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Women in the Workplace – An Evolution

From as far back as the Colonial era, when even the thought of a woman working

was completely out of the question, to the present, where women make up nearly half of

the nation’s workforce – it is not hard to see what an incredulous transformation of

feminization has taken place. Due to this, occupations, such as teaching, nursing, and

library management to name a few, have become highly stereotyped as ‘a woman’s job’,

and have many men scoffing at the thought of being in their place. Surprisingly enough,

long ago when men abundantly ruled the workforce, it was almost solely them that filled

professions of the like and the title of these and other careers were held higher, respected

more, and even more profitable. These days, professions of that kind are no longer

‘careers’, but rather low paying, low respected, ‘semi-professions’, of which the majority

is made up of female employees. Certain jobs are unquestionably viewed as gender

specific. Created in the past, and continued even in today’s world of supposed equality, is

the notion that men and women are each more appropriate for individual areas of work.

This sexist attitude is one of the prime factors which have led to the feminization as well

as the reversal – or ‘masculinization’ – of certain professions.

“Separate spheres embodied the vision of a social order based on a polarity of

roles and personalities rooted in presumed biological and sexual differences between the

sexes. Men were rational, instrumental, independent, competitive, and aggressive; women

were emotional, maternal, domestic, and dependant.” (Smith-Rosenberg). Men and

women were treated completely different, and it was pre-assumed that both genders

would do what they were expected; men were the workers, given the good jobs that paid

well, while women were presumed to be the stay-at-home-moms, free from sin and the

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obvious growing separation of society from religion. “The ideal Anglo-American woman

of the 19th century was to be pious, pure and domesticated – able to present her home as a

model of humble domesticity and a spiritual haven from a materialist world.” (Ross). It

seemed understood that they were to create a safe home and stay there in action of being

a proper wife and mother. “Parsons believed that the feminine role was an expressive one,

whereas the masculine role, in his view, was instrumental. He believed that expressive

activities of the woman fulfill ‘internal’ functions, for example to strengthen the ties

between members of the family. The man, on the other hand, performed the ‘external’

functions of a family, such as providing monetary support.” (“Answers”). A particularly

male culture was obvious. Some claim that there were two major developments in

particular which significantly harmed women. They were professionalization and

industrialization. Women were focused on as being the true domestics, while men

became more and more associated with the work outside of the home. Men were

identified with their occupation, while women were confined to a familial framework. In

short, the explanation of ‘separate spheres’ was that man’s sphere was his occupation –

his monetary contribution to his family, and his power. The definition of a woman’s

sphere was her expected role of the devout wife and mother, who comforted those around

her, modeled the human mind – in girls especially – until they were grown and could take

care of themselves. Men and women were treated as completely different creatures, with

completely separate expected paths in life.

With men ultimately dominating the workforce, it seemed as though a woman

would never be able to truly find her place. When an expansion of new, higher power

jobs came about, men were of course preferred, thus leaving the lesser jobs behind,

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allowing women to step in and take their place. There are several of these jobs in

particular that became rather quickly feminized this way: teaching and nursing are two

prime examples.

The context of education is an ongoing evolution. Such dramatic vicissitude in the

world itself played a prodigious role in this matter, especially in a line of work such as

teaching. In Colonial America, teaching was considered more of a past-time than a

livelihood. “Teaching at that time was an occupation for young, white, well-educated

men. Teaching was a part-time occupation, done mostly in non-farming months, or as a

precursor to a full-time career for pre-professional men.” (Boyle). Teaching and bell-

ringing were considered low-status occupations of the like; accepted only by young

people, or those at risk of becoming a social dependant – namely, women. Teaching was

thought appropriate for a woman, as once she was married it was expected that her

husband would provide for and take care of her, thus making her job unnecessary and

unimportant. It was not considered accurate to discuss teaching as an actual career,

considering that people thought of it only as a pursuit undertaken in a youth’s life before

they went on to a serious career, or beginning a family. Women also did not receive as

much education as men, and their illiteracy added dramatically to the restriction they

already faced on their participation in teaching.

Beginning in the 1800’s, a once-informal education process slowly began turning

more formal, adding a slightly more serious tone on the matter of teaching. The industrial

revolution caused a noticeable turnaround in regards to who held the predominant role in

the education system, as it created many new, higher paying, higher respected jobs for

men. It was at this time that women stepped in, gladly accepting these still reasonable

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paying positions as a means to get out of the house and perhaps even more importantly,

dramatically readjust the notion that women were meant only to be a wife and child

bearer. The ‘skill’ of man versus the ‘nurture’ of woman was thought as a reasonable

annotation as to why women, although certainly more aggressive than only years before,

continued to play such a minor role in the workforce overall, as well as to why teaching

was such a perfect fit for women – it allowed them to continue their life of ‘true

womanhood’ by building domestic homes and raising families, while at the same time

having the allowance to work outside the home. “Teaching was one way in which women

could work outside their own households while still being examples of purity and

nurturance.” (Boyle).

It was in the late 1800’s when teaching became noticeably more feminized.

