The good news: Having women in high-level management positions narrows the wage gap between male and female workers.

The bad news: Young women are turning away from male-dominated positions in science, technology - and the corner office.

A study by researchers at the University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill and the University of California-Irvine shows that women received higher salaries if a larger proportion of the managers in their industry locally were women. Meanwhile, a study by RTI International showed that 114 of 137 young women who had aspired to male-dominated jobs as high-school seniors had changed their goals seven years later.

Most of the glass-ceiling research has been about whether women get to be in management positions, said Philip Cohen, who, with UC-Irvine sociologist Matt Huffman, conducted the UNC study. But what types of managers they become, and whether they pull other women up with them, is valuable information, he said.

The research by RTI, a think tank in the Raleigh, N.C., area, suggests that the women don't necessarily lose interest in management or high-tech fields, but that they shift toward careers that allow more flexibility for their families.

What male-dominated fields are we talking about, and why does it matter?

Think doctors, lawyers, CEOs, engineers and scientists. Those fields tend to pay more than the typically female-dominated fields, said Pam Frome, the RTI study's principal investigator.

Cohen also found a gender difference among managers. Women tend to be concentrated in low-status industries such as food service and in positions such as purchasing manager, he said. His research showed that low-status managers don't have the same influence on other women's wages as their more powerful colleagues.

How can women be encouraged to pursue male-dominated professions?

It takes more than science and math enrichment classes aimed at girls, Frome said. She'd like to see programs that expose girls to real-life role models: women who combine family lives with careers in male-dominated fields.

Likewise, she suggests classes for boys that talk about equal responsibility for caring for children and the home. Finally, employers need to enact and enforce policies regarding flex time, family leave, day care and other family-friendly approaches, she said.

Anne Krishnan writes for the Raleigh News and Observer