# Jobs that are gender-specific for no reason at all **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [March 11, 2012, 9:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jobs-that-are-gender-specific-for-no-reason-at-all/615491 "2012-03-11T21:25:23Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![It\_s\_Not\_Rocket\_Surgery](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/it_s_not_rocket_surgery/32/312_2.png) [@It\_s\_Not\_Rocket\_Surgery](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/It_s_Not_Rocket_Surgery)\ **Post date:** [March 11, 2012, 9:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jobs-that-are-gender-specific-for-no-reason-at-all/615491/1 "2012-03-11T21:25:23Z")
What are some jobs that, for no real reason, are always filled by only one gender? There have been some female high school football coaches. But, here in the U.S., I have never come across a single example of a woman horse race announcer. Zero. And there’s no rhyme or reason for that. Any other jobs like this? ---
**Author:** ![lavenderviolet](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/cdc98d/32.png) [@lavenderviolet](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lavenderviolet)\ **Post date:** [March 11, 2012, 9:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jobs-that-are-gender-specific-for-no-reason-at-all/615491/2 "2012-03-11T21:44:37Z")
Is there a good reason why dental hygienists are almost always female? I am not aware of any particular reason for it, but it does seem that there is significant bias both from dentists and dental patients against wanting male dental hygienists (at least going by what I’ve seen from looking into dental careers for my SO who is thinking of that route). To me, it seems weird that some people have a problem with male dental hygienists when nobody thinks it’s weird to have a male dentist rooting around in their mouth, and MOST people are accepting of male nurses (though I’m sure male RNs do run into problems sometimes, it seems to me like it’s more accepted). ---
**Author:** ![Jonathan\_Chance](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jonathan_chance/32/701_2.png) [@Jonathan\_Chance](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jonathan_Chance)\ **Post date:** [March 11, 2012, 10:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jobs-that-are-gender-specific-for-no-reason-at-all/615491/3 "2012-03-11T22:38:02Z")
Here’s one for you. I am now a stockbroker for a major firm. Good for me. I recently got to hire a new Branch Office Administrator. This position is not certified to advise on financial matters or make trades. However, the position IS responsible for running the office and handling all of the paperwork involved in client accounts. All of the applicants were women. No reason for it that I’ve seen but it’s my experience that I’ve never seen a BOA who was anything other than female. I remarked on this to my hiring officer (who places ads, does first screen phone interviews and background checks and so forth). She concurred that 99+% of applicants and hires for the BOA slot are women in the United States. Strangely, she told me that in England it’s the exact opposite. The vast majority of BOAs in our Great Britain offices are male. Make of that what you will. I certainly don’t know. ---
**Author:** ![Lo-Slung\_Denim](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/f6c823/32.png) [@Lo-Slung\_Denim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lo-Slung_Denim)\ **Post date:** [March 11, 2012, 10:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jobs-that-are-gender-specific-for-no-reason-at-all/615491/4 "2012-03-11T22:53:32Z")
I have met very few male nurses working in general medicine, but in psychiatric nursing the majority are male. Just got to get my opinion in on this too: outside of jobs that are gender-specific for reasons covered by legislation, e.g. female DV worker for a women-only DV refuge, then all jobs that tend towards gender specification are gender-specific for no reason. ---
**Author:** ![Ibanez](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/a4c791/32.png) [@Ibanez](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ibanez)\ **Post date:** [March 11, 2012, 10:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jobs-that-are-gender-specific-for-no-reason-at-all/615491/5 "2012-03-11T22:56:08Z")
> [@lavenderviolet](#): > > Is there a good reason why dental hygienists are almost always female? I am not aware of any particular reason for it, but it does seem that there is significant bias both from dentists and dental patients against wanting male dental hygienists (at least going by what I’ve seen from looking into dental careers for my SO who is thinking of that route). > To me, it seems weird that some people have a problem with male dental hygienists when nobody thinks it’s weird to have a male dentist rooting around in their mouth, and MOST people are accepting of male nurses (though I’m sure male RNs do run into problems sometimes, it seems to me like it’s more accepted). In my programming course there was a male student who went to school for dental hygiene, graduated top of his class and couldn’t find a job because of his willy. Seemed like a nice enough fellow, no raging personality problems etc. That’s why he was taking the computer programming course. ---
