# Fields that are dominated by one sex that greatly need an influx of the other. **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [June 12, 2007, 8:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fields-that-are-dominated-by-one-sex-that-greatly-need-an-influx-of-the-other/407763 "2007-06-12T20:33:29Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![TLDRIDKJKLOLFTW](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/51bf81/32.png) [@TLDRIDKJKLOLFTW](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TLDRIDKJKLOLFTW)\ **Post date:** [June 12, 2007, 8:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fields-that-are-dominated-by-one-sex-that-greatly-need-an-influx-of-the-other/407763/1 "2007-06-12T20:33:29Z")
What are some fields or sectors that tend to be dominated by one sex, but would be greatly improved by a huge influx of the other sex? Why? My first vote is library science - it’s a ridiculously woman-dominated field, and the result is the namby-pamby, outdated state of modern libraries and the state of the library in society. What that field needs is a ton of information science-minded men to come pouring into it to help reorganize the way that everything works and the way that libraries function in society; away with the passive, feminized library and up with aggressive, Xtreme community centers that just also happen to feature books for lending. ---
**Author:** ![EmAnJ](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/d2c977/32.png) [@EmAnJ](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EmAnJ)\ **Post date:** [June 12, 2007, 8:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fields-that-are-dominated-by-one-sex-that-greatly-need-an-influx-of-the-other/407763/2 "2007-06-12T20:55:52Z")
I’ll vote for Engineers of all types, although I’m already starting to see an influx of more women in the field. ---
**Author:** ![Telperien](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/65b543/32.png) [@Telperien](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Telperien)\ **Post date:** [June 12, 2007, 9:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fields-that-are-dominated-by-one-sex-that-greatly-need-an-influx-of-the-other/407763/3 "2007-06-12T21:03:39Z")
This won’t end well. Hmmm. I think many professions could benefit from more participation by whichever sex isn’t the primary doer of that occupation, barring those where a particular sex really is a requirement. I’m not able to come up with any particular ones off the top of my head, though. ---
**Author:** ![alphaboi867](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alphaboi867/32/3898_2.png) [@alphaboi867](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/alphaboi867)\ **Post date:** [June 12, 2007, 9:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fields-that-are-dominated-by-one-sex-that-greatly-need-an-influx-of-the-other/407763/4 "2007-06-12T21:14:01Z")
Nursing, elementary education, and childcare to name a few. ---
**Author:** ![Sarahfeena](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sarahfeena/32/519_2.png) [@Sarahfeena](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sarahfeena)\ **Post date:** [June 12, 2007, 9:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fields-that-are-dominated-by-one-sex-that-greatly-need-an-influx-of-the-other/407763/5 "2007-06-12T21:19:34Z")
[QUOTE=VCO3] What are some fields or sectors that tend to be dominated by one sex, but would be greatly improved by a huge influx of the other sex? Why? My first vote is library science - it’s a ridiculously woman-dominated field, and the result is the namby-pamby, outdated state of modern libraries and the state of the library in society. What that field needs is a ton of information science-minded men to come pouring into it to help reorganize the way that everything works and the way that libraries function in society; away with the passive, feminized library and up with aggressive, Xtreme community centers that just also happen to feature books for lending. [/QUOTE] Please please please tell me you are not serious. ---
**Author:** ![dangermom](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e274bd/32.png) [@dangermom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dangermom)\ **Post date:** [June 12, 2007, 10:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fields-that-are-dominated-by-one-sex-that-greatly-need-an-influx-of-the-other/407763/6 "2007-06-12T22:01:01Z")
[QUOTE=VCO3] My first vote is library science - it’s a ridiculously woman-dominated field, and the result is the namby-pamby, outdated state of modern libraries and the state of the library in society. What that field needs is a ton of information science-minded men to come pouring into it to help reorganize the way that everything works and the way that libraries function in society; away with the passive, feminized library and up with aggressive, Xtreme community centers that just also happen to feature books for lending. [/QUOTE] I’d argue, but I’m giggling too much at the image of a library painted all black, with flourescent lime lightning streaks: “_X-treme Community Center!!_ Now, with books and facilities for the sight-impaired.” ---
