# 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:** 2
**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, 4:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jobs-that-are-gender-specific-for-no-reason-at-all/615491/21 "2012-03-12T04:18:52Z")
> [@Becky2844](#): > > Physician’s Assistants. I’ve never had a male one. Interestingly the profession was first created so that all the (largely male) population of people that received medical training in the US military could work at the VA and similar places once they’d left the service. So its sort of an interesting example in that the gender balance has flipped, unlike most of the earlier examples where a lot of the gender bias seems to be due to inertia from when woman had very limted employment opportunities. My impression for the reason is that PA’s tend to be woman who wanted to work as doctors but were worried that between the long period of schooling and training, they wouldn’t be able to balance it with having children. ---
**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, 4:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jobs-that-are-gender-specific-for-no-reason-at-all/615491/22 "2012-03-12T04:36:01Z")
You’ll note that often, whether it’s secretary, dental hygienist, paralegal or nurse, we’re talking about a professional’s assistant. Men would often rather be the professional than the assistant\* because professional status, job security and income is more important to men than women, on average. Once you get an occupation associated with women, it’s difficult to get more men interested in it. \*And if they can’t, they’re more likely to decide to go into something else entirely. ---
**Author:** ![bouv](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/bc8723/32.png) [@bouv](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bouv)\ **Post date:** [March 12, 2012, 4:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jobs-that-are-gender-specific-for-no-reason-at-all/615491/23 "2012-03-12T04:41:48Z")
Labs techs are overwhelmingly female, IME. I see fewer male lab techs (percentage wise) than male nurses…by a pretty decent margin, too. And I work in over two dozen different hospitals, in labs, ORs, ICU’s, etc… and it’s the same everywhere. For that matter, Sterile Reprocessing/CSR/whatever that hospital calls it are also mostly women. ---
**Author:** ![Lynn\_Bodoni](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/e47c2d/32.png) [@Lynn\_Bodoni](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lynn_Bodoni)\ **Post date:** [March 12, 2012, 8:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jobs-that-are-gender-specific-for-no-reason-at-all/615491/24 "2012-03-12T08:00:49Z")
> [@Becky2844](#): > > Physician’s Assistants. I’ve never had a male one. I’ve had several male PAs, and one of my nephews is a PA. I’ve had one female PA. ---
**Author:** ![SanVito](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sanvito/32/2805_2.png) [@SanVito](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SanVito)\ **Post date:** [March 12, 2012, 8:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jobs-that-are-gender-specific-for-no-reason-at-all/615491/25 "2012-03-12T08:21:20Z")
> [@Simplicio](#): > > 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. Interestingly in the UK, real estate is a very ‘male’ profession - estate agents are seen as money hungry wide boys desperate to ‘close the deal’, not stereotypically ‘womanly’ traits. I’m in graphic design and, despite being 50:50 gender split at college level, I’ve found that by the time people work professionally, a good chunk of the women designers disappear. I’ve worked in large studios (30+ people) where I was the only female designer. I have no idea where the women go. ---
**Author:** ![BlankSlate](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/blankslate/32/80_2.png) [@BlankSlate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BlankSlate)\ **Post date:** [March 12, 2012, 8:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jobs-that-are-gender-specific-for-no-reason-at-all/615491/26 "2012-03-12T08:57:44Z")
Whenever I notice the Casting Director in movie credits it is always a woman. ---
**Author:** ![Namkcalb](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/c89c15/32.png) [@Namkcalb](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Namkcalb)\ **Post date:** [March 12, 2012, 9:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jobs-that-are-gender-specific-for-no-reason-at-all/615491/27 "2012-03-12T09:36:57Z")
> [@MichaelEmouse](#): > > One I’m wondering about: Why is HR almost 100% female? To prevent sexism. ---
**Author:** ![blindboyard](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/blindboyard/32/2833_2.png) [@blindboyard](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/blindboyard)\ **Post date:** [March 12, 2012, 9:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jobs-that-are-gender-specific-for-no-reason-at-all/615491/28 "2012-03-12T09:47:02Z")
> [@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. > > The belief is that people trust male announcers more, though I don’t know if there’s anything to support it. The BBC goes in for about equal male and female announcers on both TV and Radio. ---
**Author:** ![gracer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/8e7dd6/32.png) [@gracer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gracer)\ **Post date:** [March 12, 2012, 10:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jobs-that-are-gender-specific-for-no-reason-at-all/615491/29 "2012-03-12T10:15:59Z")
> [@blindboyard](#): > > The BBC goes in for about equal male and female announcers on both TV and Radio. And in lots of places the public transport announcers are female (busses in Rotterdam, the London Underground, Schiphol Airport, Rio de Janeiro Metro, Rome Metro etc. Pretty much anywhere I can think of. ---
**Author:** ![NinjaChick](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/71c47a/32.png) [@NinjaChick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NinjaChick)\ **Post date:** [March 12, 2012, 11:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jobs-that-are-gender-specific-for-no-reason-at-all/615491/30 "2012-03-12T11:30:44Z")
> [@Lynn\_Bodoni](#): > > I’ve had several male PAs, and one of my nephews is a PA. I’ve had one female PA. Interestingly, my experience within the military (_most_ of our “doctors” are in fact PAs), it’s roughly a 50-50 split. Go into your local library and there’s a very good chance that all the librarians will be female. No idea why. ---
