Canada has turned from one of the major industrialized countries with the lowest proportion of working women to one with a record high female employment rate of 71 percent, Statistics Canada reported Wednesday. 

According to a study by the agency, most of the women tend to take nursing, teaching, clerical and other pink-collar jobs, while many are stressed to the hilt by family and job duties. 

Only Sweden had more women in the labor force at 76 percent. Canada was tied with the United States for a second place in 2001, ahead of Australia, the United Kingdom and France.

The report, titled the Feminization of Work, shows how the presence of women in the labor force soared to 71 percent in 2001 from just 44 percent 30 years earlier.

The report was culled from several labor force surveys which were compared with numbers from the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, and the International Labor Organization. 

While most women still hold traditionally female jobs, some gains were noted. For example, the proportion of female doctors and dentists increased to 54 percent in 2002 from 44 percent in 1987.

Women filled 35 percent of management jobs in 2001 in Canada, compared with 17 percent in 1972. But the highest paying private-sector executive jobs still elude most women, according to the study. 

(Xinhua News Agency March 11, 2004)