Gender Roles in Society by Tygan Cooper
By Author Tygan Cooper for Walling's Blogger Posted: January 20, 2020
Gender roles is a highly debated issue in today's society. Some call them unjustified stereotypes, while others believe that's the way things should be. A vast majority of people face and debate this issue across the world. There are two sides of gender role problems people deal with. The first, is simply a person refusing to do something they could if they tried, but just accepting their given role. The other involves individuals facing real problems, many of which they cannot overcome. Discerning where the fine line between these two is a difficult task. We as people, must decide for ourselves where the line is drawn. This involves considering the circumstances and the opinions of others with each instance. People must second guess the information we are given and think for ourselves, not taking things for face value.
There are many careers that are stereotypically based on gender roles, one of which being construction. Statistics from National Association of Women in Construction show that women number around slightly below 10% of the overall workforce in the industry. This is a drastic gap between men and women. Furthermore, within that 9%, only 7.7% if women hold a position as manager of a work site. With numbers such as this, there has to be a reason for it. This comes down to societal definitions of how each gender should act. In many cases, employers refuse female workers as they assume a man would complete the job better. There are also cases however, where women refuse to take a career in construction to be looked upon better in society. Whether or not this can be helped or changed, is up to personal opinion.
Now, many roles certain careers are heavily biased on appearance as well as gender. For example, the industry of care providing, with careers such as nursing, babysitting, and veterinaries. Studies from the Health Care Institute College state that only around 9% of nurses are male. There are a number of reasons causing this, but a leading factor is the appearance of the workers. This is also the case involving many babysitting careers. For instance, according to a survey conducted in downtown Los Angeles by CBC News, 18 out of 20 people question said they prefer a female babysitter over a male. This does have some factual reasoning behind it with only 5-10% of sex offenders being female. These kinds of statistics can make parents wary of hiring men, and who can blame them? Now, this is an issue men cannot really get around, however, this is not the only issue they face. Many men decide not to go into a care providing industry because they would be looked at as weak, or unmanly. This is something anyone could get past with ease if they so desired.
To refer back to early, it simply comes down to the circumstances and personal opinion of people whether to say who's at fault for gender roles affecting others. As for what we can do, we as people, must deeper into issues and choose for themselves how to act and what they want to believe. This will be a long and bumpy road, but it is one we must travel to achieve a fair and equal society.
Smith, M.A. “Top 10 Jobs Dominated by Women.” TopResume, Top Resume, ca.topresume.com/career-advice/top-10-professions-dominated-by-women
Csmithglobal. “Moncton Court Hears That Man Gained Access to Sexual Assault Victim through Babysitting.” Global News, Global News, 9 May 2019,
globalnews.ca/news/5254044/moncton-court-sexual-assault/.
Statistics Canada. “Changing Profile of Stay-at-Home Parents.” Government of Canada, Statistics Canada, 17 May 2018, www150.statcan.gc.ca/n1/pub/11-630-x/11-630-x2016007-eng.htm.
“Male Nursing Statistics.” HCI, HCI College, www.hci.edu/hci-news-blog/730-male-nursing-statistics.
Statistics Canada. “The Surge of Women in the Workforce.” Government of Canada, Statistics Canada, Government of Canada, 17 May 2018, www150.statcan.gc.ca/n1/pub/11-630-x/11-630-x2015009-eng.htm.
Gender roles is a highly debated issue in today's society. Some call them unjustified stereotypes, while others believe that's the way things should be. A vast majority of people face and debate this issue across the world. There are two sides of gender role problems people deal with. The first, is simply a person refusing to do something they could if they tried, but just accepting their given role. The other involves individuals facing real problems, many of which they cannot overcome. Discerning where the fine line between these two is a difficult task. We as people, must decide for ourselves where the line is drawn. This involves considering the circumstances and the opinions of others with each instance. People must second guess the information we are given and think for ourselves, not taking things for face value.
There are many careers that are stereotypically based on gender roles, one of which being construction. Statistics from National Association of Women in Construction show that women number around slightly below 10% of the overall workforce in the industry. This is a drastic gap between men and women. Furthermore, within that 9%, only 7.7% if women hold a position as manager of a work site. With numbers such as this, there has to be a reason for it. This comes down to societal definitions of how each gender should act. In many cases, employers refuse female workers as they assume a man would complete the job better. There are also cases however, where women refuse to take a career in construction to be looked upon better in society. Whether or not this can be helped or changed, is up to personal opinion.
Now, many roles certain careers are heavily biased on appearance as well as gender. For example, the industry of care providing, with careers such as nursing, babysitting, and veterinaries. Studies from the Health Care Institute College state that only around 9% of nurses are male. There are a number of reasons causing this, but a leading factor is the appearance of the workers. This is also the case involving many babysitting careers. For instance, according to a survey conducted in downtown Los Angeles by CBC News, 18 out of 20 people question said they prefer a female babysitter over a male. This does have some factual reasoning behind it with only 5-10% of sex offenders being female. These kinds of statistics can make parents wary of hiring men, and who can blame them? Now, this is an issue men cannot really get around, however, this is not the only issue they face. Many men decide not to go into a care providing industry because they would be looked at as weak, or unmanly. This is something anyone could get past with ease if they so desired.
To refer back to early, it simply comes down to the circumstances and personal opinion of people whether to say who's at fault for gender roles affecting others. As for what we can do, we as people, must deeper into issues and choose for themselves how to act and what they want to believe. This will be a long and bumpy road, but it is one we must travel to achieve a fair and equal society.
Works Cited
Holland, Kitty. “Woman Claims Work Denied on Building Site as Not a Man.” The Irish Times, The Irish Times, 18 Nov. 2019, www.irishtimes.com/news/social-affairs/woman-claims-work-denied-on-building-site-as-not-a-man-1.4085871.Smith, M.A. “Top 10 Jobs Dominated by Women.” TopResume, Top Resume, ca.topresume.com/career-advice/top-10-professions-dominated-by-women
Csmithglobal. “Moncton Court Hears That Man Gained Access to Sexual Assault Victim through Babysitting.” Global News, Global News, 9 May 2019,
globalnews.ca/news/5254044/moncton-court-sexual-assault/.
Statistics Canada. “Changing Profile of Stay-at-Home Parents.” Government of Canada, Statistics Canada, 17 May 2018, www150.statcan.gc.ca/n1/pub/11-630-x/11-630-x2016007-eng.htm.
“Male Nursing Statistics.” HCI, HCI College, www.hci.edu/hci-news-blog/730-male-nursing-statistics.
Statistics Canada. “The Surge of Women in the Workforce.” Government of Canada, Statistics Canada, Government of Canada, 17 May 2018, www150.statcan.gc.ca/n1/pub/11-630-x/11-630-x2015009-eng.htm.
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