Gender, Values, and Occupational Interests Among Children, Adolescents, and Adults

Abstract

Work fulfills personal values, perhaps differently for males and females. Explored here was the role values play in shaping occupational interests. Study 1 examined children's, adolescents', and adults' (N = 313) occupational values (regarding money, power, family, altruism), occupational interests, and perceptions of values afforded by traditionally masculine and feminine occupations. Results revealed sex differences in occupational values and interests. Furthermore, participants' values predicted their own interests in culturally masculine and feminine occupations. Study 2 used novel jobs and experimentally manipulated prototypical sex of worker and value affordances to disentangle their effects on occupational interests. At all ages, participants' (N = 240) occupational interests were affected by the depicted sex of the workers and by the stated value affordances of the jobs.

Gender stereotyping within career and technical education : exploring relationships among gender, coursetaking, and outcomes of high school CTE students.

“…It has been strongly suggested that gender role plays a causal role in determining an individual's occupational interests (Weisgram et al, 2010). Research has shown that males show a greater interest in masculine jobs and females show a greater interest in feminine jobs.…”

“…Across age groups, females have been shown to prefer female-oriented professions more than boys prefer male-dominated ones (Teig & Susskind, 2008). While males seem to seek out status, primarily money and power (Weisgram et al, 2010;Weisgram et al, 2011), regardless of an occupation's gender role orientation, females eschew status in favor of a female-dominated area. Males, on the other hand, are not as focused on avoiding feminine-typed behaviors and characteristics in terms of activities or occupations (Patterson, 2012).…”

“…Simply knowing the sex of workers in a certain field is enough to affect the interest level of males and females in regards to working in that particular field, contributing to a cycle that allows occupational gender segregation to persist (Weisgram, Bigler, & Liben, 2010). One possible explanation for this phenomenon is that women seek out more traditionally female fields as a means to avoid gender role conflict (genderbased assumptions that run counter to an individual's self-concept) (Chusmir & Koberg, 1988).…”

“…It is well established that men are more likely to pursue traditional, maledominated occupations and females are more likely to pursue traditional, femaledominated occupations (Marini et al, 1996;Weisgram et al, 2010). However, not all males and females pursue stereotypic sex-typed jobs, instead opting for employment in nontraditional careers, typically defined as a career in which 25% of the workers are predominately one gender (U.S. Department of Labor, 2010).…”

“…Gottfredson's (1981) theory of circumscription and compromise explained the process by which individuals select and eliminate careers based upon their gender. In general, males tend to select masculine-oriented jobs while females select female-oriented occupations (Marini et al, 1996; U.S. Census Bureau, 2012;Weisgram et al, 2010). The avoidance of gender-role conflict is proffered as one reason why people self-select themselves into gender traditional careers (Chusmir & Koberg, 1988).…”