According to Statistics Canada, the ratio of men to women in Canadian universities has changed drastically in the last 40 years. In 1971, just under 70% of graduates were male. In 2006, women now hold the majority at 60%. So, what is the cause of this significant change? Is it over-compensation? A change in the way females are viewed in education? Are boys being pushed in a different direction? Or is it a combination of many things?
While it has always been clear to me that the ‘real world’ of business is highly androcentric, I have always associated the world of education and teaching with women. There are far more female teachers than male teachers in primary schools in Canada and while it is not as distinct, more female teachers in high schools as well. My own primary schools’ teaching staffs are currently 84% and 90% female, my high school’s teaching staff is 72% female.
We’ve talked extensively about the social construction of roles and how they affect the decisions we make. It is quite clear that the role of teacher—nurturing children, shaping their minds, providing knowledge, rewarding and punishing behaviour—is seen as a distinctly ‘motherly’ or ‘feminine’ task. If children look towards same-sex adults for guidance on life choices, then it is clear that boys are not getting the same guidance that girls are, with few, if any, male teachers to look to for advice or role modelling. Additionally, there is a clear cycle of bad behaviour and reinforcement that can create ‘well-behaved, studious girls’ and ‘rowdy, messy, troublesome boys’ that will strongly affect these children down the road. But these ideas don’t necessarily explain why there have been recent changes in the male to female ratio in education after high school, or what the consequences might be.
The situation in Australia is very similar, with 60% of graduates across the country being female. In an article in The Age, Andrew Norton said it is “[o]bviously a revolution in the expectations of women, and what is expected of women [that] is a fundamental driver of the increase in female higher education attainment.” In the last 40-50 years, the second wave of feminism has sought changes in social and organizational inequalities between men and women. Since then, in many ways, women have succeeded. In other ways, there is still much progress to be made.
In the same article for The Age, it is mentioned that ‘traditionally female occupations’ have moved from apprenticeship or college prerequisites to university prerequisites. In other words, jobs in the education and health care fields now require a university degree, thus, at least partially, explaining this increased number of women in university. So, there are no stereotype-shattering actions being taken here: in fact, quite the opposite. Women now need university qualifications to go into the same female-dominated fields (teaching, nursing, social work); they are spending more of their money and time to achieve higher certification for the exact same job with the exact same pay. Adding insult to injury, there is also some evidence of the ‘glass escalator’ that allows men who choose female-dominated fields to rise higher and faster than the women around them.
Coming back to social construction of roles, it is clear that women are sticking to ‘female-appropriate’ jobs. Nursing, social work, administration, and especially teaching are all stereotypically female occupations with extremely high numbers of women, as compared to men. Other occupations like those in management or trades are distinctly male-dominated. The following information is taken from StatCan from the 2006 Census:
- Management occupations:
- Male: 1,032,940
- Female: 598,790
- Business, finance, administration occupations:
- Male: 863,420
- Female: 2,162,005
- Natural or applied sciences and related occupations:
- Male: 865,825
- Female: 242,225
- Health occupations:
- Male: 188,850
- Female: 761,515
- Trade, transport, and equipment operators:
- Male: 2,374,605
- Female:175,690
As demonstrated by these numbers, there is obviously a very strong association with what is a ‘man’s job’ and what is a ‘woman’s job’, and people are choosing their career paths based upon those associations.
Women are viewing the large numbers of women in universities as a victory for female equality. But in reality, women have not accomplished anything exciting: females are in the same jobs, being paid the same, but having to pay more to get there in the first place. It feels like a step in the right direction, but if you look closer, it isn’t really a step at all.
