Female employment, by occupation

One in three women work in sales and service occupations

• Fifty-nine percent of women work in the top two occupation categories. Almost 2.4 million women were employed in sales and service occupations in 2003, accounting for 32% of all working women over the age of 15 years. About 3 in 10 of these women worked as retail sales people, sales clerks, cashiers or retail supervisors. An additional 2.0 million women (27%) had jobs in business, finance and administrative occupations. A smaller but significant number of women also worked in occupations related to health as well as social science, education, government service and religion (700,000 or 20% of women).
• However, relatively few women were found in primary industry occupations (only 110,000 in farming, forestry, mining or fishing), or in trades, transport and equipment operation (148,000) in 2003.
• From 1996 to 2003, employment among women rose significantly in sales and services, social science, education, government services and religion, natural and applied sciences, and in health occupations.

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