US women made less progress in management compared to their male counterparts

Women in the United States have made have made little progress in the field of management, even in the boom years before the financial crisis, according to a GAO report to be released on Tuesday by the government accountability office.

According to The New York Times, women accounted for about 40% of managers in the United States work force in 2007. In 2000, women held 39% of management positions while they held 49% of the jobs in both years.

The gap between what men and women earn has shrunk over the last few decades. Full-time women workers closed the gap to 80.2% for every dollar earned by men in 2009, up from just 62.3% in 1979.

While comparing men and women, the new report, commissioned by the Joint Economic Council of Congress found that on an average, female managers had less education, were younger and were more likely to be working part time than their male counterparts.

Out of 13 industries covered by report, women had a smaller share of management positions than they did of that industry’s overall work force in almost 11 companies. The sectors where women were more heavily represented in management than outside of it were construction, public administration and transportation and utilities.

Female full-time managers earned 81 cents for every dollar earned by male full-time managers in 2007, compared with 79 cents in 2000. Across the work force, the pay gap was also slightly wider for managers who had children.

In 2007, 63% of female managers were childless, compared with just 57% of male managers. Female managers were also less likely to be married than male managers, at rates of 59% versus 74%, the paper said.

The report was prepared at the request of Representative Carolyn B Maloney, Democrat of New York and the chairwoman of the Joint Economic Committee, for a hearing on Tuesday on the gender gap in management jobs.

“When working women have kids, they know it will change their lives, but they are stunned at how much it changes their paycheck. In this economy, it is adding insult to injury, especially as families are increasingly relying on the wages of working moms,” Maloney said.