Increased number of men taking on women’s roles
Gender bias and discrimination does not only occur in the female population, but also affects men in today’s society.
When a couple has their first child, it is society’s expectation for the woman to quit her job and stay home and raise that child. It goes against societal norm for a man to quit his job to raise his child.
However, according to the Bureau of Labor statistics, in 2013, there were 1.45 million stay-at-home dads in the United States, and that number is currently on the rise.
There is also an increase in fathers choosing to become stay at home dads, and that percentage has risen from 5 percent to 21 percent in recent history, as stated by atmedad.org.
Another societal expectation men face in their career takes place in the hospital.
Tom Lanker, a nurse at Wooster Community Hospital, has experienced this kind of bias firsthand. “Many times, patients think I am a doctor because I am a man,” Lanker said. Lanker went on to say it is not often that patients ask for a female nurse so they feel more comfortable. “A lot of female patients don’t want a male nurse,” he said.
According to the U.S. Census Bureau, in 2011, out of the 3.5 million registered nurses in the United States, 330,000 were male, and that number is steadily increasing.