Jobs in which you directly care for other people, like teachers and nurses, have traditionally been dominated by women. However, several parts of the world seem to experience a shortage of workers in these areas.

The usual left wing answer to this problem is to argue for better wages and working conditions. I was thinking that we could brainstorm solutions for the gendered aspects as well.

Since the majority of people working in these fields are women, it stands to reason that men are a potentially untapped source of labor. In addition, the successful push for more women in STEM has shown that it is possible to make certain fields more attractive for a specific gender through political means.

Getting more men into these fields would obviously be good for society, as these are critical areas that need to be staffed properly. It would potentially be good for men as well:

  • These are the kinds of jobs that provide people with a sense of meaning and purpose in their life, something I believe is an increasing problem for many men.

  • Men have an increasingly hard time finding success in classical education. This could serve as an alternative career path for those whose strengths do not lie in academia.

  • Young boys struggle a lot in school, and male teachers might have a different perspective on this that female ones.

  • It would provide children with more male role models, showing them the breath of what men are capable off.

Now, I know that this is a small space without much political pull, consisting of people from different parts of the world. But if we want to differentiate ourselves from menslib on reddit and mensliberation on here, I think it would be prudent to not only address inequalities, but also brainstorm solutions.

So imagine for a moment that you have a seat in your government, or are an advisor for someone with political power. What would you suggest in order to convince men to join women dominated fields?

  • thestrugglingstudent@kbin.socialOP
    4·
    1 year ago

    To start, I think that there is a certain feeling if you are a boy/man that somehow, these jobs are not for you. Inviting guest speakers, for example male kindergarten teachers, to high schools where they would speak about their experiences and why they chose that job could be a first step in making it sound more approachable.

    • chatterbox@kbin.social
      6·
      1 year ago

      Part of the problem is also how men in those positions are treated by society. My wife went through a teaching degree, and the number of things men (they teach everyone this, but it’s clearly more for the men) have to do in order to protect themselves from accusations (or even just rumors and suspicion. Always keeping a door open, finding other adults to be present if a kid wants to talk to you in private, etc. And many guys who had been thinking of teaching earlier years ended up switching to high school, since it’s apparently seen as less ‘creepy’.

      I have no idea how we start to fix that…

      • a-man-from-earth@kbin.social
        7·
        1 year ago

        Part of the problem is also how men in those positions are treated by society. My wife went through a teaching degree, and the number of things men have to do in order to protect themselves from accusations

        This is very important. There certainly are men who would love to become teachers, but many are discouraged by the very real problems of false accusations and a societal mistrust of the motivations of men who want to become teachers.

        Guarantees need to be put into place that men will be treated fairly, and robust policies for handling accusations, based on the legal principle of innocent until proven guilty.

        At least in most Western countries we’re still in the position that one rumor can kill someone’s career (especially after MeToo), and I can imagine most men deciding they do not want to risk that.

    • Halafax@kbin.social
      4·
      1 year ago

      Inviting guest speakers, for example male kindergarten teachers, to high schools where they would speak about their experiences and why they chose that job could be a first step in making it sound more approachable.

      Contrarian view, men speaking honestly about the barriers men face in those field is not likely to improved the situation. It might make the existing discrepancy worse.