The role of ability beliefs and agentic vs. communal career goals in adolescents' first educational choice. What explains the degree of gender-balance?

Reducing the gender gap on adolescents' interest in study fields: The impact of perceived changes in ingroup gender norms and gender prototypicality

Despite some progress towards gender equality in Western societies, traditional gender norms still shape career choices, perpetuating a gender gap where girls are more likely to pursue traditionally feminine fields like healthcare, elementary education, and domestic roles (HEED), while boys are drawn to masculine domains such as science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM). This research investigates whether, and under which conditions, the perception that gender norms are progressively changing towards less gender dichotomy can reduce this gender gap in academic fields. We recruited a sample of 642 high-school students (394 women and 248 men), and experimentally manipulated both the salience of changes in gender norm (stability vs change) and participants' gender prototypicality. The main dependent variable was participants' interest in stereotypically feminine (HEED) and masculine (STEM) academic fields. The results indicated a slight decrease in the gender gap for stereotypically feminine fields (HEED) among participants who saw themselves as typical members of their gender group, but no significant change was observed for stereotypically masculine fields (STEM). These findings suggest that shifting perceptions of gender norms may have a limited effect on modifying traditional educational and career choices, underscoring the resilience of entrenched gender stereotypes.

Supplementary Information

The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1007/s11218-024-09909-z.

"Programming Is Not That Hard!" When a Science Center Visit Increases Young Women's Programming Ability Beliefs

To increase engagement with science and technology, young people around the world are encouraged to attend activities at science centers. But how effective are these activities? Since women have weaker ability beliefs and interest in technology than men, it is especially important to learn how science center visits affect them. In this study, we tested if programming exercises offered to middle school students by a Swedish science center would increase ability beliefs and interest in programming. Students in grades 8 and 9 (n = 506) completed a survey before and after visiting the science center, and their ratings were compared to a wait-list control group (n = 169). The students participated in block-based, text-based, and robot programming exercises developed by the science center. The results showed that programming ability beliefs increased for women, but not men, and that interest in programming decreased for men, but not women. The effects persisted at a follow-up (2-3 months). The young men reported stronger ability beliefs and interest than the young women at all timepoints. The results imply that science center activities can make programming feel less hard, but adaptations may be needed to also increase interest.

Supplementary Information

The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1007/s41979-023-00094-w.

Tech-Savvy Men and Caring Women: Middle School Students’ Gender Stereotypes Predict Interest in Tech-Education

The labor market is strongly gender segregated with few women working in the tech sector (e.g., IT) and few men working in the care sector (e.g., nursing). We tested the hypothesis that middle school students strongly associate technology with men and caregiving with women in a Swedish context (i.e., a country that scores high in gender equality indices), and that these gender stereotypes for tech relate to girls’ lower interest in tech-focused education. We measured technology/caregiving gender stereotypes with implicit (the Implicit Association Test) and explicit (self-report) measures in a sample of middle school students (n = 873). The results supported the main hypotheses, and corroborate Eccles’s expectancy value theory, indicating that the endorsement of implicit gender stereotypes may serve as barriers to pursuing masculine-typed career paths for women. Further, a sample of middle school teachers (n = 86) showed stronger implicit gender stereotypes than the students. Unexpectedly, middle school girls with a foreign background showed no implicit gender stereotypes, which we discuss in relation to the gender-equality paradox. These findings suggest that to fulfill the recruitment needs of an increasingly digitalized world, the tech-industry and other stakeholders should put effort into counteracting the stereotype that technology is for men.

Competence-Questioning Communication and Gender: Exploring Mansplaining, Ignoring, and Interruption Behaviors

Competence-questioning communication at work has been described as gender-linked (e.g., mansplaining) and as impacting the way women perceive and experience the workplace. Three studies were conducted to investigate how the specific communication behaviors of condescending explanation (i.e., mansplaining), voice nonrecognition, and interruption can be viewed as gender-biased in intention by receivers. The first study was a critical incident survey to describe these competence-questioning behaviors when enacted by men toward women in the workplace and how women react toward them. Studies 2 and 3 used experimental paradigms (in online and laboratory settings, respectively) to investigate how women and men perceive and react to these behaviors when enacted by different genders. Results demonstrated that when faced with condescending explanation, voice nonrecognition, or interruption, women reacted more negatively and were more likely to see the behavior as indicative of gender bias when the communicator was a man. Implications for improving workplace communications and addressing potential gender biases in communication in organizations are discussed.

Supplementary Information

The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1007/s10869-022-09871-7.

