Every year, more and more women shatter the glass ceiling and achieve success in high level careers. With years of hard work, diligent time management coupled with wise career decisions, they obtain financial success and satisfaction. What are some of the top paying careers for women?
PHARMACIST
After a gruelling tenure at school, a pharmacist emerges with a Doctor of Pharmacology degree in hand. She passes a pair of licensure exams and begins work at clinic, hospital, drug store, or grocery store. There, she ‘manages and dispenses medications to patients… Pharmacists also offer advice on medication usage,” as jobsearch.about.com describes the job. At a glance, it may not seem like the highest paying career for women, but a slip up by a pharmacist can wreak havoc on a patient’s body. That is why they spend so much time in school—and why they are worth every cent of their salaries, the median of which is nearly $100,000.
LAWYER
First step, earn a bachelor’s degree. Second step is to go to law school for three years. Third step, pass the bar exam and embark on one of the best paying careers for women. The median salary for female lawyers is about $85,000. That figure, according to Forbes, is 80 percent of what men in the same profession make. A career in law is challenging for anyone, but especially so for women. An article atthegrindstone.com brought out that almost half of new associates are women, but “At the equity partnership level, only 15% of the lawyers are women.” That difference could account for the gap in salary between men and women in the profession. For women who are willing to fight to make it to the top, the potential for earnings goes far beyond $85,000.
NURSE PRACTITIONER
The healthcare field is plumb full of career options—some of which pay extraordinarily well. The median salary for nurse practitioners is close to $80,000 a year. Nurse practitioners go a step beyond what registered nurses do and are often responsible for much of a patient’s primary care. Because nurse practitioners carry such a high level of responsibility, they must complete a master’s degree. The toil that it takes to earn a career in this field is worth it. It is a job that offers immense personal satisfaction and good prospects of finding employment. Adult-geriatric nurse practitioners are in an especially good position for finding work because of an aging population and advances in medicine that allow people to live longer.
IT MANAGER
Information technology managers make roughly the same amount as nurse practitioners, but that is about the only thing the jobs have in common. Nurse practitioners take care of people, and IT managers take care of computers. A bachelor’s degree is a minimum requirement for IT managers, but many choose to pursue more specialized education. If you get a job as an IT project manager in the right place, you have even greater earning potential. According to recruiter.com, IT project managers in Wisconsin can make an average of about $123,000.
Women who choose to pursue high paying careers can achieve great success if they dedicate themselves to obtaining a quality education and finding that bank-making job. So long, glass ceiling!
