Women’s progress is undeniable. And although there are always setbacks and backlash to progress, it’s important to take a look through history to see how far we have come, as motivation to continue pushing forward.
The first country to give women the right to vote was New Zealand. That happened in the year 1893. Other countries followed later, Australia in 1902, Finland in 1906, Norway in 1903, and so on, all the way to Saudi Arabia in 2015.
The right to vote wasn’t tied to the ability to work, but not having equal rights definitely came with some irksome restrictions. Jobs were often limited by social norms. Leadership roles, such as those in government or business, were rare. Most women worked in teaching, nursing, domestic services, and clerical work, with, of course, helping here and there where the situation required.
If you weren’t born into a family business – for example, a cattle rancher, store owner, etc. – then chances were you weren’t going to become the boss. And even if you did manage to get there (somehow), the boys still had priority. It took some time to break the glass ceiling, but when it was broken, a surge of women came crashing through. Women who wanted to work, make careers, and make something of themselves.
And with each passing year, more and more women broke into the workplace. And today, there isn’t really a sector/industry where you won’t find women. Sure, some industries are more male-dominated (e.g., military, tech, finance, construction, etc.), while others are more female-dominated, but no industries are restricted for women.
And by doing so, they’re transforming the workplace culture of today in the process. Women are asserting influence and impact.
Let’s talk about some of these fields.
Behind the Numbers
The year 2026 has shown a growth of women in analytical roles.
Typical ‘men’ jobs (e.g., data analysts, financial analysts, UX researchers, business intelligence specialists, research scientists, AI-related fields, marketing, healthcare, etc.) have started seeing a surge in female representation.
More specifically, there are jobs that require critical thinking, vision, and precision.
| U.S. female workers made approx 58% of total workers in analytical jobs in 2023 (a 6-point increase from the reported numbers in 2013) – U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics |
These women may work hidden behind the scenes where their actions go unseen, but their efforts don’t.
Their decisions influence corporate strategy, product development, and have shaped and will shape policies for years to come.
Behind the People
Every company needs good workers.
This is where HR comes in. HR has long been a female-dominated field. And as the years go by, women have only solidified their hold in it. HR managers no longer only manage payroll and hire workers – they do SO much more. They advocate for mental health and promote diversity initiatives.
Broader workforce studies show that between 67 % and 71 % of HR professionals are women in many companies.
Behind the Voice
Communications, public relations, and marketing are other areas where women dominate.
According to demographic data from Data USA, in 2023, there were 582,678 marketing managers employed, and women made up 62.9 % of that total workforce.
Jobs spanning all across internal communications, brand strategy, crisis management, and fields of entertainment and politics. These unsung heroes also work behind the scenes, shaping public perception, corporate identity, and social narratives.
And when something they accomplish makes an impact, everybody knows it.
Behind the Health
A healthy mind is in a healthy body, and so is a healthy body in a healthy mind.
It seems only natural that to this day, the healthcare industry continues to be a female-dominated sector, and it’s not even close.
There used to be a time when women only worked in supporting roles (e.g., cleaning, cooking, laundry, caregiving, etc.).That has long since changed. Nursing became professionalized in the mid-19th century thanks to pioneers like Florence Nightingale, the most famous nurse to date.
It was one of the first hospital careers considered ‘appropriate for women’. (It’s 2026, this sounds like when we’re talking about times when the internet or mobile phones didn’t exist; it’s weird that this was, at one point, reality.
There were other pioneers like Dr. Mary Edwards Walker, who performed surgeries during the American Civil War, from 1861 to 1865. Many brave women paved the road, one step at a time.
Now, women work in all capacities as deans of medicine, general surgeons, doctors, etc., and help people in every manner possible.
Like nurses who look after those who can’t look after themselves, not only in hospital settings, but in nursing homes or private residences, no one would disagree that it’s a tough job, but it is a tough job that needs to be done. Due to the difficult nature of the occupation, a lot of problems may arise.
What’s important is that we always strive to improve, and the healthcare industry may be the most prominent in this regard.
There are lots of safety guards that help with this.
Safeguards such as state health department inspections (routine/scheduled + surprise), federal CMS oversight and the star rating system, mandatory incident reporting, resident care plans, reassessments of those same care plans, ombudsman programs, background checks for staff, staff-to-resident ratio regulation, medication administration audits, whistleblower protections for employees, internal quality assurance and performance improvement (QAPI) programs, etc., etc.
Only through a complete nursing home negligence overview can we ACTUALLY identify patterns of harm that might go unnoticed otherwise. All this should be mandatory to help keep residents fully protected, and only this way can we hold facilities accountable.
There’s no question that such events take a heavy toll on the human spirit.
But the women in those fields continue to persist.
The Future of Women
Moving further into the future, the influence of women is expected to grow as it should.
New technologies, changes in workplaces, a more focused approach – all these things continue to shape and re-shape the workplace of now, leading us to the workplace of tomorrow. And yes, while the spotlight might focus only on a few, that doesn’t mean that there aren’t many, many more women behind it that are equally important.
