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From DailyWorth today:

March 8th, 2011 | Earn

Report on Women, 50 Years Later

It has been almost half a century since President John F. Kennedy established the Commission on the Status of Women, which issued the first comprehensive look at our gender back in 1962.

Now, a mere 49 years later, the government has issued a second survey of women’s progress: “Women in America: Indicators of Social and Economic Well-Being.”

Since we’re not going to get another survey until about 2060, let’s grab this one while we can—and give a nod to Women’s History Month while we’re at it.

When it comes to education and earning power, women have made major progress. Three times more women age 25–34 have college degrees now than in 1968; and 57% of undergrad degrees go to women.

We’ve narrowed the wage gap by 18% since 1979, and women account for 51% of workers in management and professional positions.

But despite our amazing progress in education, women still tend to work in lower-paying fields.

Men far outpace women in the high-paying “STEM” fields—science, technology, engineering and math. Only 7% of female professionals vs. 38% of males work in computer science or engineering.

Women are also three times as likely as men to work in administrative support jobs. And women make up just 14% of people in business and finance jobs.

This economy has been a wake-up call for many people, especially women, who lag behind on most economic indicators. And while we’re not suggesting you dash off an application to M.I.T. or Wharton, at least not this minute, ask yourself whether you could earn more by making different choices.

Even just slightly different.

“You do get to a certain point in life where you have to realistically, I think, understand that the days are getting shorter, and you can’t put things off thinking you’ll get to them someday. If you really want to do them, you better do them. There are simply too many people getting sick, and sooner or later you will. So I’m very much a believer in knowing what it is that you love doing so you can do a great deal of it.”
Nora Ephron
Film Director, Producer, Screenwriter, Novelist

Worth the read today, Gail Collins, Girls and Boys Together.   My favorite line from the editorial is:

A while back, I was visiting a college in Connecticut where most of the students were the first in their families ever to go beyond high school. I was talking with a group of young men and women, and I asked the men how many of them felt it was very important that their future wife be a good earner.

All of them raised their hands.