Women in the workplace statistics show that the position of female workers has significantly improved as women have been conquering male-dominated roles across industries. Furthermore, female employees across the globe have achieved higher levels of equality.
Despite the overall progress, women still have many problems at work. For example, their salary is still lower than their male coworkers’ in the same jobs. Also, women frequently face gender and racial discrimination in the workplace.
To understand better what happens to working women, have a look at the data below.
Top Statistics on Women in the Workforce — Editor’s Choice
- 14.6% of board chairs belong to women.
- Women comprise 26% of employees in the computing workforce.
- The most common job for women is a preschool and kindergarten teacher.
- 57% of women in the US participate in the job market.
- 275,000 women left the workforce in January 2021.
- 84% of women in Rwanda have a job.
- 52% of women in the world deal with non-inclusive behavior at work.
- 20% of the women workforce in the UK is in the health and social work sector.
Women in Leadership Statistics
1. 41 female CEOs run businesses at Fortune 500 companies.
(Statista, Fortune)
In other words, only eight percent of the Fortune 500 chief executives are women. Still, this is a groundbreaking year for women in leadership. There were only three female CEOs on the list 20 years ago. Moreover, two black women are running Fortune 500 businesses for the first time in history.
2. Only 22 countries have women as the Head of State or Government.
(UN Women)
According to women in leadership roles statistics, 10 countries have a female Head of State. Moreover, only 13 countries have a female Head of Government. On the other hand, 119 countries have never had a woman as their leader.
3. 21% of government ministers are women.
(UN Women)
Recent research shows gender equality in the highest executive government positions won’t happen for another 130 years. The same goes for the lower positions, as women see a 0.52% annual increase in ministerial positions. Yet, only 14 countries have 50% or more women in cabinets.
4. Women in the workplace statistics suggest 14.6% of board chairs belong to women in Australia.
(WGEA)
There aren’t many women in executive or decision-making roles in the Australian workforce. In fact, roughly 32.5% of key management positions belong to women. Moreover, female directors comprise 28.1% of the total number of directors. On the other hand, only 18.3% of women are CEOs across industries in this country.
5. Women hold 29% of senior management positions in the world.
(Grant Thorton)
According to an international survey, the proportion of women in senior management has been relatively the same for the last couple of years. However, statistics on women in the workplace tell us that women often get stuck in entry-level positions. For example, for every 100 men promoted and hired to a manager, only 72 women are promoted and hired.
6. 38% of senior managers in Africa are female.
(Grant Thorton)
The most recent international survey data ranks Africa as the region with the largest number of female executives. The situation for women in Africa has improved drastically thanks to the reforms promoting gender equality in the workplace and domestic settings. Conversely, Asia-Pacific has 27% of women in senior management.
7. Female entrepreneurship statistics for 2021 say 1% of women business owners are Generation Z.
(Guidant Financial)
When asked why they had become business owners, 29% of the women answered they had been ready to be their own boss. Moreover, approximately 31% of America’s business owners are women. In fact, most of them are from Gen X — 51%. Female baby boomers are second with 31%, and millennials are third with 17%.
Working Women Statistics by Occupation
8. 74.4% of all healthcare practitioners and technical occupations are women.
(BLS)
The latest available report says the most common occupation for women in healthcare is a medical records specialist (95.9%). Moreover, women account for 94.4% of speech-language pathologists. Dental hygiene is also pretty popular among female workers because they make 93.9% of all dental hygienists.
9. Women make up 26% of employees in the computing workforce.
(NCWIT)
Women typically have execution rather than core technical roles in computing. For example, the highest percentage of women in the workplace is among operations research analysts (43%). Furthermore, 19% of women work as computer software engineers and 20% work as computer programmers.
10. Women hold 23.6% of protective service occupations.
(BLS)
Approximately a quarter of 3,024 workers in the protective service are women. In addition, about 45% of them work as private detectives and investigators. What’s more, female first-line supervisors of security workers make up 32.1% of the total number of workers in the protective service.
11. The most common job for women is a preschool and kindergarten teacher.
(Stacker)
Women employment statistics say 97.3% of all preschool and kindergarten teachers are women. Traditionally, education is one of the occupations with an extremely high percentage of female employees.
12. 16% of female lawyers lose work opportunities as a result of rejecting sexual advances.
(Statista, Antitrust Institute)
Women make up 37.4% of lawyers. However, a significant share of women in the law sector don’t get the job because they decline sexual advances. Moreover, 50% of women in law firms have experienced unwanted sexual conduct in the workplace. Despite that, more than a quarter of them (28%) haven’t reported it due to the fear of retaliation.
General Statistics on Women in the Workforce
13. 56.2% of women in the US participate in the job market.
(Gallup, Statista)
Historically, the workforce participation rate of women in the US has fluctuated. During the last 30 years, it reached the highest level in 1999 with a 60% workforce participation rate. However, the numbers have decreased since then.
