The fight for gender equality has long since worn off. Stereotypical nonsense about women being more empathetic than men, men being more knowledgeable about automobiles, women having less clout – should have gone a long time ago. The feminization of the professions is proceeding extremely quickly, so it is worth noting what has been achieved at this point.
Table of Contents:
- Feminization and masculinization
- New generation sets its sights on development
- Marketing a profession for…?
- Time for women
Feminization and masculinization
The Polish language dictionary tells us two important terms – feminization and masculinization. These terms refer to the domination of a certain part of life by men [maskulinizacja] or women [feminizacja]. While every woman would like to speak loudly about the equality achieved, unfortunately she cannot do so at this point, especially when it comes to employment. In most European countries, the position of women in the labor market is still not the same as that of men. There is occupational segregation.
For this reason, we speak of occupational feminization. This means that women dominate certain sectors of the professions. Which ones? Unfortunately, those with less prestige and less profitable. Jobs related to care, creativity or delicacy are the ones we can safely say about – feminized. Employment of women in this type of industry is the order of the day. However, men can also work in such jobs, and their position is called the “glass escalator” mechanism. It is a term used to denote the privileged position of men working in occupations traditionally considered female, allowing for easier promotion to higher positions and the possibility of higher salaries.
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New generation sets its sights on development
The opportunity for lasting and permanent change in the labor market is a new generation that blurs stereotypes and opens up to other solutions. They recognize the potential of working in diverse teams and benefit from the talents and experience of each team member. Male contributions to projects are as necessary as female ones. What is evaluated is what kind of commitment an employee puts into his or her duties, not his or her gender. Paulina Mazur – HR and employer branding consultant – talks about feminization from the perspective of her experience.
“In the younger generation, you can see that the differences and stereotypes associated with the perception of certain professions are fortunately flattening out and slowly disappearing.” Differences can be seen especially in relatively new industries – like e-commers. The openness of young people to the world and to people makes the potential of a given company more realized, and with diverse teams, the chance of success increases.
Marketing a profession for…?
Marketing is a very widely developed industry. It consists of many typically technical elements, related to IT or SEO, but also creative elements – such as content creation or marketing strategy. At the I Love Marketing conference, you can see the diversity of experience, age and gender, which thus makes the participants’ speeches even more valuable. So the question that comes to mind is-what characterizes the different genders in marketing? Paulina Mazur explains why this way of viewing people is wrong.
“The reason I wouldn’t fall into this is that if we start defining for ourselves those qualities that stand out, we ourselves already start stigmatizing women and men for something at some point. I think it’s really a very individual issue.”
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Time for women
Although we may sometimes encounter discrimination, we should not diminish what has already been done. The current labor market situation looks much better than it did just a few years ago. Many women are working in places that not long ago were completely inaccessible. Women’s labor force participation is increasing, and the perception of a woman’s position in society is changing. One can note the enormous contribution of women to social, cultural and business life. It is these changes that should motivate both women and men to strive for changes in the labor market, but also to notice their qualities and appreciate their presence in the team.