[quote=poorgradstudent]I think on a whole women (especially young women) are a lot more likely to listen to the advice others give them, fall in line, and go for “safe” options. So as a whole women went after more steady and growth industries, while many men kept chasing their dreams. Globalization also has hit men a lot harder than women. Teaching and Nursing, two traditionally female dominated professional fields, can never be outsourced.
Although teen girls still have an achievement gap in math and science, teaching boys is actually a huge issue. Boys are far more likely to have behavioral problems, and started struggling academically as a whole a while ago.[/quote]
I’d say that sociological pressures are the more likely reason for the female domination of teaching and nursing. Up until the early 70s, discrimination based on sex was common and absolutely legal. Newspapers, almost without exception, had separate “Help Wanted: Men” and “Help Wanted: Women” sections. The men’s section had listings for accountants, draftsmen, engineers, construction foremen, welders, chemists, architects, and on and on. The women’s section, on the other hand, had listings for clerks, receptionists, secretaries, and waitresses. The only professions that required post-high school education were teachers, nurses, and bookkeepers. Occasionally, you’d see an ad for a female medical technician, but it was rare. Women were pushed into teaching and nursing because they were the only professional positions that a college-educated female could be assured of getting. The men who “chased their dreams” were actually just going after what was considered their due.
For those women who decry the feminists of the late 60s and early 70s, I say they’re the reason we’re able to apply for, and have a good chance of getting, professional jobs in all fields for which we are qualified. Once those barriers were down, women grabbed up those majors in college, and the myth that they did not possess the intelligence or capability to do the classwork was dispelled. Women have flooded those fields formerly dominated by white males because they wanted the intellectual stimulation, professional fulfillment, and monetary rewards of those jobs. As the sociological landscape changed, and divorce became much more commonplace, there were more and more women in the role of single mother, and better pay became a necessity, not simply a luxury.
As for the differences in teaching girls vs. boys, there is evidence of a disparity. However, we are doing a great disservice to male students, and to ourselves as a country, by failing to adjust our instructional methods to meet the needs of both sexes. Part of that adjustment will require a serious change in the attitudes of the parents of those students.
