I am so grateful for the sane men in my life, including here. When I read things like that I am taken back because I protect and surround myself with the rational.

Teaching is a famous historical example of a field being devalued as women entered the field.

I wonder when it happened with Human Resources, because that's definitely dominated by women now.

I think being a secretary was one of the first examples-- even before teaching.

The weird reversal thing with nursing and secretarial work (can't speak for teaching) is the few men who do it seem get promoted to fairly high positions very quickly if they are not incompetent. All unconsciously, and by women.

And I sure did wish that men draining out didn't mean anything other than the assholes leave. Because the entire workforce is better off not having to work with the kind of people that would leave because of an evening out of the genders.

It sounds like it's more of a case of the assholes not deciding to drop in in the first place. But if the medical and legal professions are ones in the midst of this process, where exactly is the money and status supposed to go? I'm skeptical of it settling in traditionally male bailiwicks like construction or the police and firefighting forces.

Yeah, I don't think most of the male flight is deliberate. It's probably subconscious for the most part. And then there's less pay, and the guys are even less likely to go there for pay reasons, not just girl-cootie reasons. Etc, etc.

It sounds like it's more of a case of the assholes not deciding to drop in in the first place. But if the medical and legal professions are ones in the midst of this process, where exactly is the money and status supposed to go? I'm skeptical of it settling in traditionally male bailiwicks like construction or the police and firefighting forces.

Yes and yes. And not even assholes, but people who live in our culture, where women's work IS undervalued (in all the ways) and it IS much worse for a man to "seem like a woman" than for a woman to "seem like a man" and... I just can't.

But if the medical and legal professions are ones in the midst of this process, where exactly is the money and status supposed to go?

High finance and software engineering. Probably engineering in general.

Luckily, engineering schools are still full of boys! Phew.

Also, politics.

I think this was also a thing in Soviet Russia (in Soviet Russia, gender issues study you!). Women became MDs in large numbers and men stopped doing so. Both the status and pay for MDs declined dramatically. Of course, pay issues in the Soviet Union had a number of factors affecting them.