14. The workforce participation rate for women with school-aged children is 72.4%.
(Gallup)
The data relates to adults aged 25 to 55. Furthermore, the percentage of women in the workforce in this specific group declined by 2.3%, as it used to be 74.7% in February 2020.
15. 275,000 women left the workforce in January 2021.
(NWLC)
The most recent Bureau of Labor Statistics job report shows 6% of women don’t have a job or aren’t looking for one. The data includes women from different demographic groups. For example, about 8.5% of Black women and 8.8% of Latinas don’t participate in the workforce. Moreover, 7,9% of Asian women are unemployed.
16. A statistic of women in the workforce unveils that the median weekly earnings for female full-time wage and salary workers in 2021 are $900.
(BLS)
The data shows that women earn 82.6% of the median for men ($1,089). Female full-time workers in management, business, and financial operations occupations have the highest median weekly earnings ($1,261).
On the other hand, women employed in farming, fishing, and forestry have the lowest median weekly earnings — $499.
17. 33% of women don’t want to return to their physical workplace.
(Forbes)
Women in the workplace facts gained from an extensive survey emphasize how beneficial remote work is for a third of the respondents. One of the reasons is that these women are more productive when working from home. In addition, they prefer the flexibility of remote work to 40 hours per week in the office.
18. 30% of women worry about losing their jobs to technology.
(Randstad)
Less than a third of the surveyed women are concerned about being replaced by automation in the workplace. Instead, jobs lost to automation statistics reveal women employed in IT, retail, customer service, and manufacturing express most concern.
Stats and Facts About Women in the Workplace Worldwide
19. 57% of women across the globe plan to leave their current job within two years.
(Deloitte)
The majority of the surveyed women aren’t satisfied with their job. Furthermore, 21% of the dissatisfied respondents are determined to leave their job in less than a year. Poor work-life balance is the top reason they want to change their job.
20. 84% of women in Rwanda have a job.
(The World Bank, Statistics)
The latest global data shows Rwanda has the highest employment rate among women older than 15. Moreover, male vs. female employment statistics reveal it’s slightly higher than the male employment rate. In addition, more women work in rural areas (86.2%) than in urban areas (74.2).
21. Women comprise 47.2% of the entire workforce in Australia.
(WGEA)
Around 25.8% of these women work full time, and 21.4% of them are part-time employees. Additionally, 37.9% of full-time workers in Australia are women. Female employees also comprise 67.2% of all part-time workers in this country.
22. 52% of women in the world deal with non-inclusive behavior at work, based on gender discrimination in the workplace statistics.
(Deloitte)
An international survey shows many women have experienced harassment or microaggression in the workplace worldwide.
Disparaging remarks about their gender, unwanted physical contact, and undesirable comments about their physical appearance, gender, race, sexual orientation or gender identity, and similar, are the examples of the non-inclusive workplace-related behavior respondents face daily.
23. 4% of women say their organizations have made progress in building inclusive cultures that support women.
(Deloitte)
According to the recent international discrimination against women in the workplace statistics, women are more productive and engaged in organizations with inclusive, flexible cultures. These women are also more likely to report non-inclusive behavior without the fear of losing their job. Moreover, they are loyal to their employer because of the support they receive from the management.
24. 20% of all the female workforce in the UK is in the health and social work sector.
(Briefing Paper)
These two sectors have the most female workers in the UK. The wholesale and retail trade sectors are second, with 14% of the entire female labor force. Finally, in third place is education with 12%.
25. A female labor force participation rate by country shows women in India comprise 22.3% of all workers.
(The Wire)
Women labor force participation rate in India has decreased by 2.5% from 24.8% this year. In addition, the percentage of women in senior and managerial positions remains low (14.6%). Furthermore, women are top managers in only 8.9% of firms.
26. The workplace participation rate for women in Canada is 59.6%.
(Statistics Canada)
Recent studies have shown that about two-thirds of women over 15 in Canada take part in the job market. However, the labor force participation rate is slightly lower than the year before, when it was 61.3%.
27. Woman-owned business statistics say one in five women in sub-Saharan Africa owns a business.
(Oberlo)
Recent statistics rank sub-Saharan Africa as the region with the highest rate of female entrepreneurship. Women entrepreneurs statistics show that 21.8% of women in this part of the world engage in entrepreneurial activities. Furthermore, Latin America is second, with 17.3% of female business owners.
28. One in four businesses in low-income countries have female owners.
(World Bank)
Female participation in business ownership globally depends on the country’s income, among other things. In middle and high-income countries, the participation rates are 36% and 37%. In addition, the number of female owners is systematically higher among newly registered companies.
Women in the Workplace Statistics — Conclusion
All this data suggests the women workforce has made huge steps forward. Women are now employed even in sectors we couldn’t have possibly imagined them a couple of decades ago. But although modern women in some positions are doing fine, they are struggling in others.
What’s more, the female labor force participation rate varies across the world. As we can see, a lot still needs to be done to make the female labor force equal and safe at work.