I found this to be a curious article/discussion about the glass ceiling effect that sometimes is discussed in our Human Growth & Development classes. I was particularly taken by the few men that have gone into nursing as a career.....but it does appear these numbers are increasing.
http://encarta.msn-ppe.com:443/encnet/Departments/CareerTraining/?article=ReverseGlassCeiling1
Do you think a man may experience a "reverse" glass ceiling in a profession that has traditionally been dominated by women?
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Yes, I think it's possible, but I think that women are still more likely to bump up against this ceiling than men regardless of how traditional (gender-wise) the career. I'll use one of my favorite in-class phrases here: "It depends."
At first, I could not think of anything other than nursing. But, then it occurred to me how unusual it is to see male preschool and kingdergarten teachers. As much as kids need strong male influence in their lives, it is very unusual to see males in this position, and also often looked upon with great suspicion.
Why do you think this is true. Do you think it has more to do with the low compensation (compared to upper level grades), the "suspicion" associated with males in the field, or something else? It's a shame that more men aren't entering this profession because so many young children don't have a father figure in their lives.
I'm thinking of a young man who was studying architecture at Clemson just like his parents wanted him to, but he was so unhappy. He wanted to teach elementary school but was afraid of disappointing his parents...and of angering them. Finally, however, he mustered up the courage to change his major, and today he's living his dream as a 5th grade teacher. By the way, his parents' primary objection was $$$.
I think one big thing is the money, because teachers are not paid as well as other professions, which is a TRAVESTY, I mean, they are the ones making all the other professions possible to begin with. The second thing is that you hear so much about molestation and more men are accused than women, so some people are automatically cautious about their children being with "strange men," then I guess these same parents wonder why a man would be in a profession earning so much more than they could elsewhere. Personally, I think you should find what you love to do, and find some way to make money doing it. It's much more rewarding to be satisfied with what you're doing every day, and to feel like you're making a difference, than it is to have a big paycheck coming in and dread each day, regretting the choices you've made. And if that means choosing a profession that is typically dominated by another gender, you'll probably put more into it to prove you are capable, which would make you more successful in the long run.
Ditto! Now if only we could get more young people to buy into this idea....I think it was Joseph Campbell who said, "Follow your bliss," and I've thought about the wisdom of those three little words many times. When a person gets a job or enters a profession, often he or she thinks of making a living, but after a while it actually becomes a way of making a life. It becomes you...or a big part of who you are.
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