According to statistics at the US Department of Labor only 11% of US women in the labor force had college degrees as recently as 1970. Today that figure is 40%. A lot of that quadruple leap — but hardly most of it — is visible in the change in the legal landscape. In 1974 nine of out ten US lawyers were men whereas today more than one out of every three lawyers is a woman. The Labor Department shared the stats in honor of Women’s History Month.
Speech pathology leads in occupations dominated by women. An astonishing 98% of speech pathology professionals in the US are women. If you’re over at the speech pathologist’s office one day and the air conditioning breaks, it’s a near certainty that the woman working on your speech will meet a man who comes to fix it. The employment category called “HVAC and refrigeration mechanics and installers” is 99% filled with men. 75% of mothers with kids work full time in America. They just very rarely fix air conditioners.
