Gender and Power: Boys Will Be Boys and So Will Girls

Abstract

This paper examines the treatment of women by men in two areas of male-dominated employment: specific professions and non- traditional ‘manual’ employment such as construction, transport, and other trade workers. Based on data from secondary sources, and in-depth interviews with non-traditionally employed women in Northern Ireland, the paper is divided into three main parts. The first section assesses the extent of harassment and discrimination towards women in male- dominated professions; the second provides a similar account of the treatment of non-traditionally employed women in Northern Ireland. Evidence suggests that there is a dichotomy in the treatment of women between the two areas discussed - given that men and women in ‘manual’ employment seem to sustain a more ‘peer-like’ relationship than their counterparts in some male-dominated professions. Thus, in the third section of the paper, while attempting to avoid the trap of dualism, I posit reasons for the existence of such a dichotomy.