Since the 1970s, federal legislation and public and private sector initiatives have attempted to increase the numbers of women employed in occupations considered nontraditional for females. In 1998, women accounted for 20-25% of employees in a handful of nontraditional occupations (NTOs) but less than 10% of employees in many other NTOs. Secondary vocational enrollments remain largely gender segregated, and although enrollment of women in postsecondary education has increased overall, the numbers of women remain small in many program areas. Reasons for this limited progress in increasing the numbers of women preparing for NTOs include the following: Perkins equity and single-parent/displaced homemaker grants have been small and few in number; equity remains a low priority and is not adequately addressed in teacher education; and appropriations for equity provisions in some legislation are minimal or nonexistent. The greatest increase of women in NTOs has been in professions; however, most women (73%) remain in nonprofessional occupations. Some barriers to increasing the number of women in NTOs remain impervious to the legislative and educational remedies attempted over the past 3 decades. To succeed, efforts to boost the numbers of women in NTOs must be institutionalized rather than simply viewed as add-ons, and corrective measures should address the wider sociocultural issues that constitute the greatest barriers. (Contains 21 references.) (MN)