25 Best-Paying Jobs for Women

By Kate Lorenz, CareerBuilder Editor

When you look at Forbes magazine's most recent list of highest-paid CEO's (chief executives of the 500 biggest companies in the United States), you won't see a woman until No. 48: Irene B Rosenfeld, CEO of Kraft Foods. In a country where women make up 47 percent of the workforce, women make up just 3 percent of Fortune 500 CEO's. In addition, women who worked full time earned an average of just 80 percent of what men earned in the same positions in 2008, according to the BLS.

But is salary disparity between genders the issue or is it something deeper?

In the Harvard Business Review blog, Avivah Wittenberg-Cox wrote: "Women represent one of the world's biggest and most under-reported opportunities. The business world has been so focused on stories like the rise of China that it has not been invited to see that, much closer to home, business could be reaping the benefits of the rise of women. Companies -- and their business school feeders -- have been slow in adapting and profiting from this shift, and part of the reason is that media too often focus on small, sensational and misleading parts of the story, including aspects like the wage gap."

Catalyst's February 2010 Pipeline's Broken Promise report examining high potential graduates from top business schools around the world found that, even after taking into account experience, industry and region, women start at lower levels than men, make on average $4,600 less in their initial jobs, and continue to be outpaced by men in rank and salary growth. Only when women begin their post-MBA career at mid-management or above do they achieve parity in position with men -- a situation that accounted for only 10 percent of the women and 19 percent of the men surveyed.

Whatever the cause, the BLS reports there are only a handful of occupations where women's earnings are equal to or exceed men's including construction and extraction occupations; special education teachers; installation, maintenance and repair occupations; life, physical and social science technicians; and counselors.

We wanted to know, what jobs pay women the most money? Here are 25 jobs where women earn $1000 a week or more, according to the BLS. One thing to note is that they all earn a fraction of their male counterparts.

Pharmacists
Women - Median weekly earnings: $1,647
Men - Median weekly earnings: $1,914
Women's earnings as percent of men's in same occupation: 86.1%

Chief executives
Women - Median weekly earnings: $1,603
Men - Median weekly earnings: $1,999
Women's earnings as percent of men's in same occupation: 80.2%

Lawyers
Women - Median weekly earnings: $1,509
Men - Median weekly earnings: $1,875
Women's earnings as percent of men's in same occupation: 80.5%

Computer software engineers
Women - Median weekly earnings: $1,351
Men - Median weekly earnings: $1,555
Women's earnings as percent of men's in same occupation: 86.9%

Computer and information systems managers
Women - Median weekly earnings: $1,260
Men - Median weekly earnings: $1,641
Women's earnings as percent of men's in same occupation: 76.8%

Physicians and surgeons
Women - Median weekly earnings: $1,230
Men - Median weekly earnings: $1,911
Women's earnings as percent of men's in same occupation: 64.4%

Management analysts
Women - Median weekly earnings: $1,139
Men - Median weekly earnings: $1,391
Women's earnings as percent of men's in same occupation: 81.9%

Human resources managers
Women - Median weekly earnings: $1,137
Men - Median weekly earnings: $1,433
Women's earnings as percent of men's in same occupation: 79.3%

Speech-language pathologists
Women - Median weekly earnings: $1,124
Men - Median weekly earnings: *
Women's earnings as percent of men's in same occupation: **

Computer and mathematical occupations
Women - Median weekly earnings: $1,088
Men - Median weekly earnings: $1,320
Women's earnings as percent of men's in same occupation: 82.4%

Computer scientists and systems analysts
Women - Median weekly earnings: $1,082
Men - Median weekly earnings: $1,240
Women's earnings as percent of men's in same occupation: 87.3%

Physician assistants
Women - Median weekly earnings: $1,077
Men - Median weekly earnings: **
Women's earnings as percent of men's in same occupation: **

Medical and health services managers
Women - Median weekly earnings: $1,066
Men - Median weekly earnings: $1,504
Women's earnings as percent of men's in same occupation: 70.9%

Physical scientists, all other
Women - Median weekly earnings: $1,061
Men - Median weekly earnings: $1,535
Women's earnings as percent of men's in same occupation: 69.1%

Postsecondary teachers
Women - Median weekly earnings: $1,056
Men - Median weekly earnings: $1,245
Women's earnings as percent of men's in same occupation: 84.8%

Marketing and sales managers
Women - Median weekly earnings: $1,024
Men - Median weekly earnings: $1,601
Women's earnings as percent of men's in same occupation: 64%

Physical therapists
Women - Median weekly earnings: $1,019
Men - Median weekly earnings: $1,329
Women's earnings as percent of men's in same occupation: 76.7%

Occupational therapists
Women - Median weekly earnings: $1,016
Men - Median weekly earnings: **
Women's earnings as percent of men's in same occupation: **

Registered nurses
Women - Median weekly earnings: $1,011
Men - Median weekly earnings: $1,168
Women's earnings as percent of men's in same occupation: 86.6%

Managers, all other
Women - Median weekly earnings: $1,010
Men - Median weekly earnings: $1,359
Women's earnings as percent of men's in same occupation: 74.3%

Psychologists
Women - Median weekly earnings: $1,004
Men - Median weekly earnings: **
Women's earnings as percent of men's in same occupation: **

Computer programmers
Women - Median weekly earnings: $1,003
Men - Median weekly earnings: $1,261
Women's earnings as percent of men's in same occupation: 79.5%

Architecture and engineering occupations
Women - Median weekly earnings: $1,001
Men - Median weekly earnings: $1,286
Women's earnings as percent of men's in same occupation: 77.8%

Advertising and promotions managers
Women - Median weekly earnings: $1,000
Men - Median weekly earnings: **
Women's earnings as percent of men's in same occupation: **

Education administrators
Women - Median weekly earnings: $1,000
Men - Median weekly earnings: $1,398
Women's earnings as percent of men's in same occupation: 71.5%

*No data or data that do not meet publication criteria.

** Data not shown where the male employment base is less than 50,000.

Kate Lorenz is the editor for CareerBuilder.com and its job-seeker blog, www.TheWorkBuzz.com. She researches and writes about job search strategy, career management, hiring trends and workplace issues. Follow CareerBuilder on Twitter www.twitter.com/CBforjobseekers.