"In society, there is still a stereotypical approach that some professions and specialties are more suitable for boys, while others are more suitable for girls.
This thinking is especially evident during specialty selection. Thus, girls are mostly directed to fields such as teaching, medicine, economics, and accounting, while engineering, information technologies, and other technical specialties are traditionally considered male professions. However, during specialty selection, not gender, but the person's interest, ability, and potential should be taken as a basis".
This opinion was stated by education expert Ramin Nureliyev in his statement to AzEdu.az.
The expert stated that in developed countries, women also successfully work in construction, mechanical engineering, geology, and other engineering fields:
"The fact that the number of women in these fields is less compared to men does not mean that they are not suitable for those professions. Unfortunately, in our society, the misconception that engineering is mainly for boys still exists.
In recent years, in accordance with the demands of the era, young people's interest in fields such as artificial intelligence, information technologies, computer engineering, and information security has increased. Because young people understand well that these directions create wide opportunities in the labor market and are promising in terms of income. This interest is observed in both boys and girls. However, the number of girls in engineering specialties is still less compared to boys. At the same time, we see that girls predominate in pedagogical specialties.
One of the main reasons for this is the stereotypes formed in families and society. We often encounter such cases when communicating with applicants and parents. For example, during specialty selection, if a girl applicant's score is not enough for the teaching specialty she desires, we offer her engineering specialties. However, some parents do not accept this offer. They state as a reason that they do not want their daughters to work as engineers in the future.
Some parents even think that after their daughters get married, their husbands may not agree to them working in an environment where male colleagues predominate. In their opinion, teaching is a more suitable profession. Because there are many female teachers in schools, and there will be no family problems in this field".
Such approaches seriously affect girls' ability to acquire the specialties they desire and their future career choices.
"Unfortunately, sometimes we witness that even women with higher education in engineering or economics are restricted by their husbands from working after marriage. This shows that not only girls, but society's approaches to professional and labor activities in general, must change.
On the other hand, these stereotypes also affect boys' career choices. For example, the low salary in the teaching profession and the fact that this profession is considered more suitable for women reduce the interest of male applicants in the pedagogical field. As a result, one of the reasons for the small number of male teachers in general secondary schools is precisely this approach.
I think that this way of thinking in society must change. Classifying professions as female or male professions is not the right approach. Just as the activity of female and male specialists in the field of medicine is considered normal, the same attitude should be shown to engineering and pedagogical fields. Awareness-raising activities should be carried out in this direction, and parents and young people should be explained that career choice should be based on personal interest, ability, and potential, not gender".
