Sexual stereotypes of occupations

This study examined the nature of sex stereotypes of occupations as they exist among college students today. The method of eliciting sexual stereotypes of occupations was distinctive in that three types of rating criteria were used, each emphasizing a different aspect of perception, on the basis of which the ratings of occupations as masculine, feminine, or neutral were subsequently made. The results indicate that sexual stereotypes of occupations are clearly defined and held in agreement by both college men and college women. The study yielded information about the mean rating of each of 129 occupations in terms of its masculinity, femininity, and neutrality.     

Traditionality of children's interests as related to their parents' gender stereotypes and traditionality of occupations

This study tested the common hypothesis that parents' gender stereotypes, maternal employment status, and the traditionality of parents' occupations, are associated with the traditionality of children's vocational interests. The traditionality of preschool children's (n=113) interests was examined by an instrument developed for the current study. Parents were administered the Attitudes toward Women Scale, and traditionality of their occupations was assessed. Only the traditionality of the mothers' occupations significantly correlated with the traditionality of the interests of both boys and girls. Other variables tested, as well as their interactions, were not found to show such relationships. The results were discussed in terms of the function of the role model in gender identity development and vocational schema modification.We thank Rachel Karniol for her helpful comments on an earlier draft of this article.     

The development of occupational sex-role stereotypes: The effects of gender stability and age

This study investigated occupational sex-role stereotypes of nursery school, kindergarten, third-grade, and sixth-grade children, and the effects of their acquiring gender constancy, specifically the concept of gender stability. Two types of occupational attitudes were assessed: (1) personal aspirations (PA) and (2) ideas about jobs men and women do. The latter were determined using the Occupations Survey (OS). Children chose stereotyped occupations for themselves even before they had a concept of gender stability. Boys' personal aspiration responses were more stereotyped than girls'. On the Occupations Survey, gender-stable nursery schoolers' responses were more stereotyped than those of the nonstable children; and a significant effect for age was found, with stereotyping decreasing among third graders and sixth graders. No sex differences were found on the OS. Differences in the two areas of occupational attitudes suggested two processes of learning sex roles. Social learning more readily accounts for the early stereotyped answers on the PA. Cognitive developmental theory is congruent with the OS scores of the nursery school children.     

Undergraduates regard deviation from occupational gender stereotypes as costly for women

Studies from the 1970s have shown deviation from norms defining the gender-appropriateness of occupations to be costly for both women and men. Two hundred thirty undergraduates wrote open-ended stories and rated a stimulus person, Anne or John, who was described at the top of his/her class in medicine or one of four persistently gender-skewed fields: nursing, day care, electrical engineering, and electrician. Across all five occupations, negative imagery in stories about Anne and John in gender-incongruent occupations disappeared. However, when Anne succeeded in the two currently female-incongruent fields, raters treated her as a personal and social deviate by distancing themselves and by denigrating her role behaviors and personal traits, including her femininity. Parallel costs were not found for John nor were Anne's work-related qualities undermined. Undergraduates expect deviation from occupational gender-types in the 1990s to be personally costly for women, but not for men.The authors wish to thank Peggy Braam for her invaluable help with data collection and entry, and Arnold Kahn, John Zipp, Stephanie Riger, Lynne Berendsen, and Patricia Aniakudo. Parts of this paper were presented at the meetings of the Midwestern Psychological Association in Chicago in May 1993 and at the meetings of the American Psychological Association in Los Angeles in August 1994.     

Exploring stereotypes of popular and unpopular occupations among women-in-general

To find clues to cultural meanings of highly popular and highly unpopular occupations from SVIB-W, 227 women-in-general subjects judged nine popular and nine unpopular titles on 26 semantic-differential scales. The ranges of prestige and femininity judgments were deliberately restricted, in the hope that less understood stereotypes would stand out independently of these familiar variables. Eleven scales effectively differentiated popular from unpopular occupations. These 11 polarities (a) both confirmed and disconfirmed common-sense predictions; (b) suggested themes that were not “WIG-bound,” themes probably relevant to parallel judgments in a male subculture; and (c) often echoed variables that have been treated elsewhere as “work-adjustment” needs, such as “variety,” “independence,” and “security.” Scale intercorrelations were low, with only a sprinkling of moderate relationships present; many scales helpfully tapped stereotypes that emerged independently of status perceptions. The role of a “femininity” variable remained ambiguous. Inspection of scale interrelationships suggested that factor structures of meaning in an occupational context will differ importantly from well-known structures displayed by general semantic judgments.     

