Who decides?

In class we have been talking about how society decides how we should act and puts us in certain boxes according to our sexes. We also discussed for a bit of who decides what gender neutral is because men or women can have different characteristics about themselves that don't have to be specifically in the "boxes" that society puts us in. And as our conversation went on, it got me thinking, especially when we brought up male nurses. This is unusual for society because society always sees nurses as being women, so the fact that there can be male nurses is not the norm. True, whenever someone says nurse, I automatically think of a woman doing that job, but if it is a male, I personally don't have a problem with that. But then there are questions that go along with the male nurse occupation. Did he only become a nurse because he wasn't good enough to become a doctor? Society has such a huge impact on us, and I don't think we realize how much it does until we truly think about these certain situations for ourselves. Then there is the twist that if you become a male nurse, he still gets promoted faster and paid more than women nurses. So, just because a male is now in a woman's position it seems like society is trying to make the situation better for him by making the job more appealing. Who knows. But I thought that was really interesting, because our roles or jobs in society are so separated that if one gender changes their jobs or role, then there are questions and gossip arises about that person. Topics like that are so interesting to me, because it helps me become more aware of my surroundings.