Women, men and the world of professions

        From a young age girls and boys are indoctrinated into having gender congruent professions and follow gender stereotypes, when choosing what to study and even where to study. A women’s mind plays tricks on her, she believes her destiny is to aspire towards her role model, her motherly figure. Enclosed, trapped and thought to believe its how their life should precede, unknown to the brainwashing implanted in their heads from the first day of birth. Television and movies display the role of a ‘women’; ‘‘the hot new secretary, with a cute bum’’. Beauty, fashion, the world of glamour, its all an attempt to lower women’s profession in the world, a world dominated by males. A women who manages to creep through a dark passage and enter into the male dominated professions, would find reaching high and succeeding, doesn’t come without men displaying their chauvinistic behaviours. 

        Girls and boys are told they don’t share similarities, that they were born to do and be different in life. Women would be more reluctant in choosing a career pathway that would lead to increased danger, hazardous assignments, unpleasant environments, long-distance travelling or other. This is clearly because of the fact that women have priorities and on the top of that list are their families. Caring for their children means that women would not place themselves in any risky or endangering situations. Men on the other-hand would find no trouble in choosing a job requiring these activities and/or risks. Is this simply because men are stronger and women are weaker? Or is there something deeper here?

        Are men more money hungry then women and in turn, would they give up more fulfilment and relaxation for their career? Its true, women are more likely to seek a career that is flexible and safe, but this only results in a lower pay to compete with fulfilment. Women would only make a decision to enter a profession which would allow her to have flexible hours, making sure her children would always come first. Women tend to see their life as a timeline, education (if lucky), marriage, and children. This way of thought has women sub-consciously thinking about where their life may lead them and by having this closed minded out-look towards life they tend to choose a profession which would cater for it.

        Women from a young age are taught to have a sensitive, nurturing, loving side that prevails throughout their life. It’s this side of women that makes them believe they would be too fragile to be a builder or work in a mine. Women succeed in professions such as customer services, due to their capability of being able to multi-task, combining technical expertise with people skills, required in sales and other arenas.     

        This gender inequality refers to females and males. There are plenty of jobs that women would be more suited too. Jobs like being a school teacher or personal carer, men are most likely going to find it more difficult to find work in these areas. Embedded ideas about the jobs women and men are to be doing, known as, ‘‘occupational segregation’’. The government needs laws to reduce the pay gap and tighten gender equality in sectors of society. Concentration of men and women in different jobs is an issue and enabling women and men to move towards non-traditional roles should be a priority. The need for the removal of stereotypes placed in certain sectors of society, the enhancement of women and men crossing over. Actions are needed to ensure women’s work is valued, and the closing of the pay gap is implemented.