Top Jobs, Teaching, nursing are still attracting women

Kristine Poore of
Scarborough chose
to teach in the 1960s,
when her grandmother
told her that professional
women had two
career choices before
marriage: education or
nursing.

Poore's experience
contrasts with her
younger colleagues,
like 30-year-old Angela
Marzilli. A math whiz,
Marzilli said she finally
settled on teaching
after considering medicine
and engineering.
Old-fashioned notions
about women's roles in
society never entered
her mind.

Yet the two women
share a common bond:
They love to teach.
I can't imagine doing
anything else, said
Poore, who marks her
40th anniversary this
fall as a public school
teacher.

I find working in a
learning environment is
exciting and challenging
every single day, said
Marzilli, a teacher for
six years.

Social pressures not
personal preferences
led many female
college students to
choose the so-called
helping professions of
teaching and nursing
in the 1950s and 1960s.
Women flocked to occupations
that were available and welcomed
them.

Today, gender no
longer determines job
choice. Yet, women
continue to fill the ranks
of teachers and nurses,
with few signs of
change. And the reasons
are as individual
as the women themselves.
I enjoy working in
a school environment
because I'm always
learning something
new, said Marzilli, who
will teach third grade
at Dyer Elementary in
South Portland this fall.

Today, women have
plenty of career options.
More women
than men hold college
degrees. In medicine,
patients are as likely
to see a female physician
as they are a male
doctor, especially for
maternity and family
care. And women owned
businesses are
growing at twice the
overall rate.

But nursing and
teaching continue to
reign as top career
choices for American
women, according to
the U.S. Census.
I planned to be an
obstetrician, but I fell in
love with nursing, said
24-year-old Amander
Cotton, a surgical nurse
who lives in Portland.
This is a hands-on job.

Women fill more than
90 percent of the jobs
in Maine for teachers
and registered nurses,
according to the Maine
Department of Labor.
The numbers mirror
national trends.

Part of the appeal
has to do with the occupations
themselves.

Nursing and teaching
have evolved along
with society's views of
women. Job responsibilities
extend far beyond
caretaking.

Today's public school
teachers, for example,
must undergo training
throughout their
careers. Their work is
measured by national
standards for student
achievement. Poore said
that keeping up with
innovations in learning
and technology help
make her job rewarding.
So-called smart
boards that interface
with computers, for
example, have replaced
chalkboards as teaching
tools.

This summer, Poore
is taking college-level
courses in computer
technology and information
literacy to help
her students tap into
the rich educational
resources offered by the
World Wide Web.

I look at some of my
colleagues with young
families and I don't
know how they get
everything done, said
Poore. This job does
not end at 3 o'clock
each day.

Supply and demand
Likewise, nurses
increasingly have assumed
some of the
traditional roles of doctors.
They may examine
patients, diagnose and
even prescribe medication,
depending on their
education level, training
and certification.

Nurses are doing
what doctors do, and
doctors do the impos-
sible, said Cotton, who
works at Mercy Hospital.
Nurses handle
IVs, dressing changes,
medications. We're with
the patient 24 hours a
day.

In nursing, especially,
the economics of supply
and demand have created
much more flexibility
and better working
conditions than in the
1960s and 70s. There
are many more jobs
than nurses.

It's possible for a qualified
registered nurse
today to enjoy perks like
signing bonuses and
family friendly scheduling,
as hospitals and
doctors' groups work to
recruit and keep qualified workers.

Job opportunities and
the ability to help others
convinced Marzilli's
own mother to return
to school to pursue her
dream job nursing.
Jean Reiter, 51, said
that after raising three
children and driving a
bus for many years, she
decided to become a
nurse. Reiter believes
her life skills will help
her in her new career.

I'm a caring person
and I always have found
medicine interesting,
said Reiter, who will
enter the nursing program
at Southern Maine
Community College this
fall.

With the critical need
for nurses, Reiter likely
will have little trouble
finding a job after
graduation.

Nationwide, the number
of nurses is declining.
A major reason
is that women who
still make up the large
percentage of nurses
have many more
career options today.
About a third fewer
women choose a nursing
career today than in
the 1970s.