Women take the lead in high-status jobs

More UK women than men now work in high-status professions, research by the University of Cambridge has shown, according to the BBC.

The research, which covered employment and pay in 10 European countries, found that women in the UK were just beginning to pull ahead of men in areas such as law and medicine.

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But it also found that men were still paid far more than women. Report author Robert Blackburn said that jobs defined as higher status, such as nursing and teaching, did not necessarily pay better than dangerous manual work, typically carried out by men.

Blackburn said: “Initially women tended to be employed in low-level non-manual occupations, especially clerical work. More recently, they have contributed to the expansion of professional employment.”