The 15 Most Sexist Jobs In America

Among the hundreds of full-time jobs tracked by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, women earn more than men in only two. On average, women working full time make only about 81% of the median earnings of their male counterparts.

To find out which jobs feature the biggest gender wage gaps, we compared the median weekly earnings of men and women working full time in 2012 in the same job titles, as reported by the BLS. We then ranked the jobs with the largest pay discrepancies in percentage terms.  

As a broad category, sales appears to be one of the worst areas for women. In sales and related occupations, women make on average 62.2% of what men earn in those same positions, according to data from the BLS. Legal, management, production, and business and financial operations occupations also tend to pay women far less than men.

While the report doesn't speculate on why men significantly out-earn women in particular fields, firm size, geographic location, and industry may all factor into the discrepancies. Women may be more likely to pursue career paths at smaller companies and nonprofits, and may also be less successful at salary negotiations. Discrimination, either by employers or clients, may also contribute, particularly in legal, business, and management careers without clearly defined salary ranges.

To be sure, the wage gap as a whole has improved significantly over the past three decades. In 1979, women earned 62% as much as men in the same job titles. That figure has jumped 20 percentage points to women's current earnings of 81 cents on the dollar. 

Most of that progress, however, came between the 1980s and the early 2000s. Improvements in the gender wage gap largely stalled after the onset of the Great Recession, and women's salaries have hovered around 80% of men's for roughly the past decade.

Here are the 15 jobs with the largest gender wage gaps, based on the latest data from the BLS:

1. Insurance sales agents
Women's median weekly earnings: $641
Women's pay as a percentage of men's: 62.5%

2. Retail salespersons
Women's median weekly earnings: $436
Women's pay as a percentage of men's: 64.3%

3. Sales and related workers (all other)
Women's median weekly earnings: $653
Women's pay as a percentage of men's: 65.6%

4. Real estate brokers and sales agents
Women's median weekly earnings: $680
Women's pay as a percentage of men's: 66%

5. Personal financial advisors
Women's median weekly earnings: $1,016
Women's pay as a percentage of men's: 66.3%

6. Marketing and sales managers
Women's median weekly earnings: $1,110
Women's pay as a percentage of men's: 67%

7. Education administrators
Women's median weekly earnings: $1,052
Women's pay as a percentage of men's: 67.2% 

8 (tie). General and operations managers
Women's median weekly earnings: $971
Women's pay as a percentage of men's: 67.6%

8 (tie). Physicians and surgeons
Women's median weekly earnings: $1,418
Women's pay as a percentage of men's: 67.6%

10. Securities, commodities, and financial services sales agents
Women's median weekly earnings: $862
Women's pay as a percentage of men's: 69.1%

11. Inspectors, testers, sorters, samplers, and weighers
Women's median weekly earnings: $570
Women's pay as a percentage of men's: 69.2%

12. Claims adjusters, appraisers, examiners, and investigators
Women's median weekly earnings: $803
Women's pay as a percentage of men's: 69.3%

13. Financial managers
Women's median weekly earnings: $988
Women's pay as a percentage of men's: 70.3% 

14. First-line supervisors of production and operating workers
Women's median weekly earnings: $674
Women's pay as a percentage of men's: 70.6%

15. Sales representatives (wholesale and manufacturing) 
Women's median weekly earnings: $822
Women's pay as a percentage of men's: 70.8%

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By Alison Griswold