The Phenomenon of Gender Flight

Nowadays, there is a new phenomenon on the rise closely related to sexism and androcentrism (valuing masculinity over femininity), both of which are major problems of our world. This phenomenon is called "gender flight", or "male flight", and can be traced back all the way to the 1850s. Let's take a look at what this phenomenon is, what effects it has on our society, and some examples of it throughout history.

What Is "Gender Flight"?

First things first, what is "gender flight"? Gender flight, or "male flight", is a phenomenon where men tend to leave a particular field of profession that had been regarded as a "male-dominated field" for a long time, once more and more women start entering the said field. Not only that, but the average pay for the average employee of that profession decreases as women get more involved.

Example-1: Nursing

There are several examples of gender flight throughout history that we can take a look at. The first example would be the field of nursing. In the past, nursing had been seen as a masculine job. The earliest recorded account of a nursing practice is from 250 BC, a nursing school in India. At the time, women were thought to be "impure"; thus, they were not allowed to attend this school to become nurses. According to the Journal of Nursing Education and Practices, there was the belief that this field was associated with "sacredness" and that the members of this field embodied "gods". And since all the major gods of the time were male, people believed that only men could become nurses or any other type of healer. For a very long time in history, the societal norm was that nursing was a profession for men. But that was until the 1850s when Florence Nightingale, the founder of modern nursing, changed the game. When Nightingale became a nurse in a Crimean War hospital, she managed to reduce the death rate by two-thirds with her revolutionary ideas on sanitation. And in 1860, she founded her nursing school in London: Nightingale Training School for Nurses. This was also revolutionary for the field of nursing since previously, nurses were mostly monks or military men who didn't have much medical knowledge. All of this led to Nightingale becoming an inspiration to women. By the end of the 19th century, the school had trained nearly 2000 nurses, all of whom were women. And by 1930, a change had taken place in the societal norm. 97.5% of nurses were women, whereas men only made up 2.5% of the field. The ratio has become 86% women and 14% men today, but still, nursing is regarded as a female profession. As a result of that stereotype, nursing is often a low-paying and devalued job nowadays.

Example-2: Cheerleading

Yet another interesting example is cheerleading. Yes, you read that right, cheerleading used to be a male-dominated field! The birth of cheerleading was back in 1898, at the University of Minnesota. The university's team was not doing well in sports games, so during one of the games, a student named Johnny Campbell started cheering for the team by chanting with a megaphone. The team won the game in the end, and thus cheerleading was born. Universities did not accept women at the time, so cheerleading was only practiced by men. This led to it being associated with masculinity, leadership, and courage. But when women started attending universities, they also started participating in cheerleading. Some were not pleased by that development and criticized women for being "too loud". Then, the World Wars started. With men fighting in the military, away from universities, women began to dominate the sport. In time, society's perception of cheerleading changed. Once a sport of men, it started being viewed as a "feminine sport". It was associated with strength and athleticism when it was a male-dominated sport, whereas now, it is associated with "physical attractiveness" and is quite belittled as a sport. Even today, men who choose to participate in the sport of cheerleading are often ridiculed and looked down on.

Example 3: Computer Science

One last example we're going to look at is a reverse of the previous two examples. Shockingly, before the 1960s, computer science was a female-dominated field. The programming of the first computers was often given to white women at the time. This job involved doing pretty basic, routine math exercises. So, it was regarded as a low-status job. But during the 1960s, things started to change. The demand for technology began growing, and as a result of the growing demand, the salary for professions related to computers started rising as well. This change caught the attention of men. But they still did not want to be associated with the women in the field, who had always been viewed as low-status. So, they decided to reinvent the whole image of computer science in the eyes of society. They started advertising the profession as masculine and painting it as a high-status job of the utmost importance, requiring great expertise. According to historian Nathan Ensmenger, the male computer scientists at the time would claim that practicing computer science was "to be a devotee of a dark art, a high priest, or a sorcerer, was to be privileged, elite, master of one's domain". (A little egotistical, don't you think?) In time, companies started favoring male candidates in the hiring process. Computer science became the male-dominated field it is today. Technology overall started being associated with men.

Gender Flight Today

Today, this phenomenon still continues to affect society in new fields. The most recent and striking one would be reading. Reading has always been viewed as a highly intellectual, important hobby. It has always been associated with intelligence and success. But after the rise of "booktok", "bookstagram" and such trends, when women started being the prominent gender in reading, books suddenly started losing their reputation. Reading, especially reading fantasy or romance, started being belittled and devalued the more it became associated with women. Many other examples can be given, such as interests which are considered to be "masculine", like sports or technology, have a well-respected reputation, whereas ones associated with femininity, like cooking or fashion, are quite often looked down on.

Gender flight, or male flight, affects our society even today, and it will likely continue to do so for a long time. We cannot hope to solve this problem until we, as a society, change our perspective on gender stereotypes. As daunting as that challenge may seem, it is crucial that we take on this challenge for the sake of humanity and for the good of future generations.