Population Reference Bureau Population Bulletin Vol. The picture of women in the workplace is one of clear, albeit slow, progress toward equality with men. This bodes well for gender equality in the labor force. The more highly educated a woman, the more likely she is to work for pay, to work full-time when she is employed, and to be in a managerial or professional job where wages are higher. Hence, the rise in women's educational attainment, particularly in the 1970s and 1980s, has been a key factor in women's movement toward paid work and continuous labor force participation throughout their adult lives.
Women are somewhat more likely to graduate from high school than men.
Throughout the 1960-1993 period, women increased their representation among degree recipients at all levels. Over half of all bachelor's and master's degrees were conferred on women in 1993. Women earned 38 percent of all doctoral degrees in 1993, a marked improvement over 1960, when they earned only 11 percent. Between 1960 and 1995, rates for white women rose the most, from 37 percent to 59 percent, until they nearly equaled the labor force rates of black women. By the end of the 1980s, after two decades of increased participation by younger women, women had increased their representation in higher-paid occupations.