why have certain occupations such as elementary teaching and nursing historically been dominated by women?

Answer 1

In respone to Joyce M. no that wasn't why in World War I woman were nurses. They wanted to prove that they were useful and they wanted to help.

Answer 2

Teaching tends to deal with children and women have tended to gravitate towards this. Also, when women were not allowed to work in a mans world, teaching was seen as a respecable occupation. The same respectability goes with nursing, or more specifically, battle field nursing. Men would be out waving muskets at each other, so women would take on the role of helping the wounded. Doctors need a certain level of education which, until recently, was not available to most women. Most of the scut work would therefore be done by women, while surgery would be the male preserve.

Don't know if this helps, but you are probably dealing with traditional roles and the availability of education for women. For many housholds, female education was viewed as a waste of money, since the return on any investment would be short lived, as the women got down to the serious business of having children.

You are also looking at percieved respectability. Jobs that women with an education or level of social standing, would be able to do.

Answer 3

Actually teaching was not; historically men were schoolteachers, women started entering into the profession later. When they did, salaries became lower (because women don't need money as much? hmmm), because salaries became lower, the teaching profession was not as attractive to men, ergo it became a "women's" field.

Nursing was actually originally done by the dregs of society. It was a horrible job that no one wanted. Remember most communicable diseases had no cure until the 20th century. Chances were that if you were a nurse, you were also something of a camp follower. This changed with the entrance of Florence Nightingale (b-1820, d.1910) Horrified at the conditions of the poor in the hospitals, young Florence became determined to go into nursing and make it a respectable career. Her work in the Crimean war is amazing. My supposition would be that nursing is a mostly female field because a) the original nurses (mostly prostitutes) were woman and b) Ms. Nightingale made it a respectable career for women to go into; since there were not a lot of career choices for women, it became a predominately women's field.

Answer 4

it comes from the old role of women being mother and housewives - you nurse the kids (and even hubby) when they're ill, you teach kids how to count to 5, teach them the bible and being a housewife makes you stay home all day etc.....
women were bred to have that caring attitude towards people in their home and it was so much easier to adapt it to a profession such as nursing.where as our daily role as mothers and the natural love and tolerance we have (and have always had) towards children) is what women dominate elemntary teaching....it all trickle down from the historial housewife-motherly -woman's place is in the kitchen role our female ancestors played

Answer 5

Because, generally speaking, women are naturally more nurturing and inclined to deal with children. Men, on the other hand, are more programmed to take authoritative jobs. But many individual women would do better in executive positions than traditional female jobs. I'm one of them.

Answer 6

what else are they good at ? Obviously you did never see a woman in a "mans world" in action.