A father and son are in a serious car accident. The father dies en route to the hospital but the son is rushed into the operating room for emergency surgery. The consultant surgeon is about to make the first incision but suddenly exclaims, “Oh no, I think this is my son!” Surely, the surgeon is mistaken.

Sadly, no. The consultant surgeon is a woman. But how many of you thought that the doctor must be mistaken? We are all guilty of this stereotyping. We cannot help but think of “surgeon” as a man’s career choice. Without any serious analysis, most of us would agree that many jobs and careers fall clearly into “man’s career choice” or “woman’s career choice.” But are we correct? Or do our prejudices cause us blithely to attach a gender to a particular job? How confident are we really that secretary, teacher, and nurse would be the top career choices of women; and truck driver, middle manager, and construction worker would be the top career choices of men?

Men’s and Women’s Top Career Choices Revealed
We should have placed our bets. Data derived from U.S. Department of Labor Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) tables reveals that women’s top career choices are “secretaries and administrative assistants,” “elementary and middle school teachers,” and “registered nurses.” Men’s top career choices are “drivers/sales workers and truck drivers,” “first-line supervisors/managers of retail sales workers,” and “carpenters.” Even more staggering, perhaps, is the gender representation in each of those occupations. Women comprise nearly 90% of all employees in the women’s three top career choices (combined); and men comprise nearly 85% of all employees in the men’s three top career choices. It seems that some careers rarely cross the gender barrier. The only careers with equal representation from both genders are bakers, news analysts, reporters and correspondents, and physician assistants. Check out the full list of occupations to discover if you’re a woman in a man’s career choice or a man in a woman’s career choice.

The Ultimate Career Choice for Men and Women: To Work or Not to Work
According to 2004 BLS figures, women form about 46% of the labor force and men 54%. However, only 46% of women who could work actually work, compared to 69% of men. Does this mean that women are slackers? Not really, although it does look as if another stereotype applies. There are around 23 million married women not in the labor force, but only around 14 million married men. It seems as if marriage is a fair career choice for some women. There are also 14 million women and 5 million men in a marital status other than married, unmarried, never married, divorced, separated, or widowed not in the labor force.

I don’t want to know.

Sources:
• Employment status by marital status and sex, 2004 annual averages (U.S. Department of Labor Bureau of Labor Statistics)
• Median weekly earnings of full-time wage and salary workers by detailed occupation and sex, 2005 Household Data Annual Averages (U.S. Department of Labor Bureau of Labor Statistics)

About the author
Katrina Boydon is a systemizing female with empathizing traits. She is as likely to be found crying over a sad film as balancing her bank account to the last cent.