**Author:** ![RedRosesForMe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/91b2a8/32.png) [@RedRosesForMe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RedRosesForMe)\ **Post date:** [June 12, 2007, 10:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fields-that-are-dominated-by-one-sex-that-greatly-need-an-influx-of-the-other/407763/7 "2007-06-12T22:04:55Z")
[QUOTE=VCO3] What are some fields or sectors that tend to be dominated by one sex, but would be greatly improved by a huge influx of the other sex? Why? My first vote is library science - it’s a ridiculously woman-dominated field, and the result is the namby-pamby, outdated state of modern libraries and the state of the library in society. What that field needs is a ton of information science-minded men to come pouring into it to help reorganize the way that everything works and the way that libraries function in society; away with the passive, feminized library and up with aggressive, Xtreme community centers that just also happen to feature books for lending. [/QUOTE] Ever think that maybe the “namby-pamby, outdated state of modern libraries” is due to the fact that parents plop their kids down in front of the TV instead of encouraging them to read, or that libraries receive inadequate funding, as opposed to library science being a profession dominated by women? What exactly is “feminized” in the libraries you go to? Is it because there are books there, and only girls and sissies read books? Perhaps that’s something that needs to be addressed. ---
**Author:** ![TLDRIDKJKLOLFTW](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/51bf81/32.png) [@TLDRIDKJKLOLFTW](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TLDRIDKJKLOLFTW)\ **Post date:** [June 12, 2007, 10:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fields-that-are-dominated-by-one-sex-that-greatly-need-an-influx-of-the-other/407763/8 "2007-06-12T22:20:46Z")
I was mostly teasing with my depiction of the ideal library as neon-lit community S&M dungeon, but I do think that men, with their natural aggressiveness and tendency toward outreach rather than introspection, could do a lot for improving modern libraries. There’s a real passiveness at work in modern libraries, and I can’t help but feel that it’s in some part due to their female-dominated nature. I think that elementary school, in particular, could really deal with an influx of male teachers. Sadly, society has turned all men into potential child rapists, ESPECIALLY if they’re single or gay. :rolleyes: I’d like to see more female mechanics, personally - it seems like it would be so much nicer to deal with a woman when dealing with horrible car problems. Women naturally seem more honest, too, which would go a long way. ---
**Author:** ![WhyNot](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/c77e96/32.png) [@WhyNot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WhyNot)\ **Post date:** [June 12, 2007, 10:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fields-that-are-dominated-by-one-sex-that-greatly-need-an-influx-of-the-other/407763/9 "2007-06-12T22:48:48Z")
[QUOTE=VCO3] What are some fields or sectors that tend to be dominated by one sex, but would be greatly improved by a huge influx of the other sex? Why? My first vote is library science - it’s a ridiculously woman-dominated field, and the result is the namby-pamby, outdated state of modern libraries and the state of the library in society. What that field needs is a ton of information science-minded men to come pouring into it to help reorganize the way that everything works and the way that libraries function in society; away with the passive, feminized library and up with aggressive, Xtreme community centers that just also happen to feature books for lending. [/QUOTE] I’ll echo “you’re kidding, right?” but for a different reason: they’re already doing this with libraries, and it’s making libraries suck. Modern libraries have huge banks of computers for research and internet use. They have rows and rows of DVD’s, CD’s and even old LP’s. There are filmstrips and microfiche and movie and filmstrip watching stations. There are reference sections, with encyclopedias, literary journals and peer reviewed scientific abstracts on CD-ROM. There are back issues of Glamour and Cosmo for the last year. There are locally produced art installations in the stairwells and in the hallways. What they are lacking is…BOOKS! Our library is three floors, with a children’s section slightly larger than my living room and half a dozen shelves of new releases for adults and not much else on paper. It’s rather creepy. Sometimes I feel like Giles in Buffy (why yes, there is a Buffy quote for every occasion): > [@](#): > > GILES: Ms. Calendar, I’m sure your computer science class is fascinating, but I happen to believe that one can survive in modern society without being a slave to the, um, idiot box. > > JENNY: That’s TV. The