Pressures and pretense: Living with gender stereotypes

This study examines how people live with two gender stereotypes: (1) masculine/active and feminine/passive roles; and (2) masculine/emotional inexpressiveness and feminine/emotional expressiveness. Given the contrast between traditional gender stereotypes and the emergent feminist perspective, we expected that both men and women would experience pressures both to conform to and to deviate from the traditional stereotypes, although the pressures would be greater for women. A study of active/passive roles and specific emotions, with a sample of 141 men and women, revealed that both sexes felt such contradictory pressures, and that they actually were greater for women. Moreover, pressures were magnified in cross-sex interaction. Pretense was one way people consciously monitor feelings and manage interactions. A number of paradoxes emerged. The most dramatic is that both men and women experienced each other as demanding stereotypical behavior, yet both claimed self-motivation for change.The author thanks Lucile Duberman for her incisive suggestions, Nancy Leff for her valuable editorial assistance, and Anne Marie Fodera and Laura Mestress for their competent work as research assistants.     

Evolution of gender stereotypes in Spain: traits and roles

The aim of this study is twofold: to determine whether (and how) gender stereotypes have changed over time through a comparison of two different sets of data collected in 1993 (N=1255) and 2001 (N=1255) from a representative sample of the Spanish population, and to examine the relation between gender traits and roles and its stability over time. In addition, special attention is paid to the psychometric properties of the measures of gender traits and roles used in the study. The content of gender stereotypes was found to remain stable over the target period of time, confirming the classical typology (a higher assignment of expressive-communal traits to women and of instrumental-agentic traits to men). The structure of the gender-role questionnaire allows us to distinguish between family-role and work-role stereotyping. Gender-role stereotyping shows a marked decline between 1993 and 2001, a result that contrasts with the stability of trait-role stereotyping. The fact that a very low correlation is observed at the two time points between these two components of gender stereotyping strongly suggests their independence.     

Framing gender differences: Linguistic normativity affects perceptions of power and gender stereotypes

When unknown groups and equal status groups are compared by contrasting one group (“the effect to be explained”) against another (“the linguistic norm”), the group positioned as the norm is sometimes perceived as more powerful, more agentic, and as less communal. Such perceptions may contribute to status‐linked stereotypes, as group differences are spontaneously described by positioning higher‐status groups as the linguistic norm. Here, 103 participants considered gender differences in status to be larger and more legitimate and applied gender stereotypes more readily upon reading about gender differences in leadership that were framed around a male rather than a female linguistic norm. These effects did not generalize to 113 participants who read about gender differences in leisure time preferences framed around either norm. Jointly, these results suggest that the effects of linguistic framing on perceived group status and power and on group stereotypes generalize to domains where there are real differences in status, and contexts in which higher‐status groups are the default standard for comparison. Copyright © 2011 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Occupational gender stereotypes and problem-solving in Italian adolescents

The first purpose of the study was to establish how Italian adolescents perceive jobs in the newly emerging economy sectors as well as more traditional jobs from gender-stereotyped and gender-segregated perspectives. The second purpose was to verify the role of problem-solving and gender in gender-role stereotyping. A total of 217 Italian high school students were involved. A questionnaire developed by Miller and Hayward was used to examine the students’ occupational gender-role stereotyping, segregation and interests. The Problem-Solving Inventory was administered to examine problem-solving. Adolescents perceived most jobs as being gender-stereotyped and -segregated. Female gender and problem-solving ability were associated with a reduced tendency to perceive jobs as gender-stereotyped.     

Children's perceptions of occupational sex stereotypes

Female and male children ranging in age from 21/2 to 8 years were asked to indicate for each of 10 occupations whether a male or a female adult would be most likely to engage in the occupation. Five traditionally male and five traditionally female occupations were presented in random orders. The results indicated that the children at each age level made a significant distinction between the two occupational groupings, with the extent of the distinction increasing with age level. There were no significant effects involving the sex of the children. The results were interpreted as indicating the learning of adult stereotypes concerning the sex appropriateness of occupations by children as young as 21/2; years old. The potential implications of this sex stereotype for actual career decisions and aspirations were discussed.The authors would like to express their appreciation to the principal, M. Brady Thomas, and the teachers at Hickory Grove Elementary School for their help during the study. The order of authorship was randomly determined.     

Challenging gender stereotypes: Theory of mind and peer group dynamics

To investigate the social cognitive skills related to challenging gender stereotypes, children (N = 61, 3–6 years) evaluated a peer who challenged gender stereotypic norms held by the peer's group. Participants with false belief theory of mind (FB ToM) competence were more likely than participants who did not have FB ToM to expect a peer to challenge the group's stereotypes and propose that the group engage in a non‐stereotypic activity. Further, participants with FB ToM rated challenging the peer group more positively. Participants without FB ToM did not differentiate between their own and the group's evaluation of challenges to the group's stereotypic norms, but those with ToM competence asserted that they would be more supportive of challenging the group norm than would the peer group. Results reveal the importance of social‐cognitive competencies for recognizing the legitimacy of challenging stereotypes, and for understanding one's own and other group perspectives.     

