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Indulging Our Gendered Selves? Sex Segregation by Field of Study in 44 Countries1
Abstract
Data from 44 societies are used to explore sex segregation by field of study. Contrary to accounts linking socioeconomic modernization to a "degendering" of public-sphere institutions, sex typing of curricular fields is stronger in more economically developed contexts. The authors argue that two cultural forces combine in advanced industrial societies to create a new sort of sex segregation regime. The first is gender-essentialist ideology, which has proven to be extremely resilient even in the most liberal-egalitarian of contexts; the second is self-expressive value systems, which create opportunities and incentives for the expression of "gendered selves." Multivariate analyses suggest that structural features of postindustrial labor markets and modern educational systems support the cultivation, realization, and display of gender-specific curricular affinities.
... In less egalitarian and less affluent countries, gender-specific preferences and interests may be constrained by more pressing financial concerns (Stoet & Geary, 2020). Conversely, in highly egalitarian and developed countries, the genderneutral goal of financial security is fulfilled by the availability of material resources, allowing women and men greater latitude to pursue gender-specific aspirations and interests (Charles & Bradley, 2009;Charles et al., 2014;Soylu Yalcinkaya & Adams, 2022). Thus, following postmaterialist theory, gender differences in vocational interests should increase in more egalitarian countries. ...
... Relatedly, the Investigative I-GEP dovetails with the pattern that gender gaps in STEM career choices are larger in more egalitarian countries (Stoet & Geary, 2018). This supports prior evidence that despite reductions in vertical segregation in highly egalitarian countries, horizontal gender segregation-the clustering of women and men into jobs of similar status but requiring different attributes and skills-continues to persist (Breda et al., 2020;Charles & Bradley, 2009). That is, although women in these countries have more opportunities to participate in the labor force, their increasing employment concentrated them mostly into Social (e.g., teaching, nursing, and service-oriented) rather than Investigative (science-oriented) professions (Eagly et al., 2020). ...
... Moreover, highly egalitarian countries experience larger gender gaps in Realistic, Investigative, and Social and smaller gender gaps in Artistic, Enterprising, and Conventional interests. Our findings draw a more nuanced picture of the Interest-Gender-Equality Paradox: although Realistic, Social, and Investigative I-GEPs parallel cross-national patterns of horizontal segregation (Breda et al., 2020;Charles & Bradley, 2009), lower vertical segregation (as indexed by GGI) closes gender gaps in artistic and business-oriented domains. Nevertheless, our study represents only the first step toward uncovering the differential relationship of gender equality to gender differences in interests. ...
Postmaterialist theory suggests that gender differences in vocational interests should be larger in more egalitarian countries, reflecting a counter-intuitive pattern called the “Gender-Equality Paradox.” By contrast, social role theory implies that gender differences in vocational interests should be smaller in more egalitarian countries as gender roles converge. Using multilevel analyses on data from 57 countries ( N = 109,460), we investigate the relationship of country-level gender equality (measured by the Global Gender Gap Index) to gender differences in RIASEC (Realistic, Investigative, Artistic, Social, Enterprising, and Conventional) vocational interests. Results reveal patterns that differ by interest dimensions. In more egalitarian countries, gender differences in Realistic, Investigative, and Social interests are larger, revealing an “Interest–Gender-Equality Paradox.” Conversely, gender differences in Artistic, Enterprising, and Conventional interests are smaller in these countries. These relationships remain largely robust after controlling for country-level economic development (Gross Domestic Product). We discuss possible explanations and implications of our findings.
... The significance of preserving gender typing in one's self-concept is evident in horizontal gender segregation, the distinction between typical "male" and "female" occupations (Charles and Grusky 2004). Despite an increasingly dominant ideology of gender egalitarianism and a considerable decline in gender discrimination during the 20th century, this segregation persists, especially in Western countries including Germany (Charles and Bradley 2009;Charles and Grusky 2004). This persistence can partly be attributed to the widespread prevalence of essentialist notions of gender, which posit inherent differences between women and men, such as the notion that women are naturally more competent in people-oriented tasks and men in things-oriented tasks (Charles and Bradley 2009;Ridgeway and Correll 2004;Su et al. 2009). ...
