The definition of the 'Yuppie' needs rewriting. No longer is
hunger for social status and taste for financial reward solely
confined to the male species. In a
recent paper, PEW-researchers find that 66% of young American
women call career success "one of the most important things" in
their lives, opposed to 59% of men in the same age
category.
In 2010, women made up almost half of the labor force (46.7%).
In 1997, their share was around 46.2% which compares to only 38.1%
in 1970.
Women's participation in the work force has significantly
increased, as has women's educational attainment. The PEW-research
shows that in the US women top men in both college enrollment and
college completion: 44% of women aged 18-24 were enrolled in
college or graduate programs compared with just 38% of their male
peers.
In the age-group 25-29 the difference is even larger: 36% of the
women have a bachelor's degree, compared with only 28% of men in
the same age group. Women first surpassed men in this regard in the
early nineties, and the gap has been widening ever since.
Equal pay in sight
In spite of their educational advantage and increased presence
in the workplace, women continue to lag behind men in terms of
earning power. In 2010, women who were full-time or salaried
workers had median weekly earnings of $669, compared with $824 for
their male counterparts. Still, women have made big strides in
attaining equal pay.
When data of this sort began being collected in 1979, women
earned 62% of a man's average salary. After steadily rising for the
past two and a half decades, the growth in the women-to-men
earnings ratio settled around 2004 and has remained in the 80-81%
range since then.
