Believe it or not, women make up the vast majority of the world's 7.8 billion people. Ironically, the percentages do not favor them, and women globally have just a fraction of the rights that males have. Despite efforts to alter societal norms and empower women, there is still gender imbalance in the workplace.
Tech corporations, for example, perpetuate a pattern of employing same-gender personnel. According to recent figures, women only make up 26% of computer-related employment.
This article aims to examine women's presence in the workforce and highlight their ability to overcome obstacles and become breadwinners. Let's see how things stand!
Women in the Workplace Statistics 101: Editor’s Choice
- Women account for 47.7% of the global workforce.
- Canada has the highest female labor force participation rate at 61.3%.
- 50.2% of the college-educated workforce are women.
- A whopping 75% of self-employed women love their job.
- Only 27.1% of women are managers and leaders.
- 61% of women think motherhood disrupts their progress opportunities.
- For the past 20 years, the number of women software engineers has increased by just 2%.
- 42% of women claim they have been discriminated at work because of their gender.
- 48% of women occupy entry-level roles.
- Work-life balance causes conflict for an astonishing 72% of women.
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What Percentage of the Workforce is Female?
1. Women account for 47.7% of the global workforce.
Globally, the female labor force participation rate has decreased from 50.9% in 1990 to 47.7% as of 2019.
Furthermore, according to the most recent World Bank data, men's participation in the labor force has decreased from 80.2% in 1990 to 74.7%.
2. Women hold 50.04% of all jobs in the US.
2020 sure appears to be in favor of women in the US. Women in the workforce statistics indicate that the percentage of women in the workforce has expanded from 49.7% in 2019.
Experts believe this upward trend will continue and will accelerate, while the number of men in the workforce will be declining.
3. Canada has the highest female labor force participation rate at 61.3%.
Despite the fact that the United States is often regarded as the land of equal opportunity, nations such as Canada and Australia have consistently had high female labor force participation rates over the last few decades. In Canada, male employment rates have above 50% since 1980, according to data.
In Australia, women made up 61.1% of the work force in 2019 and are expected to continue to increase. The percentage was 46% throughout the EU's 28 member nations.
4. Both women and men agree that women should work at paid jobs.
Claims like "stay-at-home women are happier" are no longer effective. The employment difference between men and women is not due to women's desire to remain at home.
Male versus female employment data show that 66.5% of men and 69.8% of women choose paid work over remaining at home. Nonetheless, the gender employment gap has narrowed by just 2 percentage points over the last 27 years.
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5. 50.2% of the college-educated workforce are women.
Education is related to income and this milestone is very important for women. Women in the workplace statistics show that currently, women surpass men by 0.2% as a college-educated labor force.
Another amazing piece of data for women as milestone setters is that more than half of the degrees awarded in the 2016-2017 academic year were to women. During this period, women obtained a total of 57.3% of bachelor’s degrees, 59.4% master’s, and 53.3% PhDs.
Statistics on Women in the Workplace
1. A whopping 75% of self-employed women love their job.
It appears few women are happy with their current employment. Only a quarter of all working women are satisfied with their full-time job, while another 24% of full-time jobbers are planning on starting their own business, according to women in the workforce statistics.
Happiness levels are blowing up in the entrepreneurial sector as the majority of self-employed women say they are absolutely in love with their job. On the other side of the spectrum, only 9% of women are happy working for someone else.
2. 606 million highly educated women worldwide provide unpaid care on a full-time basis.
Even though women across the world are earning more degrees than men, gender inequality in the workplace statistics offer evidence that the gender gap in employment rates between educated men and women is still present.
As few as 1.5% of men (41 million) are providing unpaid care as opposed to 21.7% of women. Women are often discouraged to accept paid employment due to unpaid caregiving responsibilities.
3. Women spend around 5 hours a day caregiving.
Studies show that women spend 4 hours and 25 minutes a day doing unpaid care work as opposed to men who only spend 1 hour and 23 minutes. In fact, between 1997 and 2012 the time women spend in caregiving was reduced by just 15 minutes a day, while for men it increased by 8 minutes.
Facts about women in the workplace suggest that at this pace, the gender gap in unpaid care will be closed in 209 years from now.
4. 10 million businesses in the US are owned by women.
Out of the 74.6 million women in the workforce, four out of ten work in sectors dominated by women. “United we stand divided we fall” seems to be the motto women have when it comes to jobs.
Also, the 10 million female bosses contribute $1.4 trillion in receipts, statistics on women in the workforce show.
5. The parenthood employment gap is 42.8%
Not so long ago, a research carried out in 51 countries showed that almost 46% of mothers with young children were working as opposed to 53.2% of women without children. What this means is that women pay a penalty for motherhood.
In addition, women also get a wage penalty which could very well last till the end of their working life. Inequality in the workplace statistics pinpoint this penalty as one of the reasons behind the rising parenthood employment gap.