... Despite an increasingly dominant ideology of gender egalitarianism and a considerable decline in gender discrimination during the 20th century, this segregation persists, especially in Western countries including Germany (Charles and Bradley 2009;Charles and Grusky 2004). This persistence can partly be attributed to the widespread prevalence of essentialist notions of gender, which posit inherent differences between women and men, such as the notion that women are naturally more competent in people-oriented tasks and men in things-oriented tasks (Charles and Bradley 2009;Ridgeway and Correll 2004;Su et al. 2009). In Western societies, career choices are viewed as expressions of identity rather than just economic need (Cech 2013;Charles 2017). ...
This study investigates occupational changes in the German vocational education and training system among “stopouts,” i.e., individuals who terminate their training prematurely and switch to another occupation. We examine whether occupational changes are related to the fulfillment of career aspirations and changes in key occupational characteristics such as gender typing, social status, and task profiles. Utilizing longitudinal data from the German National Educational Panel Study and employing latent class analyses, we scrutinize patterns of change in occupational characteristics across different social categories. Results indicate that the majority of stopouts switch to occupations more aligned with their career aspirations, reflecting individual agency in career development. We identify two types of latent classes of occupational change: one in which characteristics remain more or less consistent with the previous position, reflecting practices of fine-tuning, and another showing notable task profile differences compared to the previous position. The latter primarily concerns medium-educated individuals who face a wider array of career opportunities compared to their lower-educated counterparts. Our findings emphasize the dynamic nature of career decision-making and stress the need for support for individuals undergoing career transitions. Career counselors and practitioners can use these insights to encourage alignment with individual occupational aspirations, address career compromises, and promote exploration based on interests, particularly among individuals with a medium-level education and diverse career options.
... Moreover, our reliance on IPEDS means we are focusing on USbased institutions and cannot extrapolate to other countries. This matters because the way in which the sex composition of STEM fields is skewed varies drastically across countries (see e.g., [74], [75], [76]. Future research might explore how country-specific parameters that shape postsecondary systems in turn affect the sex composition of STEM fields. ...
... Meantime, we remain cautiously optimistic that our research has generalizable implications, e.g., for explaining persistent gender disparities in other STEM occupations. Given that women are the largest "untapped" resource to diversify STEM fields [75], our efforts to identify key institutional dynamics may potentially help address the recruitment of historically underrepresented groups into other thriving STEM occupations [77]. ...
... Second, it is argued that women will benefit from the growing demand for social tasks brought about by the expansion of the service sector (Deming, 2017;Cortes et al., 2018;Bacolod and Blum, 2010). Social tasks cannot be easily automated and women are stereotypically considered to be better endowed with social and emotional skills and thus inclined to perform jobs rich in social tasks (Charles and Bradley, 2009;Charles and Grusky, 2018). On the other hand, however, jobs requiring social tasks range widely (Fernández-Macías and Bisello, 2022). ...
... The relative differences in men's and women's earnings may also decline as a result of the increasing importance of social tasks (Bacolod and Blum, 2010;Deming, 2017;Cortes et al., 2018). Women are, in general, perceived to have better social skills than men (Charles and Bradley, 2009;Charles and Grusky, 2018). Women are also overrepresented in jobs that require social skills, i.e. in the service sector, education or healthcare (Matysiak and Cukrowska-Torzewska, 2021). ...
Research from the US argues that women will benefit from a structural labour market change as the importance of social tasks increases and that of manual tasks declines. This article contributes to this discussion in three ways: (a) by extending the standard framework of task content of occupations in order to account for the gender perspective; (b) by developing measures of occupational task content tailored to the European context; and (c) by testing this argument in 13 European countries. Data are analysed from the European Skills, Competences, Qualifications and Occupations database and the European Structure of Earnings Survey. The analysis demonstrates that relative to men the structural labour market change improves the earnings potential of women working in low- and middle-skilled occupations but not those in high-skilled occupations. Women are overrepresented in low-paid social tasks (e.g. care) and are paid less for analytical tasks than men.
... This study showed that gender inequality is negatively associated with academic achievement. Gender is essentially a system of cultural beliefs about gender that influence people's activities 62 . Among these beliefs, some may be stereotypical. ...