idiot box is TV. This (indicates a computer) is the _good_ box! > > GILES: I still prefer a good book. > > Fritz: The printed page is obsolete. Information isn’t bound up anymore. It’s an entity. The only reality is virtual. If you’re not jacked in, you’re not alive. > > JENNY: Thank you, Fritz, for making us all sound like crazy people. (to Giles) Fritz, Fritz comes on a little strong, but he does have a point. You know, for the last two years more e-mail was sent than regular mail. > > GILES: Oh… > > JENNY: More digitized information went across phone lines than conversation. > > GILES: That is a fact that I regard with genuine horror. > > JENNY: (teasingly) I’ll bet it is. But for the OP, I’ll throw surgery on the table, especially orthopedics. Surgeons do amazing things, but they tend to be…how to put this…assholes. It would be nice to add a woman’s touch to the jock club. ---
**Author:** ![Laughing\_Lagomorph](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/6bbea6/32.png) [@Laughing\_Lagomorph](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Laughing_Lagomorph)\ **Post date:** [June 12, 2007, 10:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fields-that-are-dominated-by-one-sex-that-greatly-need-an-influx-of-the-other/407763/10 "2007-06-12T22:57:45Z")
[QUOTE=VCO3] … I do think that men, with their natural aggressiveness and tendency toward outreach rather than introspection, … [/QUOTE] Ummmm…What? > [@](#): > > I’d like to see more female mechanics, personally - it seems like it would be so much nicer to deal with a woman when dealing with horrible car problems. Women naturally seem more honest, too, which would go a long way. I actually agree with you on this one, and it was the first thing I thought of when I saw the thread title. ---
**Author:** ![dgrdfd](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/eb8c5e/32.png) [@dgrdfd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dgrdfd)\ **Post date:** [June 12, 2007, 11:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fields-that-are-dominated-by-one-sex-that-greatly-need-an-influx-of-the-other/407763/11 "2007-06-12T23:19:31Z")
We need more female engineers. ---
**Author:** ![T\_SQUARE](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/9de053/32.png) [@T\_SQUARE](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/T_SQUARE)\ **Post date:** [June 12, 2007, 11:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fields-that-are-dominated-by-one-sex-that-greatly-need-an-influx-of-the-other/407763/12 "2007-06-12T23:24:48Z")
Aren’t libraries supposed to be passive? The only X-Treme thing I want in a library is X-Treme silence. ---
**Author:** ![Sarahfeena](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sarahfeena/32/519_2.png) [@Sarahfeena](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sarahfeena)\ **Post date:** [June 12, 2007, 11:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fields-that-are-dominated-by-one-sex-that-greatly-need-an-influx-of-the-other/407763/13 "2007-06-12T23:29:28Z")
**WhyNot** , yes yes yes. I am so discouraged when I see a parent with small children checking out nothing but videotapes and DVDs at our library. I don’t think the problem with libraries these days is lack of technology…I think it may very well be with spending tons of money on technology, actually. But that’s a subject for another thread… ---
**Author:** ![Gala\_Matrix\_Fire](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/4da419/32.png) [@Gala\_Matrix\_Fire](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gala_Matrix_Fire)\ **Post date:** [June 12, 2007, 11:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fields-that-are-dominated-by-one-sex-that-greatly-need-an-influx-of-the-other/407763/14 "2007-06-12T23:35:15Z")
Parenting. ---
**Author:** ![Crescend](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/b9bd4f/32.png) [@Crescend](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Crescend)\ **Post date:** [June 12, 2007, 11:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fields-that-are-dominated-by-one-sex-that-greatly-need-an-influx-of-the-other/407763/15 "2007-06-12T23:57:35Z")
Duplicate post deleted. ---
**Author:** ![Crescend](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/b9bd4f/32.png) [@Crescend](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Crescend)\ **Post date:** [June 12, 2007, 11:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fields-that-are-dominated-by-one-sex-that-greatly-need-an-influx-of-the-other/407763/16 "2007-06-12T23:57:33Z")
[QUOTE=WhyNot] But for the OP, I’ll throw surgery on the table, especially orthopedics. Surgeons do amazing things, but they tend to be…how to put this…assholes. It would be nice to add a woman’s touch to the jock club. [/QUOTE] Interestingly enough, for the past month or so I have been soliciting anecdotal reports of interaction with orthopedic surgeons. I wanted to see how accurate the stereotypes were. Most orthopedic surgeons were described to me as pleasant, somewhat mild-mannered individuals. There were a few more men then women, but not overwhelmingly so. I’ve been looking for these Alpha Males of the surgical ward, but I can’t seem to find them. ---