The Influence of Messaging on Perceptions of Careers in Veterinary Medicine: Do Gender Stereotypes Matter?

The veterinary medical workforce is increasingly female; occupational feminization often transfers stereotypes associated with the predominant gender onto the profession. It is unknown whether within veterinary medicine a feminized public image is a possible contributor to the reduction in male applicants to training programs. The influence of stereotypically gendered messaging on how male and female undergraduate students perceive veterinary medicine was investigated in 482 undergraduate students enrolled in five introductory or second-level biology courses. Two short videos introducing the field of veterinary medicine were developed with imagery and language selected to emphasize either stereotypic feminine (communal) or masculine (agentic) aspects of the field. Participant groups were randomly assigned one of the two videos (feminine/communal or masculine/agentic) or no video (no exposure). An outcome survey elicited impressions of the field of veterinary medicine and gathered demographic data. There was a significant linear trend of condition on perception of the profession as feminine or masculine and on perception of the activities of a veterinarian as feminine/communal or masculine/agentic. Female participants were significantly more likely to agree that someone of their gender would be valued in the profession. Male participants reported significantly higher self-efficacy scores for performing the tasks of a veterinarian when they viewed the feminine stereotype video. These results demonstrate that gendered perceptions of the field can be manipulated. Intentional gendered messaging should be further explored as one strategy to broaden the talent pool in the workforce by attracting men back to the field.

Seeking congruity for communal and agentic goals: a longitudinal examination of U.S. college women’s persistence in STEM

An abundance of literature has examined barriers to women’s equitable representation in science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) fields, with many studies demonstrating that STEM fields are not perceived to afford communal goals, a key component of women’s interest in future careers. Using Goal Congruity Theory as a framework, we tested the longitudinal impact of perceptions of STEM career goal affordances, personal communal and agentic goal endorsements, and their congruity on persistence in science from the second through fourth years of college among women in STEM majors in the United States. We found that women’s intent to persist in science were highest in the fall of their second year, that persistence intentions exhibited a sharp decline, and eventually leveled off by their fourth year of college. This pattern was moderated by perceptions of agentic affordances in STEM, such that women who believe that STEM careers afford the opportunity for achievement and individualism experienced smaller declines. We found that higher perceptions of communal goal affordances in STEM consistently predicted higher persistence intentions indicating women may benefit from perceptions that STEM affords communal goals. Finally, we found women with higher agentic affordances in STEM also had greater intentions to persist, and this relationship was stronger for women with higher agentic goals. We conclude that because STEM fields are stereotyped as affording agentic goals, women who identify interest in a STEM major during their first years of college may be drawn to these fields for this reason and may benefit from perceptions that STEM affords agentic goals.

Middle School, Middle-Skills: 8th Grader’s Interest in Middle-Skill Occupations

There is a workforce shortage in middle-skill occupations requiring some educational training but not a 4-year college degree, such as skilled trades (e.g., construction), transportation (e.g., drivers), and manufacturing. Identifying factors that promote adolescent interest in middle-skill occupations is crucial in combating this shortage. This study examined whether variables contributing to adolescent interest in STEM occupations, such as gender, occupation goal affordances, and occupational knowledge, extend to middle-skill occupations. Results from hierarchical linear models revealed that adolescents ( N = 502) were interested in middle-skill occupations for which they felt knowledgeable and perceived to afford agentic and communal goals. The effect of perceived knowledge on interest in construction and manufacturing occupations was stronger for boys than girls. Efforts to increase interest in middle-skill occupations should address the gender gap in perceived knowledge and highlight how these occupations fulfill agentic and communal goals.

Boosting prosocial career aspirations: Loving-kindness meditation relates to higher communal career goals in youth

Wanting to help others and benefit society in one's future career are examples of communal career goals. Raising these goals in youth should increase interest in HEED‐occupations (Healthcare, Early Education, Domestic, and the Domestic fields) which are strongly gender‐skewed and face labor shortage. Research has yet to find ways to increase communal career goals. In this study, we test the novel hypothesis that after listening to a brief loving‐kindness meditation, participants will rate stronger communal career goals, as compared to controls. In three experimental studies, volunteering high‐school students (Study 1 and 3) and university students (Study 2) listened to a 12‐min recording of the meditation with the explicit purpose of investigating its effect on stress. They thereafter filled out an apparently unrelated career goal survey. We compared the results with a control group that just rated the career goals (Studies 1–3) and a control group that listened to calm music before filling out the survey (Study 2 and 3). The results showed that the high‐school students rated higher communal career goals after listening to the meditation, as compared to controls. We did not replicate the result in the sample of university students, which could relate to adults having less flexible career goals than youth, or to a ceiling effect in communal goals. This is the first study that has demonstrated a method with the potential of increasing communal career goals in youth. In addition to increasing interest in HEED, raising communal goals could benefit society, since they are intrinsically prosocial.

