A Study of Black and White College Women

In an examination of career aspirations, 101 black and 530 white college women were asked to indicate their occupational and educational plans, important considerations for career choices, and their attitudes toward combining the roles of career and family. Results indicated that women who planned careers in male-dominated occupations had higher career and educational aspirations than women who desired careers in femaledominated occupations. Black women who planned careers in male-dominated professions showed high levels of aspirations, planned more education than was necessary for the desired occupations, and perceived less conflict in combining the roles of career and family than their white counterparts. There were few differences between black and white women in their attitudes toward the traditional roles of men and women. Those choosing female-dominated careers, however, had more traditional attitudes regardless of race. Implications of these findings for the influence of occupational gender dominance on career aspirations are discussed.     

The Experiences of Black Females in Traditional and Nontraditional Professions

This study is an investigation of differences in the backgrounds, attitudes, and career-related expectations of black college females pursuing traditional (e.g. teaching, social work, and nursing) and nontraditional (e.g. sciences, engineering, pre-law, business) careers for women. The subjects were 147 black female undergraduates attending a large urban university in the midwest who completed a questionnaire. The results showed that mothers of nontraditionals were likely to be better educated than mothers of traditionals. Also, the mothers of nontraditionals were more likely to have worked in nontraditional fields themselves. Nontraditionals were more Likely to have had an early work experience, were more confident in their own ability to complete nontraditional educational programs, and had less traditional views about appropriate roles for women than traditionals. Hoowever, nontraditionals were less confident than traditionals that they and other women could actually achieve the careers they themselves were pursuing. Finally, nontraditionals did not think they were any less likely than traditionals to marry because of their career choices. However, nontraditionals did expect that they would have fewer female but more male friends because of their careers.     

Choosing to be a managerial woman: An examination of individual variables and career choice

This study examined individual difference variables of female MBA students measured toward the end of their academic careers. Data from these subjects as well as from male MBAs and from male and female MA candidates in elementary education were ordered in a 2×2 female/male, traditional role/nontraditional role matrix of analysis (N=151). Female MBA candidates were found to differ significantly from the other subjects on several dimensions. Female managers-to-be saw themselves as more self-assured, more creative, and higher in initiative than did the others. There was no evidence of fear of identity or of sex-role inappropriateness, which had been suggested in earlier literature dealing with women entering nontraditional careers.     

The Gender Gap in Possible Selves: Divergence of Academic Self-Views Among High School and University Students

Two studies were designed to investigate the current and possible academic self-views of university and high school students. In the first study, upper level university students were shown to diverge by gender in their current- and possible-self-views. Women reported more ability for and identification with the arts, communication, and social sciences; men reported more ability for and identification with mathematics, science, technology, and business. Gender differences were greater with respect to possible future selves than to current selves. The second study included lower and upper level university students as well as high school students. Again, a gender divergence appeared among the university students; however, it was not as marked among high school students. Analyses showed that both women and men differed significantly across educational levels in their self-ratings and that, within the masculine-stereotyped academic domains linked to powerful careers, university women endorsed fewer possibilities for themselves that high school women did. These findings suggest that, as they make the transition from high school to university, young women may be actively closing off possibilities for their futures.     

Sharing of home responsibilities between professionally employed women and their husbands

A sample of 139 married couples with young children and with relatively equal status careers (wives were university professors or businesswomen) were interviewed about work and home life. Considerable, traditional inequity in the distribution of child-care tasks and chore responsibility was noted, but women were generally satisfied with their husbands' home involvement. In the academic sample, the longer hours each spouse worked, the more child care the other performed; in the business sample, child-care involvement was largely determined by the husband's work hours, income, and education. Overall, women were more self-critical than were men about their performance in home roles, and women's role performance was rated more highly by husbands than by themselves. Women professionals' continued use of traditional sex role standards and the importance of attending to both partners' perspectives in studies of married life are discussed.     

The career aspirations and occupational interests of culturally disadvantaged children

The occupational aspirations and interests of a sample of culturally disadvantaged children aged 15½ years and a matched control group were compared. Whilst the disadvantaged boys aspired to jobs of lower social-class status than their control-group peers, the two girls' groups showed very similar aspiration levels, and the disadvantaged group as a whole was oriented towards skilled jobs. The mean occupational interest profiles of the groups did not differ significantly. A higher proportion of the disadvantaged children were reported as being unemployed shortly after leaving school. It is concluded that there was a serious mismatch between the career aspirations of some of the disadvantaged group and their prospects. Ways in which this might be reduced through better school careers guidance and education programmes are briefly considered.     

