careers
magazine of the daily nebraskan tuesday, march 3
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Photo by Mark Billingsley
Sex barrier drops as job stereotypes diminish
By Tricia Waters
More women and men are advancing into non-traditional
careers in the Lincoln area and nationally than be
fore, according to educators, administrators and workers.
A career classified as non-traditional has 30 percent or
less of its workers coming from the male or female
population, said Marie L. Allen, a counselor at Southeast
Community College.
For women, non-traditional careers include factory
work, construction and auto mechanics. Male secretaries
or male nurses have non-traditional jobs.
Allen, who works with women going into non-traditional
careers from SLCC, said that more women are repre
sented in SECC's drafting program than any other
vocational program there. Out of the total student enroll
ment in January 1981, women represent 27.1 percent of
those studying drafting, 2.1 percent of those studying
welding and 8.9 percent of auto mechanics, she said.
Those figures can be compared to an earlier study by
the National Advisory Council on Women's Educational
Programs. Allen said. The council found that 10 5 percent
of American factory workers and 1 .8 percent of craft and
technical workers were women.
More women in male jobs
The council also found that more women enrolled in
vocational education programs between 1972 and 1977.
In 1972, women made up 1 1 .7 percent of vocational stu
dents and in 1977 they represented 14.4 percent, accord
ing to the council.
At the Lincoln School of Commerce, five women and
two men will earn associate degrees in business administra
tion this month, employment assistant Cheryl Golden
said.
Golden said the school's accounting classes have as
many women as men but the school has always enrolled
more women than men, she said.
The University of Nebraska-Lincoln's Business Admini
stration College has increased female enrollment about
600 percent in the last nine years. The college's advising
director DVee Buss said. Of the 2,100 business students
enrolled in the fall 1971, 1,972 were women. In Fall,
1980, women represented 1,040 of the 2,817 business stu
dents. UNL's College of Engineering has gained about 20 per
cent more women students each year, said Al Witte, acting
assistant dean. The percent of women engineering stu
dents has increased "much faster than overall employ
ment," he said.
Thirty percent of UNL's agriculture students are wo
men, said Janet Krause, who teaches a class for profession
al women in agriculture.
Companies want women workers
Krause said many of the women agriculture students
come from farming backgrounds. But more women from
cities are realizing that they don't need the farm back
ground to go into the business aspect of agriculture, she
said.
Krause, Witte and Buss agreed that non-traditional
career opportunities are increasing for women and their
roles are changing.
Large corporations push to hire women so they can
follow government guidelines, Krause said.
She said that the women's movement probably had an
impact on women's career choices.
"I do believe that the whole women's movement is
more prevalent now, that it has caused women to think
about what they want," Krause said.
To ensure that women know what careers are available,
the Lincoln Public Schools offer a class in career educa
tion for high school students, job counselor Darrell Grell
said.
The students visit job sites and observe workers, Grell
said.
"The students get out and see what it takes education
ally to get where they want to," he said.
Grell said the trips encourage students to go back to
school and work toward the career that interests them.
Teenage girls not interested
At the high school level, Grell said, few women seem
interested in non-traditional careers. But the career class
will visit women working on construction jobs for its next
section, he said.
Many women take jobs in construction every year, said
Gene Landkamer, manager of Lincoln's Nebraska Job
Service. Women find jobs in street construction and home
building, he said.
Richard Dittenbar, business representative for the Car
penter's Union Local No. 1055, said the union had five
women apprentices within the last four years.
Dittenbar said more women work in carpentry now
than in previous years. At the Triangle Pacific cabinet
plant in Auburn, 45 of the 110 workers are women.
Another non-traditional career opening up for women
is sales.
Judy Wesely, 39, started working as a sales representa
tive for Dictaphone Corp. in 1980. She had four and a
half years of experience selling insurance for North
western Mutual.
Wesely said she likes her non-traditional career because
it challenges her and she can make more money than she
would working in a traditional job.
But, women must work twice as hard as men to
succeed in their careers, she said. But if they want it badly
enough, women can succeed in non-traditional careers,
Wesely said.
Expectations, blinders hinder women
Women should beware of the expectations placed on
them by their families and peers, Wesely said.
"We have blinders put on us when we're very young in
terms of what we think we can do," she said.
Continued on Page 7
