Best Paying Careers for Women

A woman fulfills the role of a provider in addition to being a homemaker. Despite shouldering enormous responsibilities, a woman often feels underpaid and unappreciated as compared to her male colleagues. This is more likely in case of women who choose traditional jobs that do not require better skills or higher education. Often women neglect future earning potential by choosing jobs that have low barriers to entry. By doing so they usually end up with low pay, inflexible work hours and limited growth prospects.

Best Paying Careers for Women

Depending on the nature of the job and the kind of training required, careers for women can be classified into the following categories: Jobs requiring advanced degrees and jobs requiring high school diploma. Many jobs provide women the opportunity to earn the same salary as their male counterparts. Some of these jobs also allow flexible work hours. It has been observed that women tend to excel in jobs requiring a blend of interpersonal and technical skills. The following are a few high paying jobs for women.

Jobs Requiring Advanced Degrees

Education Administrators: Education administrators are required in schools and colleges. Women tend to make better education administrators. Hence they are paid as much as men, if not more. Administrators are expected to have an advanced degree in education.

Human Resource Managers: Women are communicative and expressive. They have better people skills and in general enjoy any kind of interaction. Human resource management is thus, a logical option for women. One would require a master's degree in industrial relations or a degree in human resource management in order to become a manager.

Financial Planners: Financial planning makes an excellent career option for women. Nowadays, many people prefer to consult financial planners and investment advisors who in turn help them chalk out their investment plans. Women are patient while explaining various investment options to a layman. Moreover, studies have shown that women financial planners earn more than men, since they are in short supply. This job requires a CFA or a CFP certification.

Pharmacists: This profession requires a Pharm.D., which is the equivalent of a bachelor's degree in pharmacy. Women pharmacists can earn more than $100,000 in a year. Although men still earn more than women, the salary differential is not much.

Psychologists / College Professors / Teachers: This job is tailor-made for women since they are observant, patient and have more empathy. These traits make them good psychologists or teachers. Psychologists can work in schools and organizations. A master's degree in psychology is necessary in most cases. A woman psychologist can also practice independently. Private practice would provide her with the flexibility and independence that she desires. This would however require a Ph.D. Having a doctorate in psychology or for that matter a doctorate in any subject would allow a woman to work as a professor. The earning potential of a psychologist and a college professor is quite high.

Jobs Requiring High School Diploma

Library Assistant: This job involves assisting a librarian. The job is of a clerical nature and requires some knowledge of computers. A natural desire to spend time with books will definitely help. Although, this job does not require an advanced degree, surveys have shown that a female library assistant earns 27% more than a man.

Real Estate Broker: This was a lucrative profession before the housing market crashed. This job requires between 30 and 90hrs of classroom instruction. One needs to pass an exam to become a certified broker. Choosing a home is generally a woman's prerogative. Moreover studies have shown that men are more likely to buy from women. Women brokers were earning up to 96% of a male broker's salary, before the housing bubble popped.

Human Resource Assistant: A woman's salary, in this case, is almost 109% of a man's salary and nearly 16% of the human resource assistants are employed by the government.

There are a number of avenues open to women. In fact education grants are available to women desirous of pursuing higher education. Women entrepreneurs are also given grants by many non-profit organizations. Ultimately a woman's earnings are direct function of the amount of time and energy that she is willing to invest in acquiring the necessary skills and education.