Patterns of Career Choices Over Time

The patterns of career change observed in samples of subjects of varying ages and levels of educational attainment have been examined. The pattern of occupational distribution shows consistent gains in the business and education groups, whereas the numbers of students aspiring to careers in science and engineering decrease. These findings have been interpreted on the basis of the personal characteristics of students, their perception of occupations, and the societal determinants of occupational choice.     

Reconsidering the “aspiration–expectation gap” and assumed gender differences among urban youth

The present study investigated the relevance of the “aspiration–expectation gap” and traditional gender differences among urban youth in middle school and high school (N = 294). Results failed to indicate a significant difference between the occupational prestige levels of aspired and expected careers, but did indicate a significant difference between aspired and expected levels of education. In general, the proportion of girls significantly outweighed the proportion of boys in traditionally “masculine” occupations with high levels of prestige; girls also had higher levels of occupational prestige than boys in terms of careers they hoped and expected to obtain. Black and bi/multi-racial youth expected to have higher levels of education than White youth.     

Equality and differentiation of time spent in paid work in two-income families

The cumulative data from the National Opinion Research Center General Social Survey for 1972–1978 are used to test a model of allocation of time to work in families in which both spouses are employed. Using number of hours worked during the previous week as a dependent variable, we find that for white respondents, women work fewer hours than men; fathers of preteenaged children work more hours than other men, while mothers of preteens work fewer hours than other women; both men and women work more hours when they have higher prestige occupations; and both work more hours if their status (measured by education and prestige) is equal to or higher than their spouses'. Number of hours reported for spouse in the previous week is positively related to number of hours reported by respondent. The model suggests that within two-income families equality of occupational status is associated with equality of occupational involvement, while inequality of occupational status is associated with lower occupational involvement of the spouse with lower status.     

Why Expecting Conflict Is Good

To understand whether young women's expectations of marriage-career role conflict may lead to strategic plans for combining roles and more successful role combination, data were analyzed from 117 women, primarily Caucasian, completing surveys in the Women's Life Paths Study in 1967 as college seniors and again in 1981. Seniors who wanted careers but anticipated conflict more often combined marriage and full-time career in 1981 than did those who wanted careers but expected no conflict. The latter combined marriage and career even less often than did those not initially wanting careers. Those who expected conflict asserted their career intentions with spouses, postponed childbearing, and had fewer children by 1981. Women not combining roles in 1981 most often reported conflict. Women with supportive partners less often reported conflict.     

Childhood play experiences of women in traditional and nontraditional professions

One hundred ten women in both traditional and nontraditional professions were compared on childhood play and related socialization experiences. The purpose of the study was to investigate the effects that different play experiences had on career choices of professional women. A survey questionnaire on play experiences and related factors was administered to the subjects. Chi Squares and t-tests for differences between means revealed significant differences among subgroups of women on several independent variables. Professional business women had participated more in competitive sports as children, and-along with women in other nontraditional professions-reported more male playmates and fewer female playmates than did women in traditional professions. Forms of encouragement by fathers differed from that of mothers, and women in nontraditional professions received different forms of parental encouragement than women in traditional professions.     

The relationship of marital status,spouse’s career status,and gender to salary level

The relationship of marital status, spouse’s career status, and gender to salary was examined from five different theoretical perspectives for a sample of managers and professionals in one large organization. Results showed that married individuals whose spouses did not have careers earned more than anyone except those who were divorced, controlling for age, education, type of position, job location, organizational tenure, and job tenure. Results also showed that individuals who had never been married earned the least, women earned less than men, and men with children at home earned more than men with no children at home. These findings are discussed in terms of the different theoretical perspectives, within a changing social content.     

How and When Do Core Self-Evaluations Predict Career Satisfaction? The Roles of Positive Goal Emotions and Occupational Embeddedness

We draw on theories of self-verification and situational strength to examine how and when core self-evaluations (CSE) predict career satisfaction. We tested our hypotheses using a time-lagged study with 139 alumni of two business schools across three measurement waves. Results showed that compared to individuals with lower CSE those with higher CSE were more satisfied with their careers because they associated more positive emotions with pursuing their career goals. However, a high degree of occupational embeddedness attenuated the indirect effect of the CSE–career satisfaction relationship through positive goal emotions and compensated for low levels of positive goal emotions. We discuss theoretical and practical implications.     

