AUGUSTA – If you are looking for a woman roofer, petroleum engineer or mason in Maine, don’t bother. There are no women in those occupational categories, according to census figures, and the same is true in 27 other occupations.

“It takes about a 30 percent level of penetration into a profession or occupation to get a critical mass that opens up a field to women,” Sharon Barker, director of the Woman’s Resource Center at the University of Maine, said last week. “We have made progress in Maine, but we have a very long way to go.”

The census data reveal a total of 225 job categories where women make up less than 30 percent of the workers. By contrast, men make up less than 30 percent of the workers in only 88 job categories.

Only in three occupations are there no men, according the census data, which asks occupation based on full-time work. There are 472 occupation categories.

Maine Labor Commissioner Laura Fortman said last week that her agency will dedicate a person full time to developing efforts to overcome gender inequities. She said that while the major task will be to encourage women to enter nontraditional occupations, there will also be outreach efforts for men.

“People need to overcome stereotypes,” she said, “of all kinds.”

Barker said that in the 30 years she has been watching the issue, there has been progress. She said there have been a lot of “firsts” for women in the professions and in other job categories, but those gains are overshadowed by the very slow growth in most areas.

John Hanson, director of the Bureau of Labor Education at the University of Maine, agreed. He said a study done by the bureau last year looked at pay equity and found women have narrowed the income gap only slightly over the five years from 1997 to 2001.

“Women have not gained on men; it is men who have lost ground,” he said. “Our traditional industries that have been historically occupied most by men are the very industries we are losing. They tended to be the highest paying jobs, like the paper industry.”

In 1997 the median weekly wage for men was $521 and $397 for women. By 2001, the median for men had increased to $617 and to $490 for women. Women went from making 76.2 percent of a man’s median wage to 79.4 percent.

Gov. John Baldacci said he is committed to ending the gender gap, particularly the pay inequity women face in many jobs. He said his administration is showing the way, with women holding such key positions as his chief of staff and the commissioners of Finance, Education, Labor and Environmental Protection.