By Nia Rutledge
Everyone knows that auto service, engineering and technology-based classes are for guys, and jewelry and human growth and development classes are for girls.
It isn’t bad for some women to prefer sewing over welding, or men to prefer cabinetry over jewelry. However, I wonder why these classes are the ones that segregate men from women.
Every once in a while, a few brave souls are willing to challenge the social standards and enroll in courses in which their gender is the minority.
Recently, it seems more men are curious about the female body in the midst of pregnancy in human growth and development, like sophomore Anthony Harvey. Harvey is one of 11 men enrolled in human growth and development, compared to 74 women.
“I enrolled in human growth and development because I thought it would be cool to learn about how babies were born and how the human body develops,” Harvey said.
There has also been an increase of women with an interest in engineering, such as senior AnnaKate Kleiböhmer.
“I want to study either architecture and engineering, preferably architectural engineering,” Kleiböhmer said.
Even though there are students who challenge the gender-oriented classes, the ratios of male-to-female students enrolled are still uneven. In jewelry and metal creation, there are only 20 men enrolled compared to 70 women.
The ratios make me question why these particular classes tend to be more appealing to one gender than another.
“I just don’t think guys. . . really feel comfortable talking about that subject or learning about it or seeing images and stuff,” junior Morgan Byrn said. “Girls have to go through it, so they are kind of interested in it.”
As a girl who finds technology interesting, I find it baffling that there are only seven women enrolled in game and software development to their 58 male counterparts.
Senior Mia Monteau is one of the few women enrolled in game development.
“I’ve always had an interest in video games ever since I was a child,” Monteau said. “I think it’s really fun. Mostly because of the small class size and how relaxed the atmosphere is.”
Senior and engineering student Caelan Golledge has noticed the stronger female presence in male-dominated courses, and he welcomes the change.
“People just assume that engineering has to be a male’s job,” he said. “But since we’re shifting more toward the liberal side of the spectrum, people are more accepting of women engineers.”
The gap between male to female ratios in human growth and development is the second largest at LHS.
The ratio comes in second only to welding, in which there are no women enrolled at all. There is only one reason to explain the lack of men in female-dominated courses: fear.
“I would say that some people would look down upon it,” Byrn said. “But, I believe that it’s growing to be…more accepted.”
Weakness often is seen as a negative trait. Frequently, women are portrayed as weak characters, while men are often portrayed as strong characters.
So, if a man was to take a female-dominated class, he would be lessening his strength by wanting to relate to women in such a way. But if a woman were to take an engineering and or a technical class, it would be seen as a good thing.
“I don’t like how people assume engineering is a male’s job,” Golledge said. “I think it should be a unisex job. It’s the same thing with nurses. Everyone assumes it’s going to be a female, but why can’t a guy be a nurse?”
Often, you see engineering and technical programs wanting to attract more women. Although, rarely does a nursing programs or child-care professions reach out to men, which is discriminatory toward them.
As a society, we should try to fill these gender gaps in all professions and courses, not just the male-dominated ones. Because, men can do just as well as women in female-dominated jobs.
“I think that people should do whatever they want to do and they shouldn’t even take into consideration if it’s female or male dominated,” Kleiböhmer said. “Just whatever makes them happy. And I don’t think that it should even matter.”
