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If it seems like women have a toehold in traditionally male-dominated careers today, that’s nothing compared to how things will look in 10 years. In 2006, 58% of the nation’s college graduates were female, and they’ve been heading into fields like law and medicine in numbers equal to their male counterparts.

Combine that shift with East Baton Rouge Parish’s solid job market and the forthcoming exodus of retiring Baby Boomers, and things look good for women choosing to set up shop in the Capital Region. Five fields stand out for their combination of good pay, flexibility, the presence of a growing number of female mentors and a commitment to recruit more women.

Medicine

“About half my classmates were women,” says internist Mary Raven, 29. “It’s not even necessary to make a distinction anymore.”

Raven is part of a new generation of female physicians who regard their acceptance into profession as more of a blip than a seismic shift. Raven, a Rayville native, didn’t grow up knowing many women doctors, but as someone drawn to science, math and healing people, it never occurred to her to do anything but go to medical school.

She was not alone. In 2007, 45% of students at the LSU Medical School in New Orleans were female, slightly less than the national average of 48.3% women in med schools, according to the Association of American Medical Colleges [AAMC]. That trend will continue since the AAMC calls for an overall enrollment expansion of 21% by 2012 to combat a forthcoming national physician shortage.

Female doctors have traditionally gravitated to specialties like obstetrics and family practice, but Raven says that’s not true today. “My classmates were going into all sorts of fields—urology, anesthesia and orthopedic medicine,” she says.

Raven chose primary care because she felt it would give her more time with her husband and two small children. She joined a group of “hospitalists,” a term used for physicians who work exclusively in a hospital setting.

According to the Society for Hospital Medicine, the field is the fastest growing in American medicine because of the flexibility it offers. Raven will join Our Lady of the Lake Regional Medical Center’s team of nearly 20 hospitalists, and will work shifts similar to emergency room physicians.

Architecture

“The number of female architects has been on a steady increase in the U.S. for the last few decades,” says David Cronrath, Dean of the LSU College of Art and Design. Nationwide, the numbers jumped from about 13% of women in the profession in 1999 to 20% in 2005, according to the American Institute of Architects [AIA].

Currently, 61% of students enrolled at the College of Art and Design are women, while in the professional architecture degree program, 42% are women. They’re finding a healthy job market because of increased design work along the hurricane-torn Gulf Coast.

“This change has been good for the profession as it struggles to reflect the diversity found in society at large,” he says.

Cronrath says the change is encouraging, but he wants to see more.

“When discussing diversity in the classroom, we really have two issues of concern: recruitment from underrepresented groups so the college and School of Architecture reflect the diversity of society and, two, to aid in the transition of our students into the profession.”

Mentoring is also on the radar of the AIA, whose national diversity initiative, the Diversity and Inclusiveness Discussion Group, aims to not only draw, but also keep, more women in the profession.

Marketing and public relations

Women have a knack for guarding a company’s image, says Sharon Kleinpeter, Vice President of Governmental and Public Affairs for Cox Communications South Louisiana.

“If we’re given the responsibility to protect our brand, we are fiercely loyal,” she says.

Women are well-established participants in public relations, but they haven’t always occupied the top ranks. That will change in the future, predicts the Public Relations Society of America. A 2005 member survey found that 69% of more than 20,000 members were female, up from 60% in 1997. The survey also noted that members who have been in the industry for up to five years were more likely to be women, 83% [versus 17% men], staff members who are well-positioned to break the glass ceiling.

Kleinpeter adds younger women bring new skill sets, including the ability to use social networking to a company’s advantage and to communicate effectively through blogs.

“We have to learn to use the new media to our own advantage as opposed to fearing it,” she says. “This generation is a good fit, because it’s all they know.”

Because public relations is a growth field, women have vast options within the profession, says Sandra C. Duhé, coordinator of the public relations program at the University of Louisiana, Lafayette.

“Women are really attracted to the flexibility,” she says, “They can go into corporate communications, nonprofit work or part-time consulting.”

Nursing

Cliché as it sounds, nursing will continue to attract candidates in the Capital Region for the same reasons it has historically: good pay and flexibility.

There are also more training programs today. Southern University, LSU, Baton Rouge Community College and Louisiana Technical College each feature nursing curricula, as does a new compressed program at Our Lady of the Lake College.

Average local pay in 2006 was more than $49,000, a factor that helped draw elementary school teacher Bethany Weidenbacher, who needed a higher-paying career when her husband’s Crohn’s Disease worsened. After several surgeries, Scott Weidenbacher returned to work as a YMCA director, but couldn’t get life insurance. The couple worried about their long-term stability if he needed to take extended time off.

“I loved teaching,” she says, “but I did it for financial security.” Our Lady of the Lake’s registered nurse program lasted nine months, a reasonable amount of time for Weidenbacher to break from the workforce.

Baton Rouge’s robust training pipeline will help fill an explosion of new nursing vacancies. Of the top 25 occupations expected to add the most jobs in Baton Rouge’s Metropolitan Statistical Area between 2004-2014, nursing is ranked third highest, according to the Louisiana Department of Labor.

Green jobs

Recycling pays, and green advocates and experts are predicting a flurry of new jobs that capitalize not just on public sentiment, but on the potential to make money.

“Going green is not going to be a fad, it’s going to be a way of life,” says Nancy Jo Craig, executive director of the Capital Area Corporate Recycling Council [CACRC].

Craig successfully raises $250,000 a year to support the nonprofit CACRC through the sale of scrap materials from e-waste—old computers, cell phones, video games and more. The market for copper wiring and other materials is hot, Craig says, because they’re inexpensive for electronics manufacturers to reuse.

Craig sees new green jobs and ventures in Baton Rouge in response to factors like climate change, high energy and food costs and a renewed commitment to reusing rather than indulgence.

“As energy costs rise, consumers will want to retrofit housing, use better insulation,” she says. “We’re going to see a lot of greening of homes.”

Craig also says would-be entrepreneurs should consider starting higher-end consignment shops, bicycle outlets and, as consumers consider alternatives to throwing away broken electronics, mom-and-pop outfits that will actually fix them. She employs a staff of 20, many of whom are charged with fixing old computers to give to low-income families.

“Every time you reuse something instead of buying something new,” she says, “you are a part of the green economy.”