People were beginning to realize that children did not need to be frightened into learning,

but rather nurtured and cared for, and although some men still remained in the profession,

it was women who truly took over, as it was felt that they were the more proper fit to

such a requirement. By 1900, teaching was virtually all female. As teaching become more

formalized, women teachers became more preferred, as they worked for less pay, and

were not bothered by knowing that it was only seasonal work. It was in fact attested by

some that "feminization occurred because school districts were unwilling or unable to

pay the rising costs of retaining male teachers as school terms became longer and

teaching became less attractive to men" (Rury, p. 27). From 1900 to the present, women’s

participation in the teaching profession has steadily grown, and although more men are

now re-entering the field, it has truly become a woman’s occupation.

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Teaching is not the only avocation which has evolved into a feminized

occupation. Other lines of work such as nursing have also been made relative in this case.

Before the 20th century, men contributed to more than half of the overall number of

nurses, and yet that number dropped down to a mere 1% by 1930. The difference

between teaching and nursing is evident here however, as many men were considerably

interested in becoming a nurse, but were constantly discouraged by society and

constitutions, and were in fact often denied access to nursing education and

organizations. Repeated studies have shown that an extensive amount of men actually

were – and are – interested in the nursing profession, and yet due to lack of support and

the unfair classification put on this vocation as being purely female, men have – and

understandably so – been resistant in their entry into such a field. “Artificial barriers, not

a lack of interest by men, have kept men out of nursing.” (Tranbarger). Another evident

justification on why men are so sparse in the nursing field is due to the lack of male role

models. The majority of teachers in nursing education are female, never mind the fact

that it seems to be women who are solely used in image campaigns and advertising

tactics. It is no wonder there are so few men in nursing. Even though most people say that

they would be proud, not disappointed, if their child became a nurse, it is still considered

‘women’s work’, making men shy away. “Changing these attitudes is the key to

attracting men to our profession. We need to promote as positive role models men who

display caring, compassion, and sensitivity without apology.” (Tasota). Men are taught

and expected to be high power professionals, and leave the ‘women’s work’ to the

women. It is not a difficult equation: men are preferred and get in easier to higher status

jobs; women are preferred and get in easier to lower status jobs, often even if their

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qualifications are more impressive. Even in today’s world men are continued to be

chosen more for the high paying, high power jobs, which is a reasonable explanation as

to the feminization of ‘lesser’ jobs. Statistics show that occupations which require a

‘nurturer’, as opposed to ‘skill’ tend to prefer women over their counterparts.

When discussing the question of whether certain occupations were reversed, and

instead ‘masculinized’ – midwifery, for example – although there are a noticeable

amount of men in the field in the present, women still account for the majority. Varying

reasons for this are argued. One of the most common here is that women relate well with

women, which is obviously understandable. When it comes to choosing the gender of

their midwife, it appears that most women prefer a female, as they will easier understand

what she is going through. The reigning masculinity of jobs still presides however, in

many more so than to women. Surgeons, lawyers, business executives – many of the

past’s unfair notions of high power jobs going to men still remain in the present day,

although women are visibly playing a more active role.

Everyone has their own argument as to the feminization of occupations, although

some points are evident constants. Men are preferred and encouraged to take the higher

paying, higher respected jobs, leaving the ‘bad jobs’ to women. “…when hiring for high

paying jobs, employers will be able to get men, but when hiring in low paying jobs, they

will often have to settle for women even if they prefer men, since men will gravitate first

to the high paying jobs.” (England et al). Women are the expected ‘nurturers’, and thus

are expected to deal with the relevant work, while men are supposed to be the providers,

working the hard labor jobs. Double standards always have and it seems might always be,

around until gender specific roles are no more. When taking into consideration the

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qualifications of a possible hopeful in any field, people often continue to look past the

resume, unfairly believing that the gender of a person is hugely relevant to their skill.

Perhaps if such treatment was no more, and the now feminized occupations were made to

be non-gender specific, men would not feel ashamed in considering such lines of work. It

will only be then that the ‘skill’ of man and the ‘nurture’ of woman of as far back as the

early Colonial era will be tossed aside, and true equality will rule at last.

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Works Cited

“Answers.” Answers.com. 2005. 30 Nov. 2005.

<http://www.answers.com/topic/gender-role-2>

Boyle, Elizabeth. Program in Women’s Studies. 2004. 30 Nov. 2005. <

http://web.mit.edu/womens-studies/www/writingPrize/eb04.html>

Brinton, Mary C. Gendered Offices: A Comparitive-Historical Examination of the

Feminization of Clerical Work. 30 Nov. 2005. <

http://72.14.203.104/search?q=cache:L32uBCmHxz4J:www.yale.edu/leitner/pdf/Brinton.

doc+Gendered+Offices:++A+Comparative-Historical+Examination+of+the&hl=en>

Sedlack, Michael J. Waking Bear. Alkin, Marvin C. American Educational

Resource Association. 30 Nov. 2005. < http://wakingbear.com/history.htm>

Sherrod, Dennis IL. Find Articles. 30 Nov. 2005. <

http://www.findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_qa3689/is_200307/ai_n9256865>

Smith-Rosenberg, Carroll. Houghton Mifflin. 30 Nov. 2005. <

http://college.hmco.com/history/readerscomp/women/html/wh_033100_separatesphe.htm

>

Tasota, Frederick J. Find Articles. 30 Nov 2005.

<http://www.findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_qa3689/is_200307/ai_n9256865>

Tranbarger, Gene. Find Articles. 20 Nov 2005.

<http://www.findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_qa3689/is_200307/ai_n9256865>

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