The Role of Gender Stereotypes in Choice of Occupation

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Aim and Hypothesis

This study will seek to investigate the effect that gender stereotypes have on both male and female career preferences. In order to achieve this goal, the study sought to directly elicit explicit preferences on career roles from both males and females by eliciting responses from participants concerning the occupations that they considered as most suitable for them. The study was testing this hypothesis:

• Career preferences for women and men are positively associated with traditional gender systems and roles, in which men prefer masculine occupations and women prefer more feminine occupations, taking in mind the assumed outcomes as well, such as salaries.

Methods and Ethics

The study selected (n=40) individuals who responded to the call for participants to take part in this project, which was promoted on the university’s website. They were students studying for their bachelor’s or master’s degrees. The invitation informed the potential participants that they would be required to fill out a questionnaire, concerning their decision-making in terms of careers choice. The questionnaire contained an occupation list suitable to their preferences. In order to enhance the chances that the selected participants would all be at the same life stage, the study included only the (n=40) students as their ages ranged between 20 and 25. Of them, (n=30) were female, while (n=10) were male. The mean age of the selected sample was 22.5 years. Since the study was mainly focused on gender differences, the researcher also conducted analyses to identify whether gender differences existed in the male and female demographic characteristics.

The selected participants were then administered with a research questionnaire that was made up of four major, consecutive sections: background details; seven to ten the most suitable occupations; career preference aspects by importance; contact information for personal feedback. Eight participants (20%) chose not to complete the latter section and no contact information was collected from them. See the questionnaire in the appendix.

Prior to the data collection phase and using the questionnaires, certain ethical issues were considered. To begin with, informed consent was ensured for all the participants, in which they were all informed of what the study was about and what they would be asked to do prior to their agreement to be part of the study. An information sheet was provided that contained information on the study, reasons for the study, why the participants were selected to take part, what will be required of them during the study, the level of guaranteed confidentiality and anonymity, and how the information would be used and stored. All (n=40) participants signed the consent form, which was done without pressure on them to take part. In addition, the participants were informed of having an option to leave the study at any time of their choose. This was in adherence to the need for respect of individual autonomy, in which they were guaranteed their freedom to withdraw without giving any reasons.

Results

As was stated in the hypothesis, the directly reported lists by both males and females were compatible with their genders correspondingly. In addition, the data showed a significant gender variation between gender dominance ratings of these lists’ occupations. See tables 1-4 in the appendix. Therefore, as it had been forecasted, there was a rather significant impact of the participants’ inclinations towards identifying careers that corresponded to their gender for both women and men. On the basis of the previous studies, it had also been assumed that gender differences would be apparent in the career preferences for specific occupation-related aspects, for example income level. A MANOVA was used to test the validity of this hypothesis with the dependent variable being participant preferences of the career-associated aspects identified above, while the independent variable was gender. This hypothesis was partially rebuted, as there were no gender differences identified. However, there were evident gender differences in the indirectly derived occupational-aspects list with lists by males being more masculine than female lists. See tables 5-6 in the appendix

In testing whether the length of the indirectly and directly reported lists differed in terms of occupations listed down between females and males, it was found that there was no significant difference due to gender effects. In testing the hypothesis that occupations elicited by directly asking participants to list their occupations are more gendered, compared to those elicited indirectly from the participants’ preferences of particular career aspects, this hypothesis was supported by the data. The indirectly reported lists were found to be more masculine in nature, in comparison to the directly derived lists. It was also found that the women’s lists had fewer masculine lists as compared to the male lists. In addition, the interaction between gender and list type indicated that the gap between indirectly derived lists by women and men was smaller than the differences between the directly reported lists. As such, the indirectly derived lists were found to be more masculine for women compared to the directly reported lists, while the men’s indirectly elicited lists were less masculine compared to similar lists for women.

As a result of the research we can state, that most of the gender stereotypes in terms of occupation choice stay solid. For example, most preferred career paths for men are mathematics and engineering, while they remain the least preferred choices for women. The same situation is with nursing: it is the most favorable choice for females and the least attractive for males.

Discussion

This study set out to investigate the influence that gender stereotypes has on the direct and indirect career preferences for females and males. The direct occupational preferences were reported explicitly by both male and female participants, while the indirect career preferences were implicitly reported by eliciting their preferences of different career aspects like analytical vs. artistic skills, outdoor vs. outdoor working, among others. The study’s findings were in support of the hypothesis that occupation-associated gender stereotypes affect career choices and preferences reported directly by participants. The directly reported occupational lists by females were more feminine, while the directly reported lists by women showed more femininity. These results are comparable with Schuette et al. (2012), who stated that persons have preferences for careers that are more compatible with their respective gender, i.e. those

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