 33% of students in computer and computer related courses are girls, and in 1999, girls made up 9% of the students who took the advanced computer science exam used towards college credit. National Women's Law Center 2000

Women in non-traditional employment

• Men scientists earn more than women scientists at every level of their careers
• Among such fields as aerospace, mining, petroleum, nuclear, agricultural, civil, electrical and electronic, mechanical, marine, and naval architects; less than 11% are women. Facts on Working Women: US Dept of Labor
• 3 out of 10 computer systems analysts, engineers, and scientists are women and 1 out of 4 computer programmers is a woman. Facts on Working Women
• 51.6% of medical scientists are women while 44.4% of biological and life scientists are women. Facts on Working Women

Ways to combat inequity

• More gateways need to be open to women students that lead to employment in non-traditional fields.
• Women need to be better educated about the opportunities available to them.
• "Expanding all women's career options will require career development programs and classes that reduce stereotypes through exposure to a wider variety of work environments, role models in nontraditional occupations, mentors, classroom discussion about occupational stereotypes, gender-fair assignments, curriculum innovations, and changes in classroom practice." National Women's Law Center, August 2000
• Female students should be encouraged to become involved in math and science classes in high school and to realize that they can go on to study these subjects at the college/university level.

Facts About Working Women

• Women are expected to comprise 47 percent of the total workforce participants by the year 2006.
• Secretaries and cashiers are still the two occupations in which the largest numbers of women are employed.
• Seventy-four percent of divorced women participate in the labor force.
• Persons with higher levels of education are less likely to be unemployed.
• Black and Hispanic women have higher levels of unemployment than white women.
• Of the almost 4 million women who hold more than one job, many of them are also contingent workers without specific contracts for long-term employment.
• Overall, women continue to earn 74 percent of what men earn.

**Statistics taken from the US Dept. of Labor's Facts on Working Women