"I can do anything a man can do, can't I?"

As we have learned, or maybe this is news to you, there are varying gender expectations attached to sex. For example, in today's society men are considered dominant, independent, intelligent, competent, rational, assertive, strong, brave, and competitive. On the other hand women are considered submissive, dependent, unintelligent, incapable, emotional, receptive, timid, and content. I feel as though the two pictures above reinforce these two ideologies. The top picture is of a secretary job filled by all women. The second picture is of a construction site consisting of all men, every single one of them. As I noticed this I quickly asked myself "Why aren't men and women present at both of these sites?" The answer is our societies gender roles placed on sexes dominate the work field. It is a popular belief that women are more capable of working office or desk jobs than they are jobs that require extensive lifting, hot or cold environments, and dirty tasks.  The same goes for men, they are better suited for jobs described above than just sitting at a desk all day because they are "tougher, faster, and dominant." In all actuality this is false. Women are just as capable as men to construct a building just as men are just as capable to answer phones and do desk work. Whether you are female or male should have nothing to do with it. Just as Dr. Mikles said, gender is an important dimension of social inequality; so much so that everyday jobs achievable by both genders are dictated by this concept on a day to day basis (as pictured above).