tracey wilen-daugenti, bi, dng Daniel Goodman / Business
There is a major shift occuring in the workforce and women are at the center of it.

Between 1984 and 2009, the number of working women has increased from 44 million to 72 million, Tracey Wilen-Daugenti, vice-president and managing director of Apollo Research Institute, says in her book Society 3.0: How Technology Is Reshaping Education, Work and Society


With this rapid change, women's skill sets are more prevalent in the workforce now than in the past, especially as women hold more management positions.

Based on the company's study — not scheduled to be released until the end of 2012 — women are bringing these skills into the workplace:

1. They're more intuitive to bringing in all points of view. This allows for more collaboration and win-win situations. In today's complex working environment, this way of doing business is essential.

"Women are more inclined to investigate both sides to see if both parties can actually have a desirable outcome," Wilen-Daugenti told us. "They're more willing to ask, 'What do you want out of this?' "

2. They have different values than men do. They're much more empathetic to the diverse workforce needs. If an employee is conflicted between work and other aspects of her life, a woman in a senior position would more likely notice the needs of her employee:

"Women say they are much more in tune with the diverse workforce where they feel like men are not as supportive or empathetic," Wilen-Daugenti says.

3. Women are stronger with networking, sponsoring and supporting each other. Wilen-Daugenti says that the women she surveys report that they help each other out more often than men do.

However, one of the biggest mistakes women make in the workforce is their lack of confidence, she says. They underestimate their potential and, therefore, don't achieve as much as they could.

The shift in women in the workforce could have something to do with the fact that American women have received more college diplomas than men since 1992. In fact, for every two men in college, there are three women, and females are also more likely to pursue an advance degree, Wilen-Daugenti says.

"If you look at the unemployment numbers, education continues to be the key differentiator in people who are getting jobs and people who are not. "If you run the numbers, it's inevitable that there will be more women than men in the future workplace. Men, unfortunately, are not going to school."

"Women are postponing marriage for five years and having fewer children. In my organization, I really need people with master's degrees and PhDs and the volume of resumes that come to me are mostly women because they can meet these new credentials."
