Section head
Women and Work - The Facts - Where Women Work
Female employment is concentrated within the services sector and within administrative and service occupations.
Six out of 10 workers in the UK's private sector are male, while women dominate in the public sector (65%) research has found.
The Economic & Labour Market Review, published by Office for National Statistics in 2007, found that the number of female workers in the public sector has only increased 2% from 63% in 1997, while in the private sector, the proportions of men and women has remained stable over the past decade. According to the latest statistics, 31% of male private sector workers clocked up 45-hour weeks, against 22% of their counterparts in the public sector. For women, only 10% in the public sector and 9% of private sector women worked 45-hour weeks
Sectors with the highest proportion of jobs held by women (26)
Education health and public admin. | 70% |
Distribution hotels and catering | 51% |
Other services | 50% |
Sectors with the lowest proportion of jobs held by women (27)
Energy and water | 24% |
Transport and communications | 24% |
Construction | 10% |
Occupations with the highest proportion of jobs held by women (28)
Personal services* | 83% |
Admin and secretarial | 78% |
Sales and customer services | 69% |
Occupations with the lowest proportion of jobs held by women (29)
Managers & senior officials | 35% |
Process plant & machine operatives | 14% |
Skilled trades | 8% |
