That's pretty amazing, considering that only 30 or 40 years ago most women stayed home and didn't work at all!! Read this Boston.com article -

http://bostonworks.boston.com/globe/manage_feature/

Another fascinating point it makes is:

"Another trend is that women increasingly are better educated - they're earning 57 percent of all bachelor's degrees and 59 percent of all master's."

So where only 100 years ago women weren't even ALLOWED to go to college because their brains weren't "smart enough to hold that knowledge", now the majority of college graduates are female. And since the better jobs go to the better educated ...

Speaking of women and education, it's practically in our own lifetime that this was going on. Maria Curie was a great woman who discovered radium in France in 1898 and won two Nobel awards. But this amazing woman was born in Poland in 1867 and even though her family treasured education and knew she was smart, she was NOT allowed to go to college there - it was forbidden to women!!

http://www.ceemast.csupomona.edu/nova/curie.html

"At fifteen, Maria herself obtained a higher education (forbidden to girls in Poland) from a clandestine, revolving academy for women taught in private homes. Both Maria and her sister Bronia had an unquenchable thirst for knowledge. Unfortunately, the family was not in a position to financially support the girls� education. Maria and Bronia came up with a plan: they would save enough money together to support Bronia while she went to medical school in France. Once established, Bronia would then provide a place for Maria. Toward that end, Maria swallowed her pride and took a position as governess in the countryside. There, she educated herself in physics and chemistry late at night. "

Even in Paris there was not a great environment for female students (although at least they COULD be students!!)

"She was a brilliant student, well respected by her colleagues and professors in a society replete with male chauvinism. In fact, the word for female student, etudiante, was a euphemism for the prostitutes who "served" the male students and professors at the Sorbonne. "