... According to 20 years of comparable data for 13 countries from the TIMSS, an increased mathematics achievement gap is observed in educational systems that tend to be decentralized or reduce investment in education 4 . This process holds true, especially in countries with more liberal egalitarian societies 65 , where gender discrimination and self-identity are driven by the gender essentialist ideology (e.g., cultural beliefs in fundamental and innate gender differences) and self-expressive value systems 28,62 . An adolescent may seek better academic achievement when he or she has high efficacy expectancies and perceives a good chance of succeeding academically 66 . ...
To examine the role of inequality in academic achievement, we analyse a cross-national dataset including data from three cycles from 2012 to 2018 from the PISA, an international assessment of 15-year-old students’ math, reading, and science performance. The Gini coefficient and gender inequality index (GII) were used as metrics for a country’s economic inequality and gender inequality, respectively. The results show that gender inequality has a negative association with academic achievement for both boys and girls. Moreover, gender inequality has a stronger association with academic achievement than does economic inequality. We also find that gender inequality in reproductive health may contribute substantially to the association between gender inequality and academic achievement. Despite substantial advances in gender equality worldwide, multisectoral and multilevel approaches from the community to the country level are needed to ensure substantial long-term reductions in economic, gender, and educational inequalities.
... социолошки аспект односа у оперативној сали (Kellogg, 2009), културно предузетништво и настанак француске опере (Johnson, 2007), осигурање живота у Кини (Chan, 2009), ширење хришћанства у Кореји (Kane and Park, 2009), друштвени значај адвоката у Кини (Michelson, 2007), анализира се ко су играчи лутрије у САД (Garvía, 2007), какви су обрасци дружења студената у САД (Kossinets and Watts, 2009), разматра се семиотика имејл порука (Menchik and Tian, 2008), претресају се имена која страни радници дају својој деци (Gerhards and Hans, 2009), доказује се да се људи осећају најсрећнијим уколико живе у богатој кући окружени сиромашним комшијама (Firebaugh and Schroeder, 2009), анализира се корелација између мушкарчеве импотенције и учесталости с којом се његова жена виђа с најбољом пријатељицом (Cornwell and Laumann, 2011), посматрају се комуникација у друштвеним мрежама (Aral and Alstyne, 2011), као и појава различитих емоција у вези посла (Grant, Morales and Sallaz, 2009), затим се пише о протестима ирских политичких затвореника (O'Hearn, 2009), о етничком саставу бољшевичког руководства (Riga, 2008), о настанку пореског система (Morgan and Prasad, 2009), о исељавању из Кине (Liang et al., 2008), о култури насиља у комшилуку (Kirk and Papachristos, 2011), о ширењу приградских насеља као чиниоцу уништавања тропских шума (Rudel, 2009), о проблему одрастања (Massoglia and Uggen 2010), о тешкоћама са којима се сусрећу НВО у Кини (Spires, 2011), покушава се засновати "социологија технолошких несрећа" (Downer, 2011), итд. Ту је и доста чланака о сексуалности и роду, попут разматрања утицаја првог сексуалног односа на развој менталних болести код адолесецената (Meier, 2007), проблем сексуалног узнемиравања на послу (Dobbin Kelly 2007), налаз да жене имају слабије шансе да добију посао ако имају децу (Correll, Benard, and Paik, 2007), проблем ограничења за напредовање жена у корпорацијама (Gorman and Kmec, 2009), налаз о лошијим радним уговорима за жене (Fernandez Mateo, 2009), разматрање зашто долази до успоравања у изједначавању родних улога у САД (Cotter, Hermsen and Vanneman, 2011), анализира се утицај промене образаца спаривања (раније директор и секретарица, данас директор и директорка) на разлике у дохотку домаћинстава (тврди се да је овај утицај мали!; Breen and Salazar, 2011), ту је и питање полне сегрегације у образовању (Charles and Bradley, 2009), затим дискриминација у унапређивању жена (Skaggs, 2008), проблеми развода (Sayer et al., 2011), итд. И расно питање је веома присутно, па се, тако, анализира, преко пријатеља са фејсбука, расни састав дружења студената (Wimmer and Lewis, 2010), или се разматрају однос расе и комшијских веза (Krysan et al., 2009), проблем расне заступљености у политици (Paschel, 2010), расно питање у Бразилу (Bