Why Your Vet Is More Likely to be a Woman Now Than a Decade Ago
New research culled from the past 15 years shows that men are as likely to fill traditionally "female" jobs as women are to fill "male" jobs. But only some men are contributing to the trend. According to a still-unpublished report cited in the New York Times today, it's men who are "already disadvantaged in the labor market; black, Hispanic, less educated, poor and immigrant" that have moved to pursue "women's work."
"More privileged men can resist entry into predominantly female occupations more readily than their less privileged counterparts," said Patricia A. Roos, a sociologist at Rutgers and one of the researchers who conducted the new study, commenting on the findings in the Times. And since 2000, the work that has become increasingly male is mostly lower-status-customer service, crossing guards, textile workers.
Roos, who's done work on labor composition before, sees a familiar pattern in worker flow since the 1800s: when men leave a given field for better jobs, predominately white, native-born women fill their positions. But that's only part of the story; when those women move on, it's immigrant and poor men who pick up the slack.
Meanwhile, women are increasing their representation in professional or managerial jobs. So while your school crossing guard may more likely be a man, your vet or your optometrist may more likely be a woman than a decade or so ago.
All this makes for more than a few curious statistics. According to experts, it should drive policy makers to consider gender, race, class, and how these factors intersect when they craft legislation meant to improve workers' pay and benefits.
"People are focusing too much on the white, male working class," Leslie McCall, associate director of the Stone Center on Socioeconomic Inequality, said to the Times, "but if you look at the working class more broadly, the issues are quite similar across all groups: wages, economic security, employment support, training." That is, it's time to broaden our perspective.
You Might Also Like
