Gender Representation

As I am sure that everyone has noticed there is a large difference in the number of men and women in certain fields. Although these numbers are changing and becoming more even there is still an imbalance. For example there tend to be more females in fields such as nursing, MIT, teaching, and secretarial work. Men are more commonly thought of in fields such as construction, accounting, law, and mechanics. This is very apparent on our campus. OIT has a large amount of students in engineering and medical imaging programs. If you are sitting in and engineering class and you are female, chances are you will be outnumbered by males. On the other hand in classes like A&P or medical terminology you will find that the males are in the minority. In 2003 women made up 92% of nurses according to the United States Department of Labor ("Women's bureau," 2012).

 There are many reasons for this. People tend to see girls as nurturing, caring, gentle; these are all qualities that go well with health fields and working with kids. Women may also be seen as social, good communicators and good at multitasking which are good qualities to have if you are a secretary. There are several institutions in place that help make up these perspectives. Family can be a big part of this. You see where your parents wok and what they do and that is the example you have of what kind of jobs men and women should have. Also media through shows and movies, a lot of times you look up to the people on TV and you want to be like them. Peers play a part in this as well; your peers have a lot of power. If you do something that is different in grade school you will likely get teased and you will probably stop doing it.

In the last year the number of women in computer engineering has about doubled ("Women in high," 2010). More people are branching out into fields that they would not typically be found in. The numbers are still nowhere near even and genders are still not equal in in the same field, but it is becoming more common for men to go in to nursing or teach elementary school and for women to become lawyers and engineers.

Women in high techjobs. (2010). Retrieved from http://www.dol.gov/wb/factsheets/hitech02.htm

Women's bureau. (2012). Retrieved from http://www.dol.gov/wb/factsheets/Qf-nursing.htm