Pink collar jobs are traditionally considered women’s work, but this term and the gender stereotypes that fuel it are outdated. Child-care, beauty-related, and certain assistant jobs were once performed by only women or at least dominated by the gender in countries around the world. In addition, librarians and school teachers were also traditionally considered pink collar jobs. These social work roles were popular for women because the employer usually wanted someone charming, submissive, and well dressed. While the term has a negative background in regard to women’s rights, it is still used to refer to a number of jobs now regularly taken by all genders.
The child-care industry includes babysitters, nannies, and day-care workers. Traditionally in many countries, child care was primarily done by women. In some cases, men were never expected to know much about raising a family, and their wives did not consider having them babysit their own children. Equality laws in some countries now prevent men from being rejected by day-care businesses for being male.
Hairdressers and cosmetologists in general are pink collar workers. Their pink collar jobs range from cutting and dying hair to polishing and painting finger nails. Some cosmetologists also specialize in skin care or makeup. More and more often, men are professionally trained and welcomed into these traditionally all-female jobs.
Many types of assistant jobs were once considered female work, including receptionists, secretaries, and personal assistants. A lot of businesses preferred to have a well-groomed, polite woman trained in secretary duties greet customers instead of a man with the same qualifications. While these stereotypes are being broken every day, many misconceptions of assistant jobs remain.
School teachers and librarians are types of pink collar jobs. In the case of school teachers, pink collar referred to low-paid teaching jobs or at least jobs below higher, post-secondary education. At point one, women struggled to get jobs in colleges and universities because these jobs were considered a man’s work. In many countries, it is now very common to see women teaching in post-secondary positions.
A lot of jobs are traditionally considered female jobs, but people around the world are breaking away from the previous generation's gender stereotypes and sexism. For example, in certain countries, some churches allow women to become priests, and male hairstylists are often the norm in beauty salons. In addition to equality laws and movements, world bodies are putting pressure onto certain countries that promote gender inequality, urging them to consider the long-term consequences.
