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What It’s Like To Be A Woman In A Male-Dominated Industry
Advice from rock star women who wouldn’t let the gender (or pay) gap stop them from pursuing their dreams
“In order to be successful, you couldn’t be ‘one of the guys’. You had to be yourself, stand by your principles, do your job, and keep your nose clean.” — My mom, retired Atlanta Police Officer
In honor of International Women’s Day, which will have passed by the time this posts, lest we forget, I wanted to take this opportunity to expand on an article I recently wrote on gendered ageism, and focus on women in general, particularly those who hold nontraditional female roles in the workplace.
The idea of this article came to me as I sat next to a woman in a nail salon who told me she was a welder. She still has an innate sense of feminity, after all. In my mind, she became an instant badass, and I immediately wanted to be her BFF. I was somewhat starstruck by this woman who was lighting a torch for women in this male-dominated field.
Women have traditionally been associated with — er pigeonholed into — female-dominated roles such as teacher, nurse, administrative, etc. More often than not, women opt out of pursuing a career in a male-dominated field due to culture, society, and lack of support from their families.
According to Kate Lee with the Workplace Gender Equality Agency, pressure from family and the wider society are some of the biggest factors preventing women from entering male-dominated industries. There is also the physical aspect when it comes to the ability to perform manual labor and the STEM gap. According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, women make up only 28% of the workforce in science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM), and men vastly outnumber women majoring in most STEM fields in college.
I believe this is mainly due to a belief system that has dominated our society since time immemorial. As late as the early 20th century, most women in the United States did not work outside the home, and those who did were primarily young and unmarried. According to Claudia Goldin in…
