I Don't Have the Link

for this AP article because it came from my local paper, but here it is:

"Women are more educated and employed at higher levels than ever before but remain largely confined to traditional 'pink collar' jobs, a study by the American Association of University Women finds.

"The highest proportion of college-educated working women are in teaching and nursing [isn't that just terrible they aren't opting for the truly shitty jobs of physician or lawyer?]. For college-educated men, neither occupation appears on their list of the 10 most common. [Of course, women must aspire to male-dominated fields or they will be terrible failures.]

"Overall, the most common occupations for women are secretaries, bookkeepers, sales supervisors, nurses, waitresses, receptionists, and cooks, according to the study being released today [And WHERE are most of the available jobs? In the lower-paid service sector, not in the elite professions or in the declining manufacturing sector.] It cited data from the Census Bureau.

"Men share just two of their most common occupations: sales supervisors and cooks.

"Women have achieved parity with men in obtaining four-year college degrees and are more likely to work in managerial [do-nothing, overpaid] and professional careers [teaching, nursing, and librarianship are not considered "professions" apparently and don't count] today than 20 years ago. But they are not sufficiently prepared to move into the better-paying, higher-status [READ elitist, MALE], and fastest-growing occupations such as systems analysts, software designers and engineers, according to the study.[On what planet are the authors of the study from? The high-tech jobs are DISAPPEARING and being sent offshore.]

"It recommends more focus on advanced education for women in such fields as science, engineering and computers." [Never mind few jobs are created in these sectors.The figures are from 2000, before the economy tanked big-time, and such recommendations seem utterly foolish.]

...

What is amusing is that the ten most common occupations for adults in 2000 are these:

Women:

Secretaries, stenographers, typists
Bookkeepers
Sales supervisors and proprietors
Registered nurses
Elementary school teachers
Nursing aides, orderlies, attendants
Bookkeeping, accounting, auditing clerks
Waitresses
Receptionists
Cooks

Men:

Truck drivers
Sales supervisors and propietors
Janitors and cleaners
Carpenters
Cooks
Computer systems analysts and scientists [I'll bet not now]
Laborers (not construction)
Sales representatives, not retail
Construction laborers
Auto mechanics

Gee, on the male list I see only one that's considered "professional," although the occupation really doesn't require a degree and that's computer/software personnel. All of the rest are either blue collar or sales positions. Nothing spectacular, just the usual jobs that people do. No glamorous lawyers, doctors, dentists, CEOs, actors, politicians, and God knows what else comes to mind that are allegedly "high-status." I certainly don't hear these elitist women calling for more men to get into the "elite" fields. Of course, some of these most common occupations that men are in are unionized, yet I don't hear these dipshit elite women advocate more unionization of female-dominated fields.

The LAST thing we should be advocating, especially in this shitty economy, is MORE people going to college and going into occupations where the jobs simply don't exist or are glutted, like law. The LAST thing we should be doing is advocating people spend thousands and thousands of dollars getting educated in order to go into computer-related fields or managerial occupations that are SO vulnerable to downsizing.

The simple truth is people should have the right to a decent standard of living. People should push for more unionization in this country and not allow it to wither on the vine.

As I've said before, a college degree is a piss-poor alternative to a union card.