At some point in your life, you’ve probably experienced an environment where you’re completely surrounded by girls—your high school cheerleading team, your sorority, or even girls’ night out with your best friends. Even among your closest girl friends, it can be tough to stay sane in the midst of what can potentially be a breeding ground for catty behavior and gossip. Her Campus talked to collegiettes™ in five industries—nursing, education, communications, human resources and accounting—that are dominated by women to see exactly what the workplace looks like when girls rule the roost.
Nursing: 92 percent female
More than nine times out of 10, nurses are female. Talk about girl power! Lauren Anzalone, a freshman at Saint Anselm’s College in New Hampshire, is pursuing a career in nursing. “There are five freshman boys in the nursing program out of about a hundred,” she says, “And none at all in the sophomore class.” Not surprisingly, her days are mostly spent in class with other girls. “It would be nice to have more balanced classes,” she says.
Although guys might be scarce in nursing classes, don’t let that discourage you from the field if you’re truly passionate about it. More and more guys are opting to study nursing, and in a hospital environment, you’re bound to be working alongside male doctors, nurses, and patients, anyway.
Education requirements vary between the types of nurses: Licensed Practical Nurses (LPNs) typically require one to two years of specialized undergraduate education before taking a state or national board exam. They are able to perform simple medical procedures under the supervision of a doctor or another nurse. Registered Nurses (RNs) must earn an associate’s degree in nursing, which allows them to supervise LPNs, oversee general care of patients, and use their skills in a wide variety of fields. While some RNs work in hospitals, others opt to go onto work at insurance companies, schools, and even as independent medical consultants.
Primary Education: 82 percent female
While you probably had plenty of high school teachers who were male, it’s a safe bet to say the majority of your elementary and middle school teachers were female. Education has been primarily dominated by women for generations, with no sign of slowing down anytime time soon. Requirements vary by state, the level of credentials you’d like to achieve, and the age and subject you’d like to teach. In general, though, you’ll need to earn a bachelor’s degree in the field of education you’d like to work in (e.g., high school English or special education), complete an accredited teacher’s education program (some states require teachers to earn master’s degrees), and pass either your state’s teacher’s exam or the widely-used national Praxis exam.
Melissa Nichols is a senior studying secondary English education and political science at Western Michigan University. By the time she graduates, she will be certified to teach English and Social Studies at the high school level. “In my experience, women are just more creative when it comes to ideas for teaching,” she says. “I don’t connect with many of the guys in my classes, even though they’re doing the same program.”
Although the gender ratio tips heavily towards the women’s side, Melissa admits she still sees sexism in the field. Her 20-person education classes typically only include two or three guys, but she says she often sees schools hiring men over women simply because of their gender.
Communications, including Public Relations: 73 percent female
Forget the old boys’ club image of newspapers—within certain sectors of the communications industry, women are stealing the spotlight. 73 percent of the Public Relations Society of America members are female. Many colleges and universities offer field-specific communications majors, such as public relations, advertising or broadcast journalism, while other schools offer broader majors such as communications or journalism. Regardless of your course of study, hands-on internship and work experience is invaluable in this field.
Sarah Kamenetz, a New York University sophomore majoring in media, culture and communications, says, “My MCC classes are almost entirely girls. In my professional experience, I work mostly with girls and when I do work with guys, they’re usually my bosses. I have had only positive experiences with the girls I work with, so I don’t really mind.” According to Sarah, her interests include fashion, health, nutrition and art, which may skew her professional experiences towards female-dominated environments.
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It goes without saying that women’s fashion and lifestyle magazines are almost entirely staffed by women. Need an example? Look at Forbes’ list of most powerful fashion magazine editors-in-chief. Every single member on the list is female!
Laura Wainman, a 2010 Elon University grad, interned earlier this year in the editorial department of USA Today. “When I was there,” Laura says, “my department had five women and six men. As far as I could tell, the gender ratio was fairly equal throughout the company.”
Jake Duhaime, a 2008 Emerson College grad, Social Networking and Media Manager at the Detroit Red Wings, and the Public Relations Specialist at Her Campus, has often felt outnumbered in the public relations industry, which he says can work both to his advantage and to his disadvantage. “It’s fantastic to have different viewpoints [in the office],” says Jake. “Once in that situation, colleagues respect your opinion and what you bring to the table. Still, with the hierarchy of the industry itself, it’s becoming increasingly difficult for men to break in and advance. Would a female senior account executive want me (or most men) under their tutelage? Most wouldn’t. It’s far easier to craft a cutsie-wootsie ‘mini me’ than it is to deal with someone who may challenge the viewpoints or authority of their boss.”
The bottom line? While communications as a whole isn’t entirely dominated by either gender, certain pockets of the industry are mostly female-dominated.
Human Resources: 67 percent female
If you’re a bright, diligent “people person,” human resources (commonly abbreviated as HR) could be the field for you! HR covers a wide range of duties, including recruiting, interviewing and hiring prospective employees, firing, benefit management, and more. There’s no one path to working in HR; although some colleges offer majors in HR, an HR degree certainly isn’t required. Experience within the field is a definite plus. However, if you’re planning on a high-level HR management position, you may benefit from a master’s degree or an MBA.
Chelsea Evans, a 2011 Tufts University grad and Manager of Operations at Her Campus, came into the field after majoring in Economics and International Relations. She landed a part-time job as a student assistant in Tufts’s HR department during her sophomore year. She says, “Seeing women occupy most of the high-level management roles at Tufts HR certainly inspired me to pursue a career in the field. After searching for full-time HR opportunities, I landed a human resources internship (and later a full-time job!) at Her Campus!”
Accounting: 62 percent female
While men tend to rule most math and business-based careers, accounting is dominated by women. If you have strong math skills and enjoy detail-oriented work, this could be a lucrative career path for you. Most accounting positions require an undergraduate degree in accounting or a major in a related field. Some positions, especially upper-level positions, require a master’s degree in accounting or business. If you’re interested in becoming a CPA (Certified Public Accountant) in order to start your own accounting business or work for a public accounting firm, that requires a passing score on the Uniform CPA Exam, a 14-hour test that covers four different parts of the accounting industry.
Even the accounting industry as a whole tends to be primarily female, that doesn’t necessarily mean that your office will be, as well. Karen Sykes, the chief financial officer at construction company J. & M. Brown, says, “I actually work in an industry that’s mostly men. I’m the only woman in my office.” However, she notes that when she worked at a nonprofit, her office was much more mixed.
While it’s hardly a surprise to see nursing and teaching topping this list, it’s reassuring to see so many women rising to the top in communications and accounting, fields traditionally dominated by men. With more and more women going to college every year, just imagine what this list could look like in ten, 20, or even 30 years down the road? Women can look forward to bright futures in the career world.
Sources
College girls across the country
United States Department of Labor statistics
http://www.forbes.com/sites/jennagoudreau/2011/03/07/20-surprising-jobs-women-are-taking-over/
http://www.allnursingschools.com/nursing-careers/article/nursing-career-path
http://www.alleducationschools.com/education-careers/article/how-to-become-a-teacher
http://www.prdaily.com/Main/Articles/In_the_PR_world_men_still_earn_more_than_women_7411.aspx
http://www.forbes.com/2008/09/04/style-editor-magazine-forbeslife-cx_ls_0904editors_slide_11.html?thisSpeed=undefined
http://www.careerpath.com/jobs-in/accountant