Introducing Men in Non-Traditional Occupations

Abstract

This book is about men who serve and care. In other words, it focuses on men who enter what have been identified as ‘feminine’ occupations. These are occupations that are traditionally held by women and which are notable for requiring feminine skills and attributes (for example, sensitivity, service, nurturance and beauty) that society normally attributes to women (Heilman, 1997; Hochschild, 1983). It explores specific themes that are key to understanding men’s experience in these roles — identity, visibility and emotions — and sets out the results of a recent research project based in Australia and the UK on men working in four ‘non-traditional’ occupational groups: nursing, primary school teaching, librarianship and flight attendance. The study addressed career issues (for example motivations, aspirations), implications of men’s ‘token’ status for experiences in the organization, perceptions of gender differences in occupational practices (specifically in terms of performances of service and emotional labour) and how men manage potential mismatch between gender and occupational identity.KeywordsCareer ChoiceWork ContextPrimary School TeacherOccupational ChoiceEmotional LabourThese keywords were added by machine and not by the authors. This process is experimental and the keywords may be updated as the learning algorithm improves.