Jobs in which you directly care for other people, like teachers and nurses, have traditionally been dominated by women. However, several parts of the world seem to experience a shortage of workers in these areas.
The usual left wing answer to this problem is to argue for better wages and working conditions. I was thinking that we could brainstorm solutions for the gendered aspects as well.
Since the majority of people working in these fields are women, it stands to reason that men are a potentially untapped source of labor. In addition, the successful push for more women in STEM has shown that it is possible to make certain fields more attractive for a specific gender through political means.
Getting more men into these fields would obviously be good for society, as these are critical areas that need to be staffed properly. It would potentially be good for men as well:
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These are the kinds of jobs that provide people with a sense of meaning and purpose in their life, something I believe is an increasing problem for many men.
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Men have an increasingly hard time finding success in classical education. This could serve as an alternative career path for those whose strengths do not lie in academia.
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Young boys struggle a lot in school, and male teachers might have a different perspective on this that female ones.
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It would provide children with more male role models, showing them the breath of what men are capable off.
Now, I know that this is a small space without much political pull, consisting of people from different parts of the world. But if we want to differentiate ourselves from menslib on reddit and mensliberation on here, I think it would be prudent to not only address inequalities, but also brainstorm solutions.
So imagine for a moment that you have a seat in your government, or are an advisor for someone with political power. What would you suggest in order to convince men to join women dominated fields?
Better wages and working conditions. There’s a reason why women faught to become engineers, doctors, and lawyers but don’t talk about roofing, logging, and crab fishing. The former jobs pay well and won’t get you killed.
Men can often be motivated by money. I’m sure there’d be a heck of a lot more kindergarten teachers if it payed well. I don’t think anyone scoffs at the idea of a man becoming a nurse anymore. It’s a high paying job that’s in demand.
Conditions and money is for sure a big part of it, but even with things as they are, way fewer men than women still choose these career paths. Surely there is a reason for that?
@thestrugglingstudent, I think it’s not just that these jobs aren’t high-paying, but rather that they tend to pay poverty wages. As men, we are conditioned from an early age that we are meant to be providers, and as we grow up, women continuously reinforce this belief by favoring men who are better providers. In such an environment, it’s no surprise that the vast majority of men won’t touch the slave labor jobs that are presently dominated by women. (I call any job that pays less than a living wage a slave labor job because that’s essentially what it is).
That is a fair point. If the wages are that bad, I wouldn’t want anyone to work those jobs. Maybe we should look towards therapists or psychologists then… Better wages, dominated by women, and clearly in high demand.
As a man that chose to seek therapy, the hegemony of bad therapy and spectacularly bad advice for men being offered by therapists is almost impenetrable. I’ve been through 7 therapists, 4 of them caused much more harm than good because of their own (and their field’s) bias against men. Of them, only 2 were better than not going, and only one of those two really had the right skillset to help.
While I do think more men should pursue psychology as a career, it’s important to remember that there are significant barriers for men. Barriers that feminists generally refuse to discuss in good faith.
Were your therapists men or women?
A mix, 2 men and 5 women. That isn’t a large enough pool to draw conclusions from, but the older women were much better than the younger women. The best has been a middle aged man, the second best was a 60 year old woman.
My current psychologist is a man. My previous therapist was a woman. She ghosted me without explanation. She wasn’t a psychologist.
If you break a your leg, you go to the hospital and route you to the right doctors. Hiring a therapist isn’t like that at all. Hiring a therapist is like hiring a lawyer, you ask around and then interview them. It’s hard to find the person that has both the right skillset and the right attitude to help you.