Blog #12

Although sex discrimination has been made illegal and women have come a long way in the workforce, segregation continues to exist because both men and women are expected to fit in and stay within their traditional gender roles. Holly English notes in her book that women are perceived to be passive and therefore deemed to be weak or if they are attractive then they are presumed to be frivolous and incompetent. However, when a woman steps out of her “traditional” role and she is aggressive, then she risks being disliked. As a result of the roles that society has associated gender with, women encounter difficulty entering male dominated industries because men doubt that they possess the necessary “brains” or perhaps the strength to perform such work as in the case of female police officers. Because the male is generally associated with the role as a protective figure, it is undoubtedly expected that police officers are expected to be male.
Furthermore, because we see very few women in non-traditional roles, other women who might consider a career in a male-dominated field experience difficulty finding a role model and the moral support within the workforce so that she does not become discouraged from pursuing a traditionally male career. The role of institutions contributes to a continuous segregation as women are not actively sought after to enter male dominated career fields. If we think about a scientist or a mathematician or an engineer for example, the first image that comes to mind is that of a male therefore until women are equally represented and given the opportunities to enter traditional male occupations, segregation will continue to exist.
Fortunately, for women that successfully enter male dominated fields as seen in the videos, they find themselves more financially stable as wages in aviation, mechanics, welding and law enforcement tend to be higher than wages in clerical and administrative jobs. In addition, they are “proving” themselves as in the case of the female officer who applied for a SWAT position twice before she was promoted and then she was approached by her male counterparts and told that they were doubtful until she proved that she too could perform the job well.
Men too are fortunate when they enter women dominated fields because they are promoted quicker when they compete with women for managerial and leadership roles as they are perceived to be “traditional and natural” leaders. Both genders however are essentially placing themselves under the radar when they are in their non-traditional and that could become uncomfortable and stressful to constantly have to prove that they are equally as capable of performing the job.