Women now make up more than half of the non-farm workforce in the U.S., according to a December 2019 U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics report. This shift is the result of long-term trends, such as women obtaining more college degrees and female-dominated industries performing well in today's economy.
However, challenges persist. Here are three key takeaways from our research in women at work in 2020 in the wake of #MeToo:
Now, let's take a deeper dive into all three claims.
Women have been the majority of college-educated adults for about four decades. U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics
Yet, in 2019, they finally became half of college-educated adults in the U.S. workforce. Pew Research Center
Seventy-four percent of women in the early stages of their professional career aspire to reach executive leadership levels. Egon Zehnder and LinkedIn
Only 62 women have led Fortune 500 companies since 1972. Bloomberg
In 2019, 126 women hold seats in Congress, comprising 23.6 percent of the 535 members. That's 25 women (25 percent) serving in the Senate, and 101 women (23.2 percent) serving in the House of Representatives. Rutgers
Only 72 women are promoted or hired to manager for every 100 men. McKinsey & Company
Women, men and HR leaders agree that "women are less likely to be promoted to first-level manager roles." McKinsey & Company
Here are some of the other HR leaders' reasons:
Forty-one percent of companies have policies targeting gender representation at senior levels of management while only 34 percent have policies for junior management. McKinsey & Company
Today, 44 percent of companies have three or more women in their C-suite, up from 29 percent five years ago. McKinsey & Company
When people see more women at the top, they are less concerned about gender inequality elsewhere. Harvard Business Review
The percentage of women reporting sexual harassment to HR grew from 43 percent in 2018 to 51 percent in 2019. Fairygodboss
Of those that didn't report it, 41 percent said they didn't because the alleged harasser was their direct supervisor. Fairygodboss
In 2016, 25 percent of women reported being sexually coerced in the workplace. In 2018 that number had declined to 16 percent. Plos One
In contrast, women are experiencing more gender harassment, from 76 percent of women in 2016 to 92 percent percent in 2018. Plos One
Here are the industries with the most sexual harassment cases filed between 2005 to 2015:
Ultimately, understanding how the workplace is changing for women will help you prepare for 2020. If you're serious about your career, keep reading our 2020 employment and career stats series, including:
Don is a freelance writer with more than five years' experience in digital media. His work has appeared in a variety of publications, including Oprah.com, Yahoo! and HuffPost. While at OWN: Oprah Winfrey Network, his creative use of archival content...
More Articles by Don Sjoerdsma