Editor's note: Anne York is an associate professor of economics
at Meredith College. (CNN) -- Women have made impressive gains
in male-dominated professions since the 1970s. Yet the most
common job for a woman today is the same as it was in the 1950s:
a secretary. In 2011, 96% of all secretaries and administrative
assistants were women. In contrast, more than a century ago when
few women were in the workplace, an estimated 85% of clerical
workers were men. For a variety of reasons, clerical work came
to be dominated by women. Once an occupation becomes
"feminized," trends show that men prefer not to enter it.
Perhaps because we have historically fought so hard to join the
workforce alongside men, women of my generation received
encouragements to enter fields that drew their interests,
regardless of the gender composition. For me, the choice was
economics. Today, I am among the 33% of U.S. economists who are
women. The Bureau of Labor Statistics reports progress made by
women in a range of professions between