Does the suitability of a
profession depend on the sex of the person involved?
I
can imagine a quick reader going through the question above and silently or
even loudly answering with a NO.
That does not mean however that they may not be people who will give a straight
YES answer.
Personally,
I had my answer way before I typed the question but as I examined my answer I
could not help imagining how times have changed. Before my growing up years, every boy wanted
to be a doctor, an engineer or an architect. A girl with those aspirations
would have simply been delving into a world that was not hers. By the time my
childhood came to be, more girls were applauded for filling ‘medical doctor’ in
the space next to any future ambition column.
It
was not that any girl was ever refused admission into any higher institution
into the engineering or architecture class or vice versa for a boy who wanted
to be a nurse but it was simply an odd choice.
This
reminds me of the first time I saw a male nurse. I stared hard, as if I had seen a man walking on his head.
‘Are
you sure he is not a Doctor?’ I had asked my mama in vernacular.
She
smiled and replied that there have always been male nurse even though they were
very few.
By
my undergraduate years there was more mixture of both sexes albeit little that
mixture was. I remember one of the Students’ Union elections where voting was
done on departmental basis. Each student had to queue according to his/her
department. I had to assist a friend to locate her departmental queue so we had
gone from queue to queue asking what department it was. My question met with
lots of stares from several male pair of eyes in one of the queues before a
confident ‘Engineering’ was answered. My companion looked at me and asked why I
had bothered to ask seeing that they were all guys on the queue.
So back to the question
whether there was a sex appropriate to a profession and vice versa.
There
was a time when all the newspaper vendors on the streets of Nigeria were male. In
fact I had then concluded with a secondary school classmate that one profession
that was going to remain solely in the reins of male compatriots was the
vendor. Ever since I began to see female vendors on our streets, I have learnt
never to ascribe any profession to any sex. It does not matter how manly or
womanly that profession appears to be. I mean what profession could be more
feminine as that of a caterer/cook particularly in a country where every woman
just has to know how to cook and there is no know or anticipated excuse for otherwise?
Now we have seen male professional cooks. It has also ceased to be a surprise
when one of them wins any cooking competition. Some organisations are also more
comfortable with hiring a male cook rather than their female counterpart.
When
the year started, I told myself that faux dreadlocks were going to be my
signature hairstyle and began to shop for the appropriate beauty salon where I would
get this done. A colleague referred me to one situated somewhere in the ever
busy streets of Ogba. Inspite of my misgivings on the quality of work I would
get, I was greatly relieved when I found out that the salon was run by male
hairdressers. Rewind to twenty years ago, these young men would not have easily
opted for this profession.
I
remember when news was reported on a female auto mechanic. Her years of
apprenticeship were also considered in the report. I could not help
appreciating her drive as the report was given.
Again, is there a sex on
any profession? In the
wake of Biola
Alabi and several females
making their mark in what used to be a man’s world, I dare say that if modern
day professionalism definitely does not contemplate sex as a deciding factor.
So if you ever had to decide on a career of profession, do not ever let sex
limit you. Neither should you expect an edge because of your sex.
Keep
Faith.
