Are those occupations in which women comprise 25% or less of total workers. They include:
- Skilled trade occupations, such as carpenter, electrician, millwright, plumber, and sheetmetal worker.
- Technical jobs, such as drafter, rigger, computer technician, and airline mechanic
- Service jobs, such as taxi driver, furniture mover, and truck driver.
- Public service jobs, such as firefighter, police officer, and ambulance driver.
- Professions, such as chemist, aerospace engineer, and city manager.
- Non-traditional jobs pay 20% to 30% more on average than traditionally female occupations.
- In 2000, median weekly earnings for cashiers, retail sales, and hairdressers ranged between $275 and $340, while those for women construction workers and mechanics were $475 and $627 respectively, according to the Labor Dept.
- Training low-income women for jobs in non-traditional occupations provides them with the skills and opportunities necessary to enter occupations that pay a sustainable wage for themselves and their families.
- Because women working in higher paying and better quality jobs are more likely to remain in their positions, jobs in non-traditional occupations are more likely to assist women in permanently leaving poverty.
Working First But Working Poor: The Need for Education & Training in Welfare Reform: (Executive Summary) A study by Legal Momentum and the Institute for Women's Policy Research on how women welfare recipients are denied access to job training for good-paying jobs in fields traditionally populated by men. (2001)
