Section Twocreate a work environment in which the creativity and
innovativeness of diversity will flourish.^104
Changing Occupational Distributions for Women
Females have constituted a growing portion of the workforce
for several decades. However, this growth has slowed
tremendously as women are predicted to constitute 48 percent
of the workforce by 2008, only one percentage point more than
in 1998. While the occupational distribution of women still
differs from that of men, they have made great strides in
several job categories. Women now account for 68.3 percent of
the workers in training, human resources, and labor relations
and for approximately 50 percent of accountants, although they
are still underrepresented at the level of partner. Women have
advanced most rapidly in cutting-edge industries because the
need for pure intellectual horsepower overcomes inclinations
for exclusion on the basis of gender. For example, they have
fared well as information workers and as computer scientists.
In the past 10 years, they also have made impressive inroads
as engineers, sales engineers, and as support staff for
technical sales.^105
In order to attract talented women, many employers have
work arrangements that better accommodate childbirth and, for
women as well as men, the care of young children. Such