This continues into professional spaces, where just 8% of working women in Europe are in male-dominated industries, dropping as low as 6.5% in the United States.
Globally, women’s share of leadership and management roles has been steadily increasing. However, this has largely been in industries dominated by women, where they are already accepted, and rarely transcends into those dominated by men. When women are rewarded with success in male fields, they face increased harassment and discrimination. Additionally, male-dominated industries and occupations often reinforce harmful stereotypes and create unfavourable environments which facilitate inappropriate sexual behaviour and make it even more difficult for women to excel.
Women also face stereotypes and societal expectations that question their leadership and managerial abilities, along with a lack of mentoring and career development opportunities that lead to their experiencing of "imposter syndrome".
Contrary to this, men are often reluctant to enter female-dominated fields due to stereotyped societal norms, gender identity and concerns about earnings and success. Many worry that entering traditionally female fields is emasculating. Despite this, two-thirds of all female-dominated occupations have gender pay gaps in favour of men with just 31% being in favour of women.
This pattern is not limited to professional workplaces. When women display interest in stereotypically male hobbies such as sports, they are sexually degraded and ridiculed. This has been exemplified in the increasing female interest in Formula One, which is pinned down to a female obsession with drama and superficial attraction to the male drivers. Because of this, they face interrogations about arbitrary facts and statistics as a way to 'prove' themselves as genuine fans, not that they are ever accepted as such.
Comparatively, men do not face the same elaborate acceptance process. In recent years, there has been increasing numbers of men joining the online beauty and makeup space and they have been welcomed with open arms, often rewarded with more success than their female counterparts. James Charles and Jeffery Star, to name but a few, have skyrocketed to the top of their industry and have profited millions from the acceptance of women, despite often being surrounded by external controversy.
Studies of gender behaviour suggest that matriarchal spaces are so accepting because, historically, women have been subjected to far more marginalisation and exclusion from societal opportunities than men and are therefore reluctant to subject men to the same thing.