Children’s Views About Their Future Career and Family Involvement: Associations With Children’s Gender Schemas and Parents’ Involvement in Work and Family Roles

Substantial gender disparities in career advancement are still apparent, for instance in the gender pay gap, the overrepresentation of women in parttime work, and the underrepresentation of women in managerial positions. Regarding the developmental origins of these gender disparities, the current study examined whether children’s views about future career and family involvement were associated with children’s own gender schemas (gender stereotypes, gender identity) and parents’ career- and family-related gender roles. Participants were 142 Dutch families with a child between the ages of 6 and 12 years old (M = 9.80, SD = 1.48, 60% girls). The families had different compositions (1 parent, 2 parents, 1 to 3 children). Children completed a computer task assessing gender stereotypes about toys and questionnaires on gender identity (i.e., felt similarity to same- and other-gender children) and their views about future career and family involvement. Parents reported their occupation, work hours, and task division in the home, which were combined in a composite variable reflecting gender-typicality of career and family involvement. Generalized estimation equations were used to take into account dependency between family members. Results revealed that parents’, and especially mothers’, gender-typical career and family involvement was associated with children’s gender-typical views about future career and family involvement. In addition, children’s felt similarity to the same gender was associated with children’s gender-typical expectations about career and family involvement. These findings suggest that parents’ career, work hours, and task division in the home, together play an important role in how their children envision their future work and family roles. Children themselves also play an active role in developing this vision for the future by their own gender identity, specifically by how similar they feel to individuals of the same gender. To reduce gender disparities in the occupational and domestic domain, programs need to be designed that focus on parental role modeling in the family as well as children’s gender identity development.

Worth Less?: Why Men (and Women) Devalue Care-Oriented Careers

In the present research, we applied a goal-congruity perspective – the proposition that men and women seek out roles that afford their internalized values (Diekman et al., 2017) – to better understand the degree to which careers in healthcare, early education, and domestic roles (HEED; Croft et al., 2015) are devalued in society. Our first goal was to test the hypothesis that men, relative to women, are less interested in pursuing HEED careers in part because they are less likely than women to endorse communal values. A second, more novel goal was to extend goal congruity theory to examine whether gender differences in communal values also predict the belief that HEED careers add worth to society and are deserving of higher salaries. In three studies of undergraduate students (total N = 979), we tested the predictive role of communal values (i.e., a focus on caring for others), as distinct from agentic values (i.e., a focus on status, competition, and wealth; Bakan, 1966). Consistent with goal congruity theory, Studies 1 and 2 revealed that men’s lower interest in adopting HEED careers, such as nursing and elementary education, was partially mediated by men’s (compared to women’s) lower communal values. Extending the theory, all three studies also documented a general tendency to see HEED as having relatively lower worth to society compared to STEM careers. As expected, communal values predicted perceiving higher societal worth in HEED careers, as well as supporting increases in HEED salaries. Thus, gender differences in communal values accounted for men’s (compared to women’s) tendency to perceive HEED careers as having less societal worth and less deserving of salary increases. In turn, gender differences in perceived societal worth of HEED itself predicted men’s relatively lower interest in pursuing HEED careers. In no instance, did agentic values better explain the gender difference in HEED interest or perceived worth. These findings have important implications for how we understand the value that society places on occupations typically occupied by women versus men.

Communicating Gender-Equality Progress, Reduces Social Identity Threats for Women Considering a Research Career

Since the majority of top-level researchers are men, how does this vertical gender-segregation affect students’ perceptions of a research career? In the current study, an experimental manipulation either reminded students of academia’s current dominance of men or of its improving gender-balance. The results showed that women primed with the dominance of men anticipated much higher social identity threats (e.g., fear of discrimination) in a future research career as compared to a control group. In contrast, women primed with the improving gender-balance anticipated much lower threat. Further, the dominance of men prime increased men’s interest in the PhD program, as compared to controls. Women’s interest was unaffected by the prime, but their lower interest as compared to men’s across conditions was mediated by their lower research self-efficacy (i.e., competence beliefs). The results imply that communicating gender-equality progress may allow women to consider a career in research without the barrier of social identity threat.