I was reading an article somewhere recently about female millionaires. The women who earned their own money were in men-related feilds. Car sales or building industry. A bunch other earned their millions the old fashion way, they inheirited/married into it.
And it makes sense. The women’s oriented feilds pay shit and hardly support themselves, let alone family. Ask any day care or preschool teacher. Women that are successful (or at least keep their heads above water) have to break the mold and go against the grain.
The drudge or tedious jobs of secretary, office assistant or medical personnel, seem to be the top mid range jobs for women without an education.
I’ve met a few single moms at my son’s school who are in the dreaded lather-rinse-repeat jobs of hair dresser/waitress where they never seem to ever get ahead. (I am not knocking single moms, hair dressers or waitresses. I love my hair stylist possibly more than my husband.)
This isn’t just for myself, but out of pure curiosity
What jobs out there can you build yourself and your career on? Tech training, journeyman or whatever.
Well, you said not hairdresser…but…its a typically female profession - and if you open your own studio (or several) you can end up doing quite well at it.
Women (with a very broad brush stroke) do well in marketing, sales and finance.
In some cases you can break into sales without an advanced degree. You’ll have to work hard and do some crap work for a few years, but if you can sell (and not everyone can) it can pay very well.
Hm, I was an inside/outside mechanic and ran several machine shops in a company I worked for [a seriously large though obscure chemical repackaging concern] which eventually led me to working for Henze-Movats repairing nuclear power plants. Back in 88/89 this was seriously decent money - $23US/hour and $65US per diem [the per diem was tax free] and my average contract was 3 months, and I could work about 3 contracts a year. One time I was burned out after 3 weeks and I spent the rest of the contract pushing papers [IE taken the maximum dosage of radiation allowed in a quarter of a year] but that was extremely rare. The major downside of the job was 13 12 hour days followed by 1 day off, due to the need for speed in getting plants back up and providing electricity for the masses…so you really did need the month off between contracts…and you always were traveling from job to job.
Machinist, machinery repair and nuck tech are not jobs typical for women. At the time IIRC I was one of 7 females working in that capacity in the US.
I am good friends with a woman who is the manager of a high-rise condominium building. Most of her peers are women. It seems to me, based on my tangential interaction with the world of Residential Management, that this is a field where women can and do make highly successful careers (with a possible 6-figure salary).
I have a girlfriend who started her own business as a paper-hanger.
I have a girlfriend who’s a bartender.
I have a girlfriend who manages the party portion of a major hotel chain.
I used to know a very successful hooker. The last time I saw her, she had sullied her frock by falling into a fountain. She’s a bit long in the tooth, and possibly in a new line of work.
One of my friends owns a wedding gown business. She’s not wildly successful, but she definitely makes enough to live on and save money.
Another friend is an independent florist for the wedding industry. Although the first five years were tough, she has become quite successful.
Yet another friend used to be a mechanical engineer, but it bored her to tears and she hated the politics. So she opened a wedding cake shop. She’s been extremely successful as well.
Also my dentist is extremely successful - she and her husband opened a dentistry practice about 10 years ago. She said that they really struggled to establish themselves in the beginning, but they have been very successful, too.
Other than being in the wedding industry, there’s something else that all these women have in common: all are entrepreneurs (sp?).
I am an engineer in the oil & gas exploration industry - not many women at all although things are improving now. I work for a service company in a technical capacity and work on an international contract. Worked offshore, onshore, knocking 2" iron together in 40 below temperatures and sweated my arse off in the desert as well. Not a typical “female” job. But I am good a what I do get a lot of respect from the men I work with and earn a lot of money with a lot of perks along the way.
I also have a friend who has a small interior design business at home that is now making money.
You have to be prepared to be different and have that entrepreneurial spirt I guess.
Every morning on my way to my low-paid, non-profit job, I drive past a big sign at the community college which says, “Consider a career in welding, refrigeration, or plumbing.” I’ve often thought that I could get training in one of these fields and set myself up as the non-threatening, pleasant, actually-returns-calls-and-shows-up-on-time (female) exception to the general (male) rule, and make a mint that way.
I’m a freelance sound engineer (primarily) I also do video editing, DVD authoring, motion graphics and studio maintenence (I have the most comprehensive soldering kit EVER!!)
I’ve been doing my job for well over ten years now and not only do I LOVE it to bits, I also get a quiet kick out of the fact that everyone I have ever worked with hasn’t batted an eyelid at me being one of a very few females in my industry!
I love my (ever-changing) job, I love the people I work with, I earn good money freelancing , I have my freedom!
My hairdresser is a very good friend of mine and she told me she made less money owning her own shop than just working in one once you factored in taxes/insurance/costs/overtime.
YMMV
Recently I’ve been making cakes again and I’m shocked at what people are willing to spend for fresh baking!
I’ve always wondered why real estate (home sales) is dominated by women agents. Which I notice always seem to be driving late model SUV luxury cars to show you the houses.