Locus of control and affectivity by gender and occupational status: A 14 nation study

This study investigated the extent to which reported gender differences in values are attributable to differences in national culture and organizational seniority. Locus of control and affectivity scores were obtained from 4599 managers and employees in business organizations located in 14 countries. Across nations, men and those in senior positions were more internal and less affective. Gender effects were additional to those attributable to status. Respondents in nations scoring higher on an index of modernity were found to be less internal. A pan-cultural factor analysis of locus of control items yielded four subscales. Men and those in senior positions scored higher on Socio-Political Control and Effort, but no differences were found on the Luck and Active Friendship subscales. The results are contrasted with those obtained from single-nation samples using student subjects. We acknowledge receipt of ESRC Grant R 000 22 1552, which aided the completion of this study, and the helpful comments of Michael Bond and John E. Williams upon an earlier version.     

Brain potentials reflect violations of gender stereotypes

Event-related brain potentials (ERPs) were recorded while 14 males and 14 females read sentences containing a reflexive pronoun that referred to a definitionally or stereotypically male or female antecedent noun. Pronouns that disagreed with the gender definition or gender stereotype of the antecedent elicited a large-amplitude positive wave. Violations of gender definitions elicited a larger positive wave than did violations of gender stereotypes. Furthermore, the positive wave elicited by stereotype violations persisted even when subjects judged these sentences to be acceptable. Finally, female subjects exhibited larger positivities than did male subjects, regardless of whether the gender mismatch involved a definitional or stereotypical antecedent. These results are taken to indicate that ERPs are sensitive to violations of gender-based occupational stereotypes and that the ERP response to stereotype violations is similar to the P600 effect elicited by a variety of syntactic anomalies.     

Sex role and occupational stereotypes: Three studies of impression formation

The effects of sex and academic field of college teachers on perceptions of teacher competence and sex-role stereotypes are tested in three college samples. Contrary to expectations that male and female teachers would be described in sex-typed ways, regardless of academic major, subjects in these three studies rated male and female instructors in the same academic field essentially the same. The instructor's academic field (science or humanities) is consistently the most important determinant of impressions. It is suggested that although college students still hold traditional sex-role stereotypes, these become less important in first impressions when subjects received occupational information about women and men.     

Rigidity and flexibility of gender stereotypes in childhood: developmental or differential?

Previous research has shown that the early learning of male–female categories is characterized by rigid beliefs about stereotypic differences, but that once gender knowledge is well established, the beliefs become more flexible. Because most studies are cross‐sectional, it is not known if the early rigidity represents a normative transitional developmental stage that passes, or if early individual differences in rigidity continue into later childhood. To answer that question, analyses were performed on longitudinal data of 64 children who had been questioned about their gender concepts yearly from ages 5 to 10 years. Supporting a cognitive‐developmental approach, the findings showed that the period of rigidity was short‐lived whether rigidity began early or late or whether the level of peak rigidity was high or low. Copyright © 2005 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Preschoolers' inferences about gender and emotion: The mediation of emotionality stereotypes

This study examined childrens' stereotypes about sex differences in emotionality. Thirty preschoolers were presented with hypothetical emotional situations and asked to indicate the gender of the expressor and reasons for their choice. Although fear was consistently associated with females, gender attribution was situation specific for anger and happiness. Examination of preschoolers' explanations for gender attributions revealed that females made greater use of sex-role and imagery categories than did males. Furthermore, a significant age difference in the use of categorical and noncategorical responses was reported, with younger children making a greater number of noncategorical explanations. Children who used imagery to mediate gender choice relied primarily on hair color and length as gender-specific cues.     

Sex stereotypes in occupational choice: The case for college women

The choice of a male dominated occupation rather than a traditionally feminine one is the single occupational variable which meaningfully divides a class of women who were studied intensively over the 4 yr of college. Women who choose occupations which employ largely men differ predictably from women who select feminine occupations in terms of familial influence, work values, work experience, role model influence and some collegiate activities. The two groups do not differ appreciably in sociability experiences or in relationships with parents, so it cannot be argued that the work plans of the pioneer women stem from social isolation, rejection, or lack of appropriate feminine socialization.     

Bears are for boys: Metaphorical associations in young children's gender stereotypes

Objects may be gender typed by virtue of their use by or association with one sex or the other or because they embody qualities that show a nonliteral or metaphorical correspondence to characteristics of or beliefs about males and females. For Study 1, we developed the Gender Stereotyping Test, a sorting task with which we determined that 4-, 5-, and 7-year-olds make use of both types of information in assigning objects or qualities to each sex. Study 2 replicated results with a new group of 4-year-olds and found that children whose test scores indicated at least some knowledge of gender identity were more likely to gender type metaphorical, but not conventional, items than those whose scores failed to indicate stable and constant knowledge of gender identity. In Study 3, which used a truncated version of the sorting task, children at age 3 made minimal use of either type of information. Gender stereotypes are considered in terms of recent theories of metaphor as a conceptual mechanism by which what is known in or about one domain is projected to another domain for the purpose of understanding.