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6 High-Paying and  Empowering Career Options for Women

In the last decade, we’ve seen increasing attempts to minimize the wage gap and place women in higher-earning positions. We’ve seen the job market change drastically to accommodate and educate women for these roles. Unless you’ve been living under a rock you’ve probably seen initiatives to engage women in STEM fields because apparently, those are the highest-paying high-skill jobs, and women aren’t represented. 

But is that entirely correct? And are there high-paying gigs that women are interested in? Here’s a list of jobs that earn a pretty bank and women find them overwhelmingly interesting and rewarding. 

1. CEO

After many ‘girl boss’ media campaigns, we saw at least one misconception shattered: That women don’t like being in charge. It turns out they do, and they’re pretty good at it. The best way to escape a rigged job market that underpays you is to be your own boss. We’re seeing more and more women entrepreneurs starting their own thing and earning a pretty penny for it. The average yearly income for a CEO is $106,652, which ain’t that bad considering you’re the boss. 

According to statistics, 26% of CEOs and Managing Directors in 2021 were women, and the digit is only expected to rise. Unfortunately, women are still low on the corporate ladder, so there is a lot of incentive to push for more women in this role. 

2. Pharmacist

Another job that pays really well and women are pretty interested in is as a Pharmacist. This is one of the most popular STEM positions among women because they perceive it as a family-friendly occupation that can allow them to raise a family and make a real change by helping people in need. 

Pharmacists make around $112,320 per year, which is sufficient to raise a family and provide them with decent housing and education. Women are among  60% of pharmacy graduates, so there isn’t much need to push them into this field.

3. Nurse Practitioner

Being a nurse isn’t exactly breaking out of traditional gender roles, but women still love helping people in need. The pay isn’t too shabby, either. According to the latest stats, nurses earn $97,084 per year, and being a practitioner isn’t exactly as servile of a job as most people think.

Far from being just a doctor’s little helper, nurse practitioners perform the duties of a physician and coordinate a significant chunk of patient care. If under the supervision of a doctor, nurse practitioners can even provide some specialty and, of course, emergency care. 

For most nurses, the school never ends, and they must take regular PALS certification renewals to ensure they know the latest trends in patient care. Many of them even go back to school and earn their specialty degrees, so it’s a good paid option if you want to take a break from working toward a long medical degree. 

4. Psychologist

Psychology is one of those areas where women get to be their own bosses and start their own businesses. Considering how popular this and similar roles are among women, we can deduce they really like being supportive and helping out. 

The role of a nurse, counselor, and pharmacist all fall under the category of emotional labor, something that women, in particular, were exploited for in the past. But the good thing about today’s job market is that when they are in charge and get to participate in making the rules, they can offer support in a way that empowers them and get paid fairly. 

Psychologists earn around $74,932.00 per year which is awesome if you have your own practice and the expenses are subtracted from the digit. Women are very interested in this area of study so there’s no need to bring in the big media guns.

5. Lawyer 

Do you think STEM fields pay well? Try telling that to a lawyer. On average they earn $148,910 a year, but that number can go even higher depending on the state, and how successful your practice is.  This is yet another high-paying career that can also be very rewarding. 

Unless you’re the new Erin Brockovich you will need a Bachelor’s degree in Law and a passing grade in a state bar exam. After that, you can either work your way up as a  public attorney or start your own firm and be the badass boss lawyer you’ve always wanted to be. You can specialize in multiple branches or just go with the flow until you figure out what you’re best at.

6. Surgeon

This is the highest-paying position so far with a jaw-dropping $251,650 annual average. Buuut it’s also the position most likely to leave you with a full-blown case of PTSD so every penny is earned fair and square. It’s a very unpopular job for people that want to start a family and dedicate their time to raising their kids. 

The hours are odd and irregular, the stress is off the charts, and you will need some serious education to qualify. But if you manage to get into this elite profession and actually start saving lives, you’ll know all the suffering was worth it. 

Research suggests that women are 32% more likely to die after being operated on by a male surgeon and that this number would get lower if more women decided to be surgeons. And although women only make up 19% of surgeons in the US, the statistics also show that those treated by female surgeons get better outcomes in general. So as you can see, the push for more women in STEM is not without a reason.

To conclude 

There you go, these are some of the most rewarding and high-paying career options for women right now. It looks like the ‘gentler’ sex is more focused on helping people out than entering high-paying fields like STEM. But this empathy also appears to make them better at some traditionally male fields like surgery. Also, huge corporations would totally have more empathetic leadership if they let women be in charge. 

Last Updated on by Sathi Chakraborty, MSc Biology

Author

Icy Health Editorial Team

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