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Kathy Holmes
Professor Kufs
English 115
27 October 2016
Women Represent!

Can a woman do a mans job and can a man do a womans job? First, you will have to
ask yourself what is a mans job and what is a womans job. Women are looked at as weak
and incapable of doing a job that may take exertion or extra effort. Men are looked at as not
being able to do anything artsy or tedious or home-bound. It starts with how boys and girls are
raised. Boys play tough and dirty. Girls play inside to keep clean and out of danger. There are
specific jobs where men are under-represented as well. We will look into how and why women
and men can be underrepresented and why for women it is harder and also what we can do to
even out the playing field.
Many career fields show a huge under-representation of women. Some have valid
reasons, some not so much. For example, the military did not allow females at all but we have
seen the country and even the world grow. But, it came slowly. Another example is in
construction, 46% of women work in all fields combined, but a small percentage of that was
represented in actual physical construction jobs. The highest percentages were in office work
and jobs that only require computer or writing skills. This shows how women can only be
somehow useful at a desk job or for tedious tasks.

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Across the board we can see gender inequity and gender inequality. We see it in the
restaurant field, in construction, in science, and among countless others. There is
discrimination, harassment, and less sick days for women. Even when women have more jobs in
the restaurant business than in other fields, it is only because the restaurant business is not a high
paying job in the first place.
So, in knowing this, we wonder why women are not being given jobs in these fields.
This could be the cause of many reasons, such as, women being too distracting for men, or
maybe due to her age, they may think she will become pregnant and then go on maternity leave
leaving less employees, or even just because men are looked at as more fit for the job.
A study from Yale University, asked over 100 faculty members to pick the more fit
candidate out of the two resumes. They used identical resumes except for the difference in
names. One was a common female name and one was a common male name. The male resume
was picked more often than the female resume even though they had the same qualifications.
But, it was not even that they just picked him over her. They would have wanted to pay him
more and given him extra opportunities. This was in the field of science and engineering.
But, in some fields, women dominate over men in areas such as nursing, teaching, social
work, counseling, and waitressing. These are all various care-taking jobs which apparently are
reserved for women. So men may think this evens things out. These jobs are referred to as pinkcollared jobs or jobs dominated by women. What makes it hard for men to be in this field is
that each of these careers have barriers because of the social stigma that they have on them.
These jobs are looked at as womens work.

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A study done by the American Sociological Association said one of the reasons women
should not and are not involved in men dominated industry fields is because it was found that
they had high levels of cortisone and high stress levels in this field. They said it messes with a
females hormone levels as well. So, maybe, being in these fields is potentially harmful for
females. The feel socially isolated, they are sexually harassed, and they are not as supported in
these workplaces. This could be why men are more predominant in a mans field.

In my opinion, looking at the two sides of the argument, women are completely capable
of doing a mans job and men are capable of doing a womans job. What could change in the
men dominated fields, where women want to work, is to have a support system for women. We
need to be able to make women feel safe in the workplace. If women feel like they belong there
and they are needed they will become healthy workers. It is not a matter of keeping women out
of men dominated fields, it is keeping women safe and supported in a man dominated field.
When employers are looking to hire someone, they need to not include gender, race, or
anything regarding irrelevant details about the person. If they are qualified, then they should be
able to do the job. It should not be based on what they look like or where they come from. You
want someone who can do the job and do the job well.
According to The New York Times, womens pay has been at 20% below mens pay.
They say this is due to womens work not being valued as much as mens work. So even if
women do find their way into men dominated occupations, they will be paid less, and treated
worse.

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Both my mother and father are aerospace engineers. Both are highly qualified and my
mom actually has a bit more qualifications than my father. But when she was working, she got
paid substantially less then him. She even had more experience then him and was even older.
She stopped working and has not gone back since because she knows that she would never be
able to get paid the same amount as him even though she is definitely fit for the job.
So women can and should be able to do anything that a man can do and vice versa. It just
comes to how much you are willing to support your workers and how much you care about their
success. If you want a long term employee, they need to be shown that is what you intend to do.
If not, you are going to have employees that do not stay and you are going to have to worry
about hiring and training new people constantly. This is an ongoing problem and the change that
needs to happen will start with society accepting the idea that women and men are equal.

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Bibliography
Covert, Bryce. "Women with The Same Qualifications as Men Get Passed Over For
Promotion." ThinkProgress. ThinkProgress, 22 Dec. 2014. Web. 21 Oct. 2016.

"Gender Inequality and Women in the Workplace." Harvard Summer School. N.p., 12 May
16 2016. Web. 21 Oct 2016

Miller, Claire Cain. "As Women Take Over a Male-Dominated Field, the Pay Drops." The
New York Times. The New York Times, 19 Mar. 2016. Web. 21 Oct. 2016.

"United States Department of Labor." Women's Bureau (WB). Web. 21 Oct. 2016.

Turner, Ronald. "Grutter, the Diversity Justification, and Workplace Affirmative Action TwentyFirst Annual Carl Warns Labor & Employment Institute 43 Brandeis Law Journal 20042005." Grutter, the Diversity Justification, and Workplace Affirmative Action TwentyFirst Annual Carl Warns Labor & Employment Institute 43 Brandeis Law Journal 20042005. N.p., n.d. Web. 21 Oct. 2016.

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