While the nation continues to reel at the loss of jobs around the country, there does seem to be one tiny bright spot emerging as a result of the current economic conditions – women are making gains within the workforce.

According to statistics from the Bureau of Labor Statistics, jobs continue to be on the downslide. Yet, the majority of the jobs being lost are within industries that are typically dominated by men. Those industries where women tend to flock, including education and healthcare, continue to remain relatively strong when compared to other industries. As a result, the gap between the number of men and women holding jobs continues to narrow.

Women already started to see some gains in 1990, at which time approximately 47% of the workforce was female and 53% was male. According to more recent data, however, women account for about 49% of the workforce and many experts think this percentage will cross over the 50% mark soon.
This is not to say that women haven’t experienced a drop in their workforce numbers as well. In fact, in November 2008, they saw the greatest drop in their workforce percentage in one month than they have ever seen in an entire year since 1964. Still, their overall percentage drop is less than the drop men have experienced.

It may come as a surprise to learn that this trend isn’t exactly new. In fact, women experienced a lower drop than men in all three of the most recent recessions. Nonetheless, the possibility of women actually passing the 50% mark during this recession is one that will be truly of a historical nature if it happens.