**Author:** ![RealityChuck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/realitychuck/32/195_2.png) [@RealityChuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityChuck)\ **Post date:** [March 11, 2012, 11:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jobs-that-are-gender-specific-for-no-reason-at-all/615491/6 "2012-03-11T23:04:58Z")
> [@It\_s\_Not\_Rocket\_Surgery](#): > > But, here in the U.S., I have never come across a single example of a woman horse race announcer. Zero. And there’s no rhyme or reason for that. That’s pretty much true of all announcing jobs. All movie trailer announcers are men (though some women are trying to break in), as are most PA announcers, TV announcers, sports announcers, etc. The belief is that people trust male announcers more, though I don’t know if there’s anything to support it. ---
**Author:** ![Khadaji](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/9e8a1a/32.png) [@Khadaji](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Khadaji)\ **Post date:** [March 11, 2012, 11:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jobs-that-are-gender-specific-for-no-reason-at-all/615491/7 "2012-03-11T23:12:09Z")
> [@Lo-Slung\_Denim](#): > > I have met very few male nurses working in general medicine, but in psychiatric nursing the majority are male. > > Just got to get my opinion in on this too: outside of jobs that are gender-specific for reasons covered by legislation, e.g. female DV worker for a women-only DV refuge, then all jobs that tend towards gender specification are gender-specific for no reason. I found male nurses to be very common in the ICU. I don’t know why. ---
**Author:** ![chizzuk](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/e36b37/32.png) [@chizzuk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/chizzuk)\ **Post date:** [March 11, 2012, 11:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jobs-that-are-gender-specific-for-no-reason-at-all/615491/8 "2012-03-11T23:21:22Z")
Speech-language pathologists must be 98% female. We have one guy in our class of 25ish and he’s apparently the first one in several years. I’ve never met a male SLP in a work setting. They’re out there, but very sparse. Occupational therapy seems pretty similar. I guess all the guys gravitate toward PT. ---
**Author:** ![Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/qadgop_the_mercotan/32/83_2.png) [@Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Qadgop_the_Mercotan)\ **Post date:** [March 11, 2012, 11:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jobs-that-are-gender-specific-for-no-reason-at-all/615491/9 "2012-03-11T23:25:42Z")
Behavior therapists for young autistic children are generally female. At least according to my daughter, who’s in that field. ---
**Author:** ![MichaelEmouse](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/michaelemouse/32/101_2.png) [@MichaelEmouse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MichaelEmouse)\ **Post date:** [March 11, 2012, 11:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jobs-that-are-gender-specific-for-no-reason-at-all/615491/10 "2012-03-11T23:55:39Z")
> [@Lo-Slung\_Denim](#): > > I have met very few male nurses working in general medicine, but in psychiatric nursing the majority are male. > [@Khadaji](#): > > I found male nurses to be very common in the ICU. I don’t know why. In the case of psychiatry, I’d expect that nurses are more likely be attacked and have to use their strength to restrain a patient. Does the ICU tend to disproportionately get patients who were recently victims of accidents or violence and are bloodied or maimed as a result? One I’m wondering about: Why is HR almost 100% female? ---
**Author:** ![even\_sven](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/dfb087/32.png) [@even\_sven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/even_sven)\ **Post date:** [March 12, 2012, 12:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jobs-that-are-gender-specific-for-no-reason-at-all/615491/11 "2012-03-12T00:31:42Z")
International development and humanitarian aid is a very female field. Even in the deep nitty gritty of it where people are flying into warzones and famines to do messy and dangerous work- it’s mostly women. ---
