Many high-profile careers continue to be dominated by one gender, and some people are even rejecting a particular career path for that reason.
For example, one reason often given for women not wanting to be police officers is that shift work is not conducive to raising a family.
At the same time, the nursing profession is built on shift work, and most nurses continue to be women. So why aren't more men choosing nursing as a career?
Conestoga College nursing student Mark Pothier chose nursing after losing his father to cancer.
"I was there with him and saw what the nurses did to comfort my dad," he says.
Others in the registered nursing and practical nursing programs are there for a variety of reasons. Some have relatives in the field while it's a second career for others.
Student Darcy Michelic says "I was working in manufacturing and my job also disappeared."
Male nursing students expect to encounter patients who won't be happy to see them, preferring to deal only with female nurses.
But nursing student Trent Eickmeyer says "People are people, some you're going to connect with, some you aren't. And I think there are going to be patients that I'll be able to connect with better because I'm a guy."
And that's important since there are so few males in the nursing profession.
At Conestoga, only ten per cent of the 1,000 full- and part-time nursing students are men.
According to the Canadian Nurses Association the number of male nurses has double to six per cent in the last ten years.
But that is still very low, especially if you consider that in another female dominated profession, elementary school teachers, 17 per cent are male.
And there will be many job opportunities for male nurses, with the association estimating Canada will need 60,000 new nurses by 2015.
University of Waterloo economist Kathleen Rybczynski studies gender and economics and says there's a stereotype for men to overcome in female-dominated careers like nursing.
"Not just women but also men are susceptible to these sociocultural norms. This is what we see, this is what we think we should be doing, this is what we should be like."
Lynn Voelzing, chair of the nursing program at Conestoga College, says the nursing associations can help change the perception of the job.
She believes young males need to be told they're welcome and needed in nursing starting in high school.
"We're passionate about what we do; we can speak to all the opportunities for nurses in Canada and around the world. We're highly regarded professionals. It's something that men should be considering."
Students already in the program see nothing but opportunity for them when they graduate.
Coming up in part three: A unique perspective from woman who became a police officer 26 years ago and whether hiring quotas would even out the gender imbalance.
