These are the findings from a new report called The Shriver Report: A Woman's Nation Changes Everything, put out by Maria Shriver, wife of Arnold Schwarzenegger.

The Shriver Report will receive widespread media coverage this upcoming week.

While the mainstream media is heralding these findings as showing that women have achieved gender equality with men, the true meaning of these statistics is actually quite different.

As Wendy Norris, an investigative reporter based in Denver pointed out in a recent interview, the "equality" of women in the workforce is the result of the severity of the financial crisis and the resulting unemployment among men. Specifically, it is well-known that men have suffered the majority of job losses from the rising tide of unemployment hitting America.

Norris also points out that these are lower-paying jobs, as women typically earn less then men.

So what is being celebrated as a sign of progress and equality is actually an indication of the severity of the unemployment crisis in America.