Women are no longer being siloed into secretary and back-room jobs; for decades, they’ve been breaking into male-dominated jobs they were once locked out of. Trading pencil skirts for scrubs and pilot uniforms, many women are making waves by taking up space in high-paying industries.
Women have been steadily flocking to six-figure roles in traditionally male-dominated industries like healthcare and engineering, according to a new report from Resume Genius analyzing data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics.
The number one role with rising female representation is dentistry; in the early 2000s only around 25% of dentists were women, but today they represent nearly 40% of the field, one of the biggest increases over the past two decades. And with a median annual salary of $179,210, women are also stepping into cushy tax brackets.
Surgeon roles, which pay 239,200 annually, have also become a bright spot for women in the rapidly growing healthcare industry, with their representation more than doubling in the past two decades.
And the report notes that the profession’s shift to women actually stems from college; in 2019, women became the majority of U.S. medical school students for the first time ever.
Women are stepping into six-figure STEM roles—and slowly taking over the C-suite
Aside from high-paying healthcare jobs, women are also funnelling into lucrative STEM careers.
Women have steadily been increasing their headcounts in software developer jobs, which boasts an median annual salary of $131,450, as well as in mechanical engineer ($102,320) and industrial engineer ($101,140) roles. Their rise is a result of greater outreach to get women into these technical fields through scholarships, mentorships, and broader recruitment efforts.
Other jobs like informational security analysts (124,910), architects ($96,690), and airline pilots ($198,100) have seen women gain ground over the last two decades.
Women are also breaking into the C-suite; chief executives, who earn a median salary of $206,680, made the list of rising women’s representation. It comes as the number of women leading Fortune 500 companies hit a record of 55 in 2025; while they only account for 11% of executives on the list, this trend among others signals women’s growing presence in affluent jobs.
“While no country has reached full gender parity across all industries, more women are entering a wider range of fields than ever before,” the report noted.
Women are flocking to high-paying AI and recession-proof healthcare careers
Women have been dominating a fast-growing industry that can hold up against AI and recessionary headwinds: healthcare. They make up nearly 78% of all workers in the field, according to 2021 Bureau of Labor Statistics data, but men still outnumber women in high-paying doctor roles.
Even women who didn’t attend college are still taking advantage of the healthcare boom. Nursing, pediatric, and home health aids were among the hottest jobs for women without degrees, according to a 2025 report from Pew Research Center. Many roles in the profession don’t require a bachelor’s and can pay anywhere from $66,000 to $119,000 annually. These are all skills-based occupations, with no degree required—just a lot of patience, empathy, and mental fortitude.
And unlike other industries rocked by AI automation and sweeping layoffs, home health, doctor, and nursing job postings have hit a combined 162% growth since pre-pandemic, according to a 2025 report from Indeed. And it’s not expected to slow down anytime soon—the sector is resistant to AI jobs disruption and traditional economic downturns.
“Healthcare is a classic recession-resistant industry because medical care is always in demand,” Priya Rathod, career expert at Indeed, told Fortune in 2025. “During the 2007–2009 Great Recession, healthcare employment continued to grow even as overall U.S. payrolls shrank.”
10 roles with rising female representation—and they come with big paychecks
Men may still dominate these high-paying professions, but women have been taking up space over time. Here are 10 roles in many traditionally male-dominated fields where women’s participation has steadily increased, according to Resume Genius.
- Dentist ($179,210)
- Surgeon ($239,200)
- Software developer ($131,450)
- Information security analyst ($124,910)
- Architect ($96,690)
- Airline pilot ($198,100)
- Industrial engineer ($101,140)
- Chief executive ($206,680)
- Police and detective ($77,270)
- Mechanical engineer ($102,320)
Written by Emma Burleigh for Fortune as “Women are gaining ground in traditionally male-dominated jobs like surgeons, airline pilots, and software developers—and earning well over $100,000” and republished with permission.
