Men dominate Google image searches for most jobs — even for bartender, probation officer and medical scientist, roles in which women outnumber men. In 57 percent of occupations, image searches indicate the jobs are more male-dominated than they actually are.
Let’s check this out. I opened a fresh private browser window and googled CEO:
Result: 16 men, 3 women, one unclear. Now let’s check out teachers:
Result: 15 women, 3 men. Hmmm. What occupation does Google think is roughly gender neutral? I noodled on this for a while and I finally got it: Call center agent.
Result: 10 women, 7 men, 1 mixed. Not bad! Plus nearly all of them have mixed gender backgrounds and they all look really happy in their jobs. So I guess that’s our answer: if you want to work in a truly gender neutral workplace, Google says you should become a call center agent.
For the record, the Pew study that kicked this off tags “interviewer” as the occupation that appears most gender neutral in a Google search, with physicians close behind at 52-48.
