By 1975, the Kentucky and United States female labor force participation rates were both 41 percent. Although pre-World War II data are lacking for the Commonwealth, it was not until 1950 that the labor force participation rate for Kentucky women reached 20.4 percent, a figure achieved nationally as early as 1920. The distribution of women to men varies enormously among the more than 420 separate occupations recognized by the United States Census. Technological change, a type of culture change that is very rapid, has characterized the American occupational scene in the second half of this century. In the 1940s and 1950s, automated data processing required larger staffs of analysts, programmers and clerical helpers. Many of the last group were--and are--women workers. Also, the 1970s Affirmative Action programs may be acting as catalysts to increase the numbers of women entering certain occupations. In regard to the seven selected broad occupational groups, there are structural patterns emergent in female-intensivity. While elementary school teaching and librarianship no longer afford promising careers with many job openings for the foreseeable future, the broad group of service workers, particularly in the health services, is becoming increasingly composed of women. Clerical workers constitute the fastest-growing of the broad occupational groups, with ever-higher percentages of women entering the office work force. (JH)