The decision to return to college: Role concepts,personality, attitudes,and significant others

In two studies, personality, role concepts, and attitudes distinguished wives and mothers who decided to resume college from those who did not. College women and women about to resume college had more self-actualizing, achievement-oriented, and dominant personalities (California Psychological Inventory); broader, more personalized role concepts; more liberal attitudes; better educated husbands; and fewer children than housewives. Measurements before college return and during the second year at college indicated that college exposure did not significantly affect these variables. The single exception was that after college exposure, women no longer saw society as supporting their efforts to actualize their potentials.A version of this paper was presented at the 83rd Annual Convention of the American Psychological Association, Chicago, August 31, 1975.     

Men's and Women's Perceptions of the Gender Typing of Management Subroles

The purpose of this study was to investigate the extent to which subroles inherent in managerial positions are gender-typed and whether men or women engage in relatively more gender typing of managerial roles. We obtained perceptions of 19 management subroles from 263 business students in the United States Results confirmed predictions that some subroles are viewed as more feminine in nature whereas other subroles are perceived as more masculine. Male respondents saw most subroles as more masculine in nature than did female respondents. Results are discussed in terms of implications for researchers studying management, as well as for managers in the workplace.     

Evaluating the impact of a third-year careers education programme

The occupational interests, values, and knowledge of third-year pupils undertaking a careers education programme were compared to those of a matched sample of pupils not receiving the programme. Despite the fact that the programme was designed to increase occupational knowledge, broaden interests, and discourage sex-role stereotyping, its main impact was an increase in occupational knowledge. Occupational interests remained stable, with the girls showing a greater preference for traditional female work roles. The pupils were more willing to discuss their ideas with their parents, and were more able to specify a job preference or job expectation for the future.     

Cultural sex-role expectations and children's sex-role concepts

Middle-class children between the ages of 4 and 8 were interviewed about their sex-role attitudes, in order to determine the extent to which recently changing cultural mores have influenced children's sex-role concepts. The children were asked about their career goals; the careers they would choose if they were the opposite sex; the reasons why they like being a boy or girl; and their opinions regarding the appropriateness of men and women participating in 14 sex-stereotypic occupations and activities. The children's parents provided demographic information. The children expressed very nonstereotypic attitudes towards the 14 occupations and activities, compared to children in recent studies; but they chose very traditional careers for their own choices and opposite-sex career choices, and often gave stereotypic reasons for preferring their own sex. Parents' education, mothers' employment status, fathers' nontraditional careers, and the children's gender predict responses to several of the sex-role-related questions. Implications for research are discussed.     

The relationship of parental education and maternal work and occupational status to Occupational Aspiration in adolescent females

This study investigated the relationship of parental education and maternal work and occupational status to the Occupational Aspirations (classified as Innovative, Moderate, and Traditional) of adolescent females. Innovative occupations are those in which fewer than 30% of the workers are women; Moderate occupations are those in which 30–50% of the workers are women; and Traditional occupations are those in which more than 50% of the workers are women. Innovative choices were made significantly more often as an Ideal aspiration than as a Real aspiration, and, reciprocally, Traditional occupations were chosen less often as an Ideal aspiration than as a Real aspiration. Significant association was found between Occupational Aspiration and father's education and between Occupational Aspiration and mother's occupational status (traditional or nontraditional).     

Children and Careers: A Longitudinal Study of the Impact of Young Children on Critical Career Outcomes of MBAs

The purpose of this study was to investigate theimpact of young children on the careers of men and womenwith MBAs who graduated between the years of 1973 and1982. The outcome variables studied were salary, months of non-full-time employment, andpromotions. We began our analyses by looking at the fullsample of 829 respondents. We found that men had highersalaries than women regardless of parental status. Women with young children experiencedsignificantly more months of non-full-time employmentand were more likely to drop out of the workforce thanmen and other groups of women. The spouses of men with young children and only older children workedin paid employment significantly fewer hours than allother groups of respondents. Those women with youngchildren who did remain continuously in the paidworkforce did not appear to experience any salary benefitbased on this decision. Interruptions to full-time workwere detrimental for women without children or thosewomen whose children were older. In general, having children was correlated with lowersalaries for women and higher salaries formen.     

Women in Technology: A Program to Increase Career Awareness

Most women work to help support themselves and their families. Unfortunately young women are not often encouraged to explore occupational options that offer increased economic mobility. This article describes a program designed to develop awareness of nontraditional technical careers for women, careers that require less than four years of postsecondary education. Attended by guidance counselors and math and science teachers, the conference explored the psychological implications of nontraditional choices as well as provided information about these occupations. The article also discusses funding, program development and design, and evaluation.