Careers in science, engineering, and healthcare dominate Forbes' annual ranking of the best-paying jobs for women this year.
To determine which professions are paying women the most, Forbes analyzed data from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) tracking the median weekly earnings of full-time wage and salary workers in 2014, broken down by gender and occupation, and excluding occupations that employed less than 2,000 women last year.
Each of these jobs pays median weekly wages of $1,520 or greater, resulting in median yearly earnings just shy of $80,000.
According to a report released in October by the White House Council of Economic Advisors, women's earnings account for upwards of 40% of married parents' income, up from a third four decades ago, and women are the primary breadwinner in almost one third of dual-income couples.
But the news is far from completely positive. The participation rate of women in the workforce, which rose steadily throughout the 1970s and 80s stagnated in the 1990s, and women can still expect to earn just $0.78 for every dollar a male counterpart brings home.
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Women of color face an even larger earning gap.
"While the wage gap reflects a variety of causes," states the report, "there are gaps across the income distribution, within occupations, and are seen even when men and women are working side-by-side performing similar tasks. Additionally, women are still more likely to work in low-wage occupations and are more likely than men to earn the minimum wage."
Topping the list of the best paying jobs for women this year is sales engineer. According to the BLS, these professionals "sell complex scientific and technological products or services to businesses." For doing so, women in this field can expect to bring home median weekly wages of $2,586, or approximately $134,472 per year.
In pictures: The 20 Best-Paying Jobs For Women In 2015.
Up next is a group categorized by the BLS as "miscellaneous mathematical science occupations" followed by astronomer and physicist. Women in these roles bring in median weekly wages of at least $2,284.
Professionals associated with anesthesiology tend to show up towards the top tiers of compensation rankings, and nurses are no exception. Those with the title "nurse anesthetist" take home median weekly earnings of $2,201, which, annualized, amounts to about $114,452. Petroleum engineers, who "design and develop methods for extracting oil and gas from deposits below the earth’s surface," round out the top five, with median weekly earnings of $2,019, 106% of their male counterparts' earnings.
Though STEM professions--those associated with science, technology, engineering, and math--dominate this list, a few usual suspects hold their own as well. Lawyer is the 14th best paying job for women, offering approximate annual earnings of just over $80,000 in a field of which women still make up just over a third.
Chief executive comes next, with similar annual earnings. In 2014 women held just over a quarter of the country's chief executive positions.
A few more unusual professions make their way into the top 20. Female upholsterers earn more than $1,800 each week, while those that assist in construction work earn nearly as much.
To view the full list of the Top 20 Best-Paying Jobs For Women In 2015, click here.