**Author:** ![sugar\_and\_spice](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e8c25b/32.png) [@sugar\_and\_spice](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sugar_and_spice)\ **Post date:** [June 13, 2007, 12:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fields-that-are-dominated-by-one-sex-that-greatly-need-an-influx-of-the-other/407763/17 "2007-06-13T00:06:03Z")
[QUOTE=VCO3] My first vote is library science - it’s a ridiculously woman-dominated field, and the result is the namby-pamby, outdated state of modern libraries and the state of the library in society. What that field needs is a ton of information science-minded men to come pouring into it to help reorganize the way that everything works and the way that libraries function in society; away with the passive, feminized library and up with aggressive, Xtreme community centers that just also happen to feature books for lending. [/QUOTE] They do let women register here, you know that, right? ---
**Author:** ![Lsura](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/7993a0/32.png) [@Lsura](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lsura)\ **Post date:** [June 13, 2007, 1:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fields-that-are-dominated-by-one-sex-that-greatly-need-an-influx-of-the-other/407763/18 "2007-06-13T01:04:36Z")
[QUOTE=VCO3] What are some fields or sectors that tend to be dominated by one sex, but would be greatly improved by a huge influx of the other sex? Why? My first vote is library science - it’s a ridiculously woman-dominated field, and the result is the namby-pamby, outdated state of modern libraries and the state of the library in society. What that field needs is a ton of information science-minded men to come pouring into it to help reorganize the way that everything works and the way that libraries function in society; away with the passive, feminized library and up with aggressive, Xtreme community centers that just also happen to feature books for lending. [/QUOTE] I came in here to say something similar - except I’m not sure that it’s an influx of _men_ that the field needs. Rather, it needs an influx of people who think in different ways, who are not stuck in the “libraries must be X”. Instead, it needs people - men and women - who think that libraries can be X AND libraries can be Y and being one doesn’t keep it from being the other". (sorry, this is one of my favorite ponies at the moment.) ---
**Author:** ![Justin\_Bailey](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/justin_bailey/32/8792_2.png) [@Justin\_Bailey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Justin_Bailey)\ **Post date:** [June 13, 2007, 2:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fields-that-are-dominated-by-one-sex-that-greatly-need-an-influx-of-the-other/407763/19 "2007-06-13T02:05:28Z")
[QUOTE=WhyNot] I’ll echo “you’re kidding, right?” but for a different reason: they’re already doing this with libraries, and it’s making libraries suck. Modern libraries have huge banks of computers for research and internet use. They have rows and rows of DVD’s, CD’s and even old LP’s. There are filmstrips and microfiche and movie and filmstrip watching stations. There are reference sections, with encyclopedias, literary journals and peer reviewed scientific abstracts on CD-ROM. There are back issues of Glamour and Cosmo for the last year. There are locally produced art installations in the stairwells and in the hallways. What they are lacking is…BOOKS! Our library is three floors, with a children’s section slightly larger than my living room and half a dozen shelves of new releases for adults and not much else on paper. It’s rather creepy. [/QUOTE] Speaking as a librarian currently in library school I think you’re crazy. The Internet, CDs, DVDs, video games, crazy outreach programs that don’t _center_ around books and all the other stuff libraries are doing is good for the community. There is more to life than books and any halfway decent library will still spend the majority of their budget on books. The great libraries will actually be hooked in to a mutual borrowing network so libraries can ship materials to each other at low (or no) cost to the patron. At that point, nearly every book you can imagine is only a couple of days wait away. ---
**Author:** ![Plan\_B](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/3ec8ea/32.png) [@Plan\_B](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Plan_B)\ **Post date:** [June 13, 2007, 2:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fields-that-are-dominated-by-one-sex-that-greatly-need-an-influx-of-the-other/407763/20 "2007-06-13T02:21:14Z")
Special forces could use more women. They always do great in these types of activities in the movies. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fields-that-are-dominated-by-one-sex-that-greatly-need-an-influx-of-the-other/407763.md?page=2)