Educated workers have been almost evenly divided by genderfor many years, with the gap fluctuating in and out of women'sfavor depending on economic conditions.

For more than three decades, a majority of college students inthe U.S. have been women. However, it was not until this year thatwomen made up the majority of thecollege-educated workforce.

The most recent data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics showsthat in July there were 29.234 million women workers over the ageof 25 with bachelor's degrees, just slightly greater than the maletotal: 29.069 million.

Related: Women are working more, at home and on thejob

Educated workers have been almost evenly divided by gender formany years, with the gap fluctuating in and out of women's favordepending on economic conditions. Women already made up 45 percentof the college-educated labor force in 2000 and they made upbetween 48-49 percent for much of the past decade.

The question is, will the percentage of female workers continueto climb, perhaps one day resembling the gender balance on collegecampuses, where women make up about 57 percent of students?

In all likelihood, the female share of the workforce willcontinue to rise gradually, simply because there is still asubstantial percentage of women who drop out of the workforce ––permanently or temporarily –– to care for children. An analysis ofU.S. Census data by Pew last year found that 28 percent of mothersdid not work, compared to only 7 percent of fathers. The percentageof women who stay at home is essentially the same as it was 30years ago.

Perhaps more important than women's representation in theoverall workforce is their increased presence in management and executive positions, where theyremain dramatically underrepresented. From 2015-18, the percentageof women in the C-Suite jumped from 17 percent to 23 percent, whilewomen's share of managerial positions rose from 37 percent to 39percent.

As women's role in the workplace increases, employers arerestructuring their benefits packages with female recruitment andretention in mind. Mercer reports that the percentage of privateemployers offering paid parental leave rose from 24 percent in 2015to 40 percent in 2018. Similarly, the percentage of very largeemployers (over 20,000 workers) offering egg freezing grew from 6percent to 17 percent.

Read more: 

• Financial wellness: Why women have a more difficultpath to get there
• Women's earnings peak 11 years sooner thanmen's
• Millennial women returning to labor market indroves