Gitnux/Report 2026

Females in the Workforce Statistics

From women’s 46.6% share of US employment in 2024 to women holding just 26% of software developer roles, this page lays out where progress looks real and where it stalls. It also connects leadership gaps, unpaid care burdens, and gender based violence to explain why representation keeps shifting across sectors and occupations.
27Statistics
9Sources
4Sections
1Visuals
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June 28, 2026Updated
Females in the Workforce Statistics
Priyanka SharmaWritten by Priyanka Sharma·Edited by Olivia Thornton·Fact-checked by Astrid Bergmann
Published ·Updated
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Women now hold 43% of board seats in S&P 500 companies, a record high. This progress contrasts with persistent gaps, as women comprise 46% of entry-level financial jobs but only 33% of senior roles.

Key Takeaways

  • Women made up 43.0% of board seats in S&P 500 companies in 2024, showing progress in corporate governance representation
  • Women represented 45.0% of the workforce in education but only 37.0% of school principal roles in OECD countries in 2022, showing leadership pipeline gaps in education
  • In the U.S. financial services industry, women held 46.0% of entry-level jobs but only 33.0% of senior leadership roles in 2023 (industry report), showing a leadership pipeline gap
  • In the U.S., women’s share of employment increased from 45.0% in 1994 to 46.6% in 2024, reflecting long-run growth in women’s workforce presence
  • Women were 47.7% of employment in Brazil in 2023 (ILO modelled estimate), quantifying female employment share
  • Women’s unemployment rate in the U.S. was 4.0% in 2020 (pandemic year), showing sensitivity of female joblessness during shocks
  • Women accounted for 73.0% of registered nurses employment in the U.S. in 2023, showing strong occupational concentration
  • Women accounted for 70.0% of elementary and middle school teachers in the U.S. in 2023, reflecting sectoral segregation
  • Women accounted for 26.0% of software developers in the U.S. in 2023, showing underrepresentation in technical occupations
  • UN Women reports that 1 in 3 women experience gender-based violence in their lifetime (global estimate), quantifying exposure to violence affecting labor participation
  • OECD reports that women spend about 2.0 times as many hours per day on unpaid care and domestic work as men in many OECD countries (global comparative statistic), affecting paid work availability
  • WHO estimates that globally, women aged 15–49 experience intimate partner violence at a prevalence of about 27% over their lifetime, linking violence to labor market outcomes

Women are gaining ground overall, but leadership, technical roles, and STEM engineering remain far less represented.

Related reading

01 · Category

Leadership Representation3 stats

01
Women made up 43.0% of board seats in S&P 500 companies in 2024, showing progress in corporate governance representation[1]
02
Women represented 45.0% of the workforce in education but only 37.0% of school principal roles in OECD countries in 2022, showing leadership pipeline gaps in education[2]
03
In the U.S. financial services industry, women held 46.0% of entry-level jobs but only 33.0% of senior leadership roles in 2023 (industry report), showing a leadership pipeline gap[3]
Interpretation

Leadership Representation Interpretation

Across leadership representation, women’s share often drops sharply from broader participation to top roles, as seen when board seats reached 43.0% in S&P 500 companies in 2024 but only 37.0% of school principals and 33.0% of senior leadership positions in U.S. financial services were held by women despite higher overall workforce representation.

02 · Category

Labor Force Participation7 stats

01
In the U.S., women’s share of employment increased from 45.0% in 1994 to 46.6% in 2024, reflecting long-run growth in women’s workforce presence[4]
02
Women were 47.7% of employment in Brazil in 2023 (ILO modelled estimate), quantifying female employment share[5]
03
Women’s unemployment rate in the U.S. was 4.0% in 2020 (pandemic year), showing sensitivity of female joblessness during shocks[4]
04
In the U.S., women were 43.4% of full-time workers in 2024, indicating full-time roles still include more men[4]
05
Women are 48% of the U.S. labor force in 2024 when including marginally attached workers (as labor force components indicate), demonstrating broad representation[4]
06
In the U.S., 13.0% of women were out of the labor force due to family responsibilities in 2024, measuring labor force detachment reasons[4]
07
In OECD countries, men’s labor force participation rate was 70.8% in 2023, quantifying the gender participation gap[6]
Interpretation

Labor Force Participation Interpretation

Overall, women’s participation in the U.S. labor force has remained high and slowly rising, reaching 48% in 2024 including marginally attached workers, yet 13.0% of women were still out of the labor force because of family responsibilities, showing that household constraints continue to shape labor force participation.

More related reading

04 · Category

Work Life & Wellbeing3 stats

01
UN Women reports that 1 in 3 women experience gender-based violence in their lifetime (global estimate), quantifying exposure to violence affecting labor participation[8]
02
OECD reports that women spend about 2.0 times as many hours per day on unpaid care and domestic work as men in many OECD countries (global comparative statistic), affecting paid work availability[2]
03
WHO estimates that globally, women aged 15–49 experience intimate partner violence at a prevalence of about 27% over their lifetime, linking violence to labor market outcomes[9]
Interpretation

Work Life & Wellbeing Interpretation

Work Life & Wellbeing for women is strongly shaped by safety and time burdens, with 1 in 3 women reporting gender-based violence in their lifetime and women also doing about 2.0 times as much unpaid care work as men, alongside intimate partner violence affecting around 27% of women aged 15 to 49 over their lifetime.
report visual · Projection

Women’s Workforce Participation Over Time

Women’s share of employment in the U.S. has grown over the long run.

45%
Start
-0.15%
CAGR · 30y
43%
Projected
19942024
source-verifiedbls.gov · spglobal.com · oecd.org2024
Reference

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APA
Priyanka Sharma. (2026, February 13). Females In The Workforce Statistics. Gitnux. https://gitnux.org/females-in-the-workforce-statistics
MLA
Priyanka Sharma. "Females In The Workforce Statistics." Gitnux, 13 Feb 2026, https://gitnux.org/females-in-the-workforce-statistics.
Chicago
Priyanka Sharma. 2026. "Females In The Workforce Statistics." Gitnux. https://gitnux.org/females-in-the-workforce-statistics.

Sources & references

9 sources cited across this report

  1. spglobal.com
  2. oecd.org
  3. www2.deloitte.com
  4. bls.gov
  5. ilo.org
  6. data.oecd.org
  7. ncses.nsf.gov
  8. unwomen.org
  9. who.int