As surprising as it may be, there are certain occupations in which women are dominant.
Though, they are not professions of “power” but indeed professions involving human relationships and requiring emotional involvement. As a result, even though the employment of women has increased over the past 30 years, women are labeled with specific types of trades. We are facing here cliches that persist, mainly in the medical sector.
The female gender is very mobilized in the professions of the medical sector, and it is occurring for many years. So why such proportions?
What are the job fields where women are overrepresented?
In the most cases, jobs which accounts the majority of women are service occupations that require few degrees and where the missions and positions do not require high skills. In this case, the remuneration will be low. Women therefore occupy the bottom of the hierarchy of socio-professional categories.
According to a recent study by Statista – the statistics portal, the professions in which women are the majority, concern the medical sector.
We find there the profession of nursing assistant, that of nurse, midwife and home help. In terms of percentages, there are 87.7% female nurses and midwives and 97.7% home helpers. We note the absence of the profession of doctor, a profession which requires great studies and which offers great responsibilities.
This recent study highlights the idea that all of the jobs with the most women, with the exception of midwifery, are occupations that require no more than a bac +3 and that are commonly called “women’s” jobs.
And that’s good, the medical sector perfectly embodies the feminine virtues! On the other hand, they are still few in professions embodying manhood: they represent 2% of construction workers, 10% of drivers and 15% of police, fire and military personnel. You should know that there are few so-called “mixed” jobs, the jobs being mainly exclusively male or exclusively female.
What are the reasons for such over-representation?
Several factors come into account to explain the overrepresentation of the female gender in the medical sector:
• First of all, the education they receive seems to be decisive in the choice of their profession. Indeed, the latter would receive less pressure than men regarding their studies.
• The weight of traditions plays an essential role in explaining this over-representation. Indeed, these traditions lead to a certain image of certain trades. Parents have a very gendered representation of the professions. When asked which professional sectors they would recommend to a boy, they answer the energy, technology and industrial sectors. On the other hand, for a girl, they respond to the service and personal care sector.
• The number of children also has an impact on women’s careers. Indeed, depending on this number, they sometimes prevent themselves from pursuing their careers as they wish.
• What also plays a role in the distribution of trades is the difference between what men and women are looking for in their professional future. Thus, women tend to favor the human relation to power. They are more fulfilled in situations of communication and language and are more attracted by the concern for the other and the sense of the concrete. Men walk with action and solving complicated technical problems.
Despite all these explanatory factors, it goes without saying that everything depends on the profile of individuals. We can very well find men midwives and conversely, women engaged in the army.
The medical sector has observed, over the past few years, an over-representation of women. Whether midwives, home helpers, nurses or nursing assistants, they all belong to the female gender. Several factors seem to explain such a phenomenon, be it education, traditions or even personal aspiration.
Reference: https://www.oecd.org/gender/data/women-make-up-most-of-the-health-sector-workers-but-they-are-under-represented-in-high-skilled-jobs.htm
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