This question is not limited to any specific culture or jurisdiction, and is intended to be interpreted broadly. Also, please no terminology nitpicking - I know that there is a technical distinction between “gender” and “sex”. Please be reasonable and talk about whichever one is relevant to your example. Look toward the intent of my question and don’t get caught up in technicalities and try to argue that I’m asking something other than what I intended.
There’s a lot of information floating around about discrimination against women and girls in many parts of the world, and how longstanding de jure policies of discrimination of women have transformed into de facto practices of such, which are finally being eroded away gradually in much of the world, with the “Western” world at the forefront of this. In the last century or two, women have been able to gain admittance to virtually all professions and educational curricula in the West.
I’m curious about the other way around. In what life endeavors is there a significant (i.e. non trivial) factor of discrimination in favor of women and against men, or in favor of girls and against boys?
Obvious examples that I am excluding from the scope of the question due to their obviousness, unless there is something else that makes the example significant (specify):
Single gender schools where the curricula are not significantly different from what one could get at an integrated school. If Aunt Ann’s University and Finishing School for Young Ladies in Advanced Important Stuff is effectively the only place where one can get a degree in Advanced Important Stuff, then it is in scope for this question. If you could take it at State U (albeit in a slightly less pink or pastel environment), it’s excluded under the “obvious” rule.
Single gender social, fraternal (sororal?), and sporting organizations, like the Girl Scouts, where there is a similar organization that is open to the male gender. If there is literally no reasonable male equivalent to the organization, it can be in scope.
Certain socially enforced (de facto) restrictions on clothing, the most notable of which is the restriction against men wearing skirts other than skirts that form part of traditional ethnic attire (e.g. Scottish kilts). If there is an area where it is literally against the criminal code for a man to wear a skirt but not illegal for a woman to do so, that could be in scope.
For example, are there any professions that are, by law, limited to women in any jurisdiction, especially a western one? Are there any countries where men are not allowed to be practicing midwives, nurses, elementary school teachers, or flight attendants, or where the social barriers to entry are so overwhelming that one can clearly identify a significant de facto ban (not just a little social awkwardness, but enough pressure to dissuade most men from trying)?
Wet nurse. Biologically impossible for a male to do.
Also I believe that in strict Muslim countries a midwife has to be female as an unrelated male is not allowed to touch or see a women even for medical need.
The prison population is overwhelmingly male. Which suggests either that males are sentenced more severely, or that the forms of social deviance in which women tend to engage are less likely to be criminalised or, if criminalised, are less likely to attract a custodial sentence.
Dental hygenist comes pretty close, at least in North America. No legal restrictions, but women vastly outnumber men, to the point that social expectations mean that some dentists won’t consider men for the job.
Men and boys are not socially allowed to express the same range and intensity of emotions that women are. This is a really hard one, as the mother of a “sensitive” boy. Teaching him to control his tears without resorting to such nauseating phrases as, “Be a man!” was more challenging than I thought it would be. And, for the record: he was no more “sensitive” than my daughter…but that’s part of the problem. A boy who cries easily is labeled as if there’s something special and/or wrong with him, while a girl who cries easily is just…a girl.
While nursing is open to men, and more men are nurses than most people think (about 9.6% of Registered Nurses are men; many more Nurse Anesthetists are men), they still have to deal with a lot of hassles because of their gender that I don’t. They’re more often refused by patients on the basis of their gender, more often accused of inappropriate touching, more often assaulted, and of course more subject to people thinking they are doctors. (By the way, my OB/GYN teacher was a man, and a Certified Nurse Midwife. It’s rare, but it does happen. I think he said he’s only met 2 other male CNM’s in his career.)
Good point. The local community college has a dental hygiene program and I’m pretty sure that they, as a state school, are not allowed to discriminate by gender in terms of admission and that the state can’t discriminate later in terms of licensure. So it looks like the divide is de facto and enforced by social pressure rather than nosy government officials denying permits. How does that field work elsewhere in the world? Is it mostly female? Does it exist at all? Is the role taken up by trainee or novice dentists as opposed to forming a separate career path?
This is interesting, but not really what I was looking for because women who do go to prison aren’t especially seen as gender rebels. If a woman does commit a serious enough offense, it’s not likely that the judge will tell her that she won’t be allowed to go to prison, sorry, because only men are allowed to do that.
Right. There is perhaps more of a pop culture mystique and image surrounding nuns, but there are similar religious and communal organizations for men, called monasteries, that are inhabited by monks. Most major cities in North America and Europe have at least one. The point here is that the answer to the question, “Is it socially acceptable for a man to join a fairly strictly regimented religious institution that involves communal living, restrictions on property ownership, uniforms, and shared religious activities?” is yes.
Also, cowboys and cowgirls are really just a mythologized and stereotyped image of American farm laborers. Anyone can do that.
Likewise, the fact that there are Boy Scouts means that “Girl Scouts” is not an answer to this question unless Girl Scouts are so radically different in nature so as to be considered a fundamentally different experience. I would say that no, while there are minor differences, they are two versions of the same concept, a graduated system of fellowship for the purpose of cultivating outdoor activity that has an extensive and formal system of rewards for various achievements. The fact that Boy Scouts might only have a general sewing merit badge rather than separate dressmaking, lacemaking, embroidery, and knitting badges is a minor detail. If there were simply no concept of a formal outdoorsy organization for boys, then it would count.
I asked a fairly similar question several years ago. I didn’t get a whole lot of answers different than this thread, although I included Flywheel’s answer in my OP.
The limited number of paid positions for cheerleaders for professional sports teams don’t have a lot of males. Even at the amateur level they seem to be heavily underrepresented so there’s a social pressure argument to me made.
There’s significantly fewer positions for male exotic dancers than female. That’s more market driven but social pressure about behaviors might indirectly influence that market.
Primary school teacher is a profession that is about 85% female in Ireland currently. There is no legal restriction on men becoming primary teachers, they just don’t, for I would guess a complex set of historical reasons.
From time to time, people fret that too few male primary teachers is leading to boys underachieving at school. I have no clue as to whether there’s any truth in this as I haven’t researched it but it is something one hears from time time.
Good luck trying to get a nanny position as a male. I’d say there are a lot of childcare positions that a man would face significant discrimination while applying for.