The Nation: Women March on Houston

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Over the past quarter century, the number of American women employed in paying jobs has doubled, to nearly 39 million last year. The Bureau of Labor Statistics estimates that an additional 12 million women will be added to the labor force by 1990 v. 10 million men. Already, more than half of all women aged 20 to 64 either hold jobs or are seeking them, and their rush into the labor force has aggravated the nation's unemployment. More than 5 million women are now employed in blue-collar jobs, amounting to 18% of the total in that category.

The proportion of women in major professions has risen dramatically. In 1970 only 4.7% of the country's lawyers and judges were female; by last year that figure had virtually doubled. During the same period, the proportion of women physicians rose from 8.9% to 12.8%, while the percentage of female bank officials and financial managers rose from 17.6% to 24.7%.

The future looks equally inviting. In the nation's graduate business schools, one student in five is a woman. In law and medicine, the proportion is even higher: one in four.

Women are also beginning to make an appearance—finally—in the higher reaches of business. Some 400 sit on corporate boards of directors v. 20 just five years ago. Women are increasingly joining the ranks of management, at least at the lower levels. A revealing case is that of the Georgia Pacific Corp., a Portland, Ore., wood products giant. Four years ago, women employed in its management were very rare; now half of its credit managers are female, along with 15% of its sales force. Says La Mar Newkirk, a Georgia Pacific spokesman: "Five or six years ago, where would you find a woman who could talk to customers about grades and specifications of lumber and plywood?"

In politics, while women have never been well represented, they are making some headway at the state and local levels. The number of female state legislators has virtually doubled since 1971, to 685. There are 90 women mayors of American cities that have populations of more than 10,000. Nearly half—six of 13 members—of the Minneapolis city council is now female. In tiny Flemington, Ga., every municipal office is held by a woman. Says Betty Friedan: "Women have gained enormously over the last 15 years. We have broken through the barriers, and it is more than just tokenism."

But there is ample bad news, too. Working women are still disproportionately herded into so-called pink-collar jobs—teaching, clerical and retail sales work. The median salary for American women last year was only 60% that of American men. Indeed, 94.7% of those earning $15,000 or more in the U.S. are male. Women still do not get equal pay for equal work: Female high school teachers earn only 81% as much as their male peers, and female scientists receive 76% as much. Of the 301 people appointed to major jobs by President Carter, only 13% are women. There are only 17 women in Congress, and no woman has ever sat on the U.S. Supreme Court.