The 7 Jobs Where Women Actually Earn More Than Men

We all know that women earn less than men, but there are a handful of jobs where the opposite is true.

Of the 534 occupations tracked by the Bureau of Labor Statistics and examined by the Center for American Progress (CAP), seven pay women more than men.

Here are the occupations in question (Women earn between two and six percent more than what men in the same occupation earn.):

1. Respiratory therapist

2. Computer support specialist

3. Operations research analyst

4. Stock clerk/order filler

5. Medical scientist

6. Bookkeeping/accounting/auditing clerk

7. Packers/packagers, hand

The slightly-better-than-equal pay is great news for the women who hold these jobs, but women in these occupations make up just three percent of the full-time female labor force. That’s a drop in the proverbial bucket.

Jobs that women are more likely to hold – administrative assistant, registered nurse, teacher, cashier – all pay men more on average.

Here are the seven occupations with the worst wage gap (Women earn between 60-70 percent of what men in the same occupation earn):

1. Property/real estate/community association manager

2. Personal financial adviser

3. Credit counselor/loan officer

4. Insurance sales agent

5. First-line supervisor of housekeeping/janitorial workers

6. Financial manager

7. Marketing/sales manager

Why is there a wage gap and how do we fix it?

Some of the wage gap has to do with the fact that women are more likely to hold lower-paying jobs and to work fewer hours. They are more likely to take time off to care for children, which can make climbing a career ladder more difficult. Minority women are especially disadvantaged when it comes to equal wages.

But a new, separate report from CAP says that up to 60 percent of the wage gap is influenced by “structural and social factors.” There is no mandate for sick leave, for instance, and moms are more likely than dads to stay home with sick children and risk losing a day’s pay. The United States is also the only advanced economy where moms don’t have a legal right to paid maternity leave.

The left-leaning think tank suggests passing laws that mandate sick days and family leave, but such legislation has been shot down in the Republican-dominated House of Representatives and isn’t likely anytime soon.

As Ariane Hegewisch, a study director with the Institute for Women’s Policy Research, told Fusion last year, “[The gender wage gap] is not seen as a problem by policy makers…We know what goes wrong and we know the tools and how to design it so it shouldn’t be such a problem, but it’s not really very high on the agenda.”

Emily DeRuy is a Washington, D.C.-based associate editor, covering education, reproductive rights, and inequality. A San Francisco native, she enjoys Giants baseball and misses Philz terribly.