Non-Traditional Careers

What is a Non-Traditional Career?

Non-Traditional Careers refers to jobs that have been traditionally filled by one gender. Nontraditional occupations are occupations for which Individuals from one gender comprise less than 25% of the individuals employed. Examples are males in Cosmetology and Early Childhood Childcare and females in Precision Machining and Agriculture. Promoting nontraditional career opportunities opens doors for every individual. It breaks the mold of expectations and allows all learners to explore a wide range of career opportunities in an atmosphere free from stereotypes of gender and jobs. Women are more often the focus of nontraditional programs because the opportunity to earn higher wages exists in occupations that are commonly nontraditional for women. Although occupations that are commonly nontraditional for men often do not yield higher wages, they may provide increased job satisfaction and may yield a higher wage for them than their female counterparts working in the same career.