“If we look at the system, the roles people fill are gendered,” Smith says. Nurses throughout history have traditionally been women — same with lab techs and hospital cleaners, she adds. “You do see a gender divide. Lots of the ‘caring’ professions are dominated by women. I think it does come back to gender norms, and the expectation that this is a type of role that women are supposed to fill, and that men may be reluctant to go into because it’s not seen as a necessarily masculine job. They might be deterred because of that — or because these positions often aren’t as well-paid,” Smith says.