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kenzierenee
mika128
rileychung
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GenderStudies 
I agree with kenzierenee’s above statement that the role of ‘teacher’ being primarily female in today’s society. Growing up, there was 1 male teacher in my elementary school and 6 in my middle school – only a small fraction of female teachers employed at the same institutions. However, upon entering high school and being exposed to more male teachers, I found that the most effective instructors who in turn were my favourites were all males. These male teachers were able to make the course more interesting by being straight to the point about what was the educational outcome, giving creative, yet effective examples and anecdotes, while completely avoiding useless information that did not pertain to the material being taught. These courses taught by men were ones favourited by the majority of my high school, and all of the courses men taught were geared toward advanced students. It makes sense that women would be well suited for primary schools, acting as a surrogate mother in the education system for younger children. But when you get to high school, were the explanation (which leads to retention) of more complex information becomes important, men start to dominate again. When schooling becomes more about academia and less about social development, are men socially constructed to be more suited towards the role of “all-knowing”? Are we more likely to pay attention to male teachers, who genetically have deeper voices? Is this why most voice-over narrations in media are male voices? Just some things to consider!
I’m going to say I have to disagree. In my own experience, I have had some highly-unmotherly female teachers. I’ve also had some of the most confusing male teachers. I think that men and women are definitely socialized into these roles of “nurturing women” and “instructional men”, but I also think that there’s more variation in teaching styles or even general demeanours within genders than there is between them. Having said that, all of my favourite teachers have been male. In my opinion, if you’re going to break with standard social customs and become a male teacher, it’s probably because you have a true passion for teaching and because you’re good at it.
Yeah of course! All of the male teachers at my school were very vocal about their love for teaching. And I admit, I have had some cantankerous, cold female supply teachers in my day. I am still trying to come up with an explanation to why all of my full-time female teachers were nurturing and warm? Maybe it is because of the east coast’s small town attitudes of traditionalism and love for stability: all of my elementary school teachers growing up were over the age of 50. Maybe this motherly teaching technique was something that was instilled in the education of teachers 30 years ago, and this is why this teaching method is so present in my schooling system.
Reblogged this on kenzierenee and commented:
This is the first of three blog posts I’ll be writing for my Gender Studies class. It’s a group blog, so if you’d like to see my group members’ posts and comments as well, you can find them at https://genderstudies125.wordpress.com 🙂 We would love to hear your opinions!
Kenzie
I think the dominance of women in universities is a really interesting point. However the idea that women now need years of undergraduate studies to obtain the same career that, historically, could have been obtained easier is part of innovation and growth as a society. Though it may see unfair that career aspirations for women takes years and alot of money to obtain, I think that is truly just the result of the development of our society. For example, in the nursing field… there have been so many developments that contribute significantly to our health system and has consequently affected the education length for those whom chose that career path (male or female). Even in the education field, so many developments of different learning capacities and changes in technology has altered the way teachers teach which results in more schooling. Personally, I think that the evolution of our society and undergraduate education systems has resulted in more schooling, but also more learning that is vital for this day and age’s mankind.
You make a good point. There definitely are different options now in training for jobs like nursing and teaching. However, I think the two main issues at hand here is that, firstly, women are exceedingly more likely to choose jobs that society has stereotyped as “female jobs”, and more importantly, that because of this increase of women in universities, everyone is now thinking “Okay! Well, our job is done! Women are equal.” This means that any further action level the playing field between men and women in the working world may be much less likely to happen.
I think there has been huge strives for women in the workplace, and I don’t agree that women are more likely to choose jobs that our society has stereotyped as female jobs. I think there has an increasing amount of support for young adults to choose paths that they would enjoy doing, and not by stereotypes. There has been significant increases in women in corporate jobs, which could be described as a “males job”. I think that young adults are now choosing schools, programs, and careers based on their skills and what they like and not based on gender stereotypes.
“[…] women have not accomplished anything exciting: females are in the same jobs, being paid the same, but having to pay more to get there in the first place”
what would progress for females look like? at what point would we feel as though progress was made?
I’m not extremely well-versed in politics and the legalities of the corporate world, so I probably cannot give an entirely accurate description of what progress for women would look like. What I mean is, because I don’t understand how legal, political, or corporate systems can work to subvert women (directly or indirectly), I don’t know what’s missing or what my world would (or should?) look like if men and women were entirely equal. However, I live in a student bubble right now (I still rely on my parents to pay for my basic needs), and in that bubble, progress for me looks like newscasters discussing equal payment for men and women, or my school offering a lecture on stereotypes and equality. I imagine that once I have to support myself and future children, this view may change drastically, though I can’t yet imagine how.