eek! {{{WindSparrow}}} I'm glad you're OK.

My family is driving me nuts. (Don't really want to get into details, just need to not be totally keeping it in.)

{{{Windsparrow}}} Yikes. I'm very glad they put that curb in.

{{{Hil}}} Sorry about the family annoyance.

I had a wonderful day at my great-uncle's 95th birthday party. I saw relatives I haven't seen in ages. I'm tired now from all the socializing though. Tomorrow, Avenue Q!

I think a lot of the undervaluing of fields like education and social services comes from that they are still seen as skills that fall into the traditioally female skills sets of nurturing and communication, and are therefore of less value innately than the "hard" sets of skills seen as more masculine.

That might work both ways. Time was that schoolteachers were predominantly male, and I think it was a better respected profession at that time. I'm not sure whether it became devalued as it became predominantly female, or if men became less willing to take the jobs as it became devalued. Probably fed on each other.

That might work both ways. Time was that schoolteachers were predominantly male, and I think it was a better respected profession at that time. I'm not sure whether it became devalued as it became predominantly female, or if men became less willing to take the jobs as it became devalued. Probably fed on each other.

In Great Expectations, and a lot of other books from that time period, being a clerk is seen as a great first job for a young man, a way for him to work his way up in the business world. A few decades later, and the exact same job is called a secretary and done almost entirely by women with much less respect.

My understanding is that after World War II in Russia, so many male doctors had been killed in the wars that there was a severe shortage, and the field became predominantly female, at which time respect and remuneration for doctors dropped drastically.

We now have a lot of female doctors in the US. I don't know if this is accurate or not, but my perception is that GPs are more often female and specialists are more often male. Specialists are definitely paid much better. Many have argued that the level increased pay for specialists is out of line and is harming our health care system. Is gender part of the cause? I don't know, but it's interesting.

eek! {{{WindSparrow}}} I'm glad you're OK.

Oh, that was two years ago, when I was driving that tank of a Caprice Classic. It limped back onto the road, and found a parking lot to wait things out a bit. But by the time the snow let up enough that there was actual visibility, the windshield wipers had gotten so iced up that there was no going anywhere with it. So I walked to the store at the other end of the parking lot, and called a cab to get home. As the store happened to be the the outlet/gift store for the local woolen mill, it was quite a pleasant place to warm up. They had Willow Tree angels for sale there, and I found one holding a cat, which was different from the one I already had - so I was happy to buy it and bring it home with me.

Many have argued that the level increased pay for specialists is out of line and is harming our health care system. Is gender part of the cause? I don't know, but it's interesting.

I believe that there is a theory stating that one of the reasons for disparity in pay for the sexes, is that as women begin to move into a field that was once mostly men, as the field becomes more "feminized" and so less respected, pay rates go down for everyone in the field.

The other aspect of this that I find interesting is that it seems like the few men in predominantly female fields tend to do A LOT better than women in predominantly male fields. I have noticed that male librarians tend to be be in universities and in systems or management, all areas that tend to be more highly valued. Most of the male librarians I know are fantastic - of course, most librarians I know of either gender are fantastic - but I still find it interesting.

libkitty, I'm currently taking a class in Library Management, and we all keep telling the one male in our class that he'll probably go the furthest in the field just because of his gender. Not necessarily true, but statistically, it's pretty likely.