Why Life Sciences Is The Fastest Growing Sector For Women Beyond The Tech Industry

Interested in a career change or learning about a new industry? The life sciences industry ranges across a diverse range of disciplines with many career paths that focus on expanding our understanding of health, disease, and the natural world.

Learn more about what the life sciences what it entails, career opportunities in this sector, and how it compares to the tech industry for women.

Cancer diagnostic tools company Leica Biosystems defines the term ‘life sciences’ as the study of living organisms that can incorporate diverse fields, including biology, cell biology, genetics, neuroscience, and environmental science.

The Massachusetts College of Pharmaceutical and Health Sciences, a health sciences-focused university,  mentions a variety of careers in settings ranging from hospitals and other healthcare settings, public health departments, pharmaceutical companies, and biotechnology (biotech) companies. The latter two have especially promising career and growth opportunities.

A 2025 report from Intuition Labs shows that pharmaceutical and biotech companies have shown notable growth in employment. Biotech currently outpaces the rest of the private sector in the United States. This same report also states that biotech wages are high and outpace regional averages by up to 50-100%. Learn more about what that means for women developing careers in these kinds of companies, as well as the types of roles available.

For women looking to develop careers in life sciences research, there is good news. According to the Association of Women in Sciences, women make up 41-42% of scientific researchers. Research positions can include roles in both laboratory research and clinical research. While the former focuses on scientific experiments such as developing drugs before testing on humans, the latter focuses on testing drugs on human subjects. Some laboratory research titles can include clinical laboratory technologist, biomedical researcher, and biological technician. Those who are interested in the clinical trials side can pursue titles such as clinical trial manager and regulatory affairs associate.

However, having a life sciences degree is not required to build a career in the industry. For example, pharmaceutical sales representatives inform physicians about medications and develop relationships with them, and many of them happen to be women. 67% of the pharmaceutical sales workforce is female (in contrast with the 28% of technology sales representatives)

Women can expect to find more female peers in the life sciences than they would in the technology sector.

A 2023 article by Poonam Sharma-Voorhoeve, a senior operations manager at pharmaceutical/medical device/biotechnology giant Johnson & Johnson, states that more than half of the life sciences workforce (48 %) is made up of women. In contrast, the technology workforce is only 28% women. An October 2025 article from pharmaceutical industry publication Fierce Pharma shows this number increases to 56% in life sciences, while the Women in Tech Network reports that the female workforce in tech remains at 27-28% in their 2026 outlook report.

Fortune 500 reports that the number of female CEOs is low in both tech and life sciences. However, there has been an influx of female CEOs at major pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies, including incoming Takeda CEO Julie Kim, Dr. Reshma Kewalrani at Vertex Pharmaceuticals, and Yvonne Greenstreet at Anylam Pharmaceuticals, to name a few.

Despite these statistics about the C-Suite, women in life sciences companies still have an opportunity to move up the corporate ladder. Fierce Pharma, shared in their 2025 annual report that women outnumber men on most rungs of the career ladder at pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies.

Interested in pursuing a career in life sciences and want to connect with women who are currently in the field? There are several resources for women interested in networking, including the Life Science Women’s Network and Women in Bio network.