**Author:** ![ecseas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/35a633/32.png) [@ecseas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ecseas)\ **Post date:** [March 12, 2012, 11:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jobs-that-are-gender-specific-for-no-reason-at-all/615491/31 "2012-03-12T11:38:44Z")
Early childhood educators. In my course there is literally two male students. > [@gracer](#): > > And in lots of places the public transport announcers are female (busses in Rotterdam, the London Underground, Schiphol Airport, Rio de Janeiro Metro, Rome Metro etc. Pretty much anywhere I can think of. Not in brisbane, Australia. the pre-recorded voice is male. ---
**Author:** ![Praline](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/2bfe46/32.png) [@Praline](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Praline)\ **Post date:** [March 12, 2012, 11:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jobs-that-are-gender-specific-for-no-reason-at-all/615491/32 "2012-03-12T11:53:06Z")
I’ve worked in two fields that appear to be majority female - librarians & counselors. I have also noticed, in my experience, anyway, that any males in these profession are quick to be promoted & have thought one fast track to success for men is to enter a field that is predominately occupied by women. ---
**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, 12:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jobs-that-are-gender-specific-for-no-reason-at-all/615491/33 "2012-03-12T12:13:06Z")
> [@Becky2844](#): > > Physician’s Assistants. I’ve never had a male one. > [@Lynn\_Bodoni](#): > > I’ve had several male PAs, and one of my nephews is a PA. I’ve had one female PA. I’ve never met a female PA. Maybe it’s something unique to the area, as we seem to have more male nurses than other places as well. ---
**Author:** ![Loach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/loach/32/350_2.png) [@Loach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Loach)\ **Post date:** [March 12, 2012, 12:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jobs-that-are-gender-specific-for-no-reason-at-all/615491/34 "2012-03-12T12:51:00Z")
> [@Becky2844](#): > > Physician’s Assistants. I’ve never had a male one. Between the military and the current walk-in medical facility I use I’ve seen a lot of PAs. Almost all have been male. ---
**Author:** ![Zsofia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/7bcc69/32.png) [@Zsofia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zsofia)\ **Post date:** [March 12, 2012, 1:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jobs-that-are-gender-specific-for-no-reason-at-all/615491/35 "2012-03-12T13:39:20Z")
I work in a very female-heavy profession - I’m a librarian, we have, let me think, three guybrarians in this very large building - but the female dominance at the library is completely dwarfed by the female dominance at the… zoo. Seriously, since I’ve been volunteering at the zoo the only males I’ve seen there have been divers and groundskeepers and some of the guest services volunteers. Every single zookeeper I’ve met is a young woman, and every animal care volunteer. It’s an incredibly physically demanding job, exactly the sort of thing you’d expect to be male dominated - it’s dirty and sweaty and outdoors and full of heavy lifting, except it’s also very low paying, particularly considering the level of education required, and it deals with animals which I suppose is a “girl thing”. I assume they’re all young because after a certain point holy crap how are you supposed to support a family on that pay? ---
**Author:** ![you\_with\_the\_face](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/y/ecccb3/32.png) [@you\_with\_the\_face](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/you_with_the_face)\ **Post date:** [March 12, 2012, 2:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jobs-that-are-gender-specific-for-no-reason-at-all/615491/36 "2012-03-12T14:21:37Z")
Veterinary medicine is becoming predominately female. In my graduating class of 60, only 10 were guys. Just by scanning this thread, it appears as though a lot of professions that you used to be predominately male have become predominately female. I can’t think of any traditionally female occupation that has been infiltrated by men to the same extent. This leads me to wonder: what are the guys doing that they weren’t before? ---
**Author:** ![ZipperJJ](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/zipperjj/32/211_2.png) [@ZipperJJ](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ZipperJJ)\ **Post date:** [March 12, 2012, 2:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jobs-that-are-gender-specific-for-no-reason-at-all/615491/37 "2012-03-12T14:27:25Z")
What about nurse practitioner? I’ve only met, say, 10 CNPs in my life but they’ve all been women. ---
**Author:** ![Zsofia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/7bcc69/32.png) [@Zsofia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zsofia)\ **Post date:** [March 12, 2012, 2:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jobs-that-are-gender-specific-for-no-reason-at-all/615491/38 "2012-03-12T14:49:53Z")
> [@you\_with\_the\_face](#): > > Veterinary medicine is becoming predominately female. In my graduating class of 60, only 10 were guys. > > Just by scanning this thread, it appears as though a lot of professions that you used to be predominately male have become predominately female. I can’t think of any traditionally female occupation that has been infiltrated by men to the same extent. This leads me to wonder: what are the guys doing that they weren’t before? Very little. Generally the “pink collaring” of a profession goes hand in hand with loss of prestige and pay (clerks become secretaries, etc.) I do see male flight attendants now; that used to be completely female. ---
**Author:** ![Hampshire](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hampshire/32/4887_2.png) [@Hampshire](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hampshire)\ **Post date:** [March 12, 2012, 2:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jobs-that-are-gender-specific-for-no-reason-at-all/615491/39 "2012-03-12T14:56:15Z")
Daycare centers seem to be staffed completely by females. Even schools seem to be female teachers below a certain grade level. I think my first male teacher was 4th grade. I have never met a male kindergarten teacher. ---
**Author:** ![kayaker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kayaker/32/441_2.png) [@kayaker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kayaker)\ **Post date:** [March 12, 2012, 3:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jobs-that-are-gender-specific-for-no-reason-at-all/615491/40 "2012-03-12T15:05:24Z")
> [@Ibanez](#): > > 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. He shoulda kept it in his pants! [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jobs-that-are-gender-specific-for-no-reason-at-all/615491.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jobs-that-are-gender-specific-for-no-reason-at-all/615491.md?page=3)