**Author:** ![Simplicio](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/c37758/32.png) [@Simplicio](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Simplicio)\ **Post date:** [March 12, 2012, 12:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jobs-that-are-gender-specific-for-no-reason-at-all/615491/12 "2012-03-12T00:34:46Z")
> [@RealityChuck](#): > > That’s pretty much true of all announcing jobs. All movie trailer announcers are men (though some women are trying to break in), as are most PA announcers, TV announcers, sports announcers, etc. Seems to be true of documentary narrators as well. Unless the documentary is about some sort of woman specific issue, anyways. ---
**Author:** ![Bijou\_Drains](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bijou_drains/32/2814_2.png) [@Bijou\_Drains](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bijou_Drains)\ **Post date:** [March 12, 2012, 1:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jobs-that-are-gender-specific-for-no-reason-at-all/615491/13 "2012-03-12T01:18:16Z")
around here Real Estate is about 95% women. ---
**Author:** ![MichaelEmouse](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/michaelemouse/32/101_2.png) [@MichaelEmouse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MichaelEmouse)\ **Post date:** [March 12, 2012, 1:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jobs-that-are-gender-specific-for-no-reason-at-all/615491/14 "2012-03-12T01:29:39Z")
> [@Bijou\_Drains](#): > > around here Real Estate is about 95% women. Was it the same during the booming phase? ---
**Author:** ![lavenderviolet](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/cdc98d/32.png) [@lavenderviolet](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lavenderviolet)\ **Post date:** [March 12, 2012, 1:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jobs-that-are-gender-specific-for-no-reason-at-all/615491/15 "2012-03-12T01:30:51Z")
My understanding is ICU nursing pays better than general med/surg nursing due to the complexity of the patients. I think that’s one reason why male nurses are concentrated there. ---
**Author:** ![Athena](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/35a633/32.png) [@Athena](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Athena)\ **Post date:** [March 12, 2012, 2:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jobs-that-are-gender-specific-for-no-reason-at-all/615491/16 "2012-03-12T02:31:06Z")
We have male nurses around here. I’d say maybe 10-15%. I’ve got my share of older relatives who are in and out of the hospital and have home health nurses coming to visit, and that’s what it seems to work out to. No particular specialty, either - they’ve been hospitalized for surgery, orthopedics, intensive care, you name it, it’s always the same ratio of male to female. ---
**Author:** ![C3](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/c3/32/3108_2.png) [@C3](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/C3)\ **Post date:** [March 12, 2012, 2:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jobs-that-are-gender-specific-for-no-reason-at-all/615491/17 "2012-03-12T02:56:42Z")
My children’s elementary school has one male teacher, and he just got transferred to a different school. ---
**Author:** ![Spice\_Weasel](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spice_weasel/32/5435_2.png) [@Spice\_Weasel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spice_Weasel)\ **Post date:** [March 12, 2012, 3:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jobs-that-are-gender-specific-for-no-reason-at-all/615491/18 "2012-03-12T03:22:20Z")
Social work is full of women. In my graduating class of over 200, there were six males. ---
**Author:** ![Simplicio](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/c37758/32.png) [@Simplicio](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Simplicio)\ **Post date:** [March 12, 2012, 3:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jobs-that-are-gender-specific-for-no-reason-at-all/615491/19 "2012-03-12T03:34:12Z")
I think the reason for some of these are pretty clear. For better or worse, our culture tends to encourage woman more in jobs that deal with young children (elementary school teacher, behaviour therapist) and in jobs that involve “nurturing” of various types (social work, nursing). We can debate whether these are _good_ reasons or not, but I don’t think they’re particularly mysterious. On the other hand, things like film narration, real-estate agent, dental hygenist or Office Admin really seem, at least on first glance, like they should be gender neutral. They fit better with the OP’s “no reason at all” IMHO. ---
**Author:** ![Becky2844](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/91b2a8/32.png) [@Becky2844](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Becky2844)\ **Post date:** [March 12, 2012, 4:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jobs-that-are-gender-specific-for-no-reason-at-all/615491/20 "2012-03-12T04:06:05Z")
Physician’s Assistants. I’ve never had a male one. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jobs-that-are-gender-specific-for-no-reason-at-all/615491.md?page=2)