On the importance of being masculine: Sex role,attribution, and women's career achievement

The present study investigated the relation between sex-role identification and career achievement in working women. Women classified as feminine in Bem's Sex Role Inventory achieved less in their careers, attributed their career performance less to ability and effort, and had parents with lower educational expectations for them than women classified as masculine. Multiple regression analysis of a number of correlates revealed that education level and masculinity were the only significant predictors of career achievement in women. When education was not included in the regression analysis, both masculinity and the absence of femininity predicted women's achievement.This study is based on an honor's thesis by Gail E. Kettlewell and is supported by a Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council grant to P. T. P. Wong.