Challenges Faced By Men Working in Female-Dominated Occupations

Student Name Course Instructor Date Challenges Faced By Men Working in Female Dominated Occupations There have been significant efforts to achieve gender diversity at the work place in the United States. There are ongoing initiatives aimed at promoting fair representation of the male and female genders in different fields, for example, that have been traditionally dominated by women such as nursing, education and social work. Overall, gender diversity will result in increased financial performance for the participating companies and in addition it will give the companies better reputation, result in a broader customer base, improve decision making with diversity of ideas and will lead to better management styles. More and more men are getting into pink collar jobs because the chances of career mobility and promotion to management positions in these female dominated fields are high and also because they have more job security in pink collar jobs as opposed to blue collar jobs. However, they face stigmatization and a myriad of challenges. Hence, the paper will examine the challenges faced by men in these female-dominated professions while taking into consideration aspects such as job security, job satisfaction and socio cultural factors. Professional fields such as nursing and social work have been dominated by the female gender over the recent past but efforts to curb social injustices and gender inequalities have seen men take up these roles. Reports from the US Bureau of Labor Statistics indicate “gender segregation among occupations in the United States is lessening to a small degree”. These men experience the benefit of a “glass escalator” characterized by their rapid career growths in these fields as compared to their female counterparts. They get promoted to managerial positions mainly because despite these professions being highly female dominated their hierarchical structures has men at the very top who make and influence decisions and as a result biasedly select their male counterparts for the jobs. Socio cultural factors also play a significant part in the unjust promotion of men in these fields. The place for women in most societies is still perceived to be at home and in the kitchen regardless of their professional qualifications or skill sets. Also, men in the society are seen as born leaders hence the need to have a man at the helm of all institutions and organisations. However, the case is not the same for women trying to pursue their careers in male dominated fields like engineering as they are hampered by the “glass ceiling phenomena”. The unseen and unbreakable barrier prevents women from rising to top level positions as they are perceived not to be good or strong enough (Williams 253-267). Rosa Liminana and other scholars in an article analyze the case of male nurses in a female dominated occupation. They examined the impact that the nursing duties and responsibilities will have on the health’s of the male nurses using sociodemographic questionnaires, self-perceived job satisfaction questionnaires and the conformity to gender norms questionnaires. The article mentions that before the Civil War, the nursing profession was primarily being performed and dominated by the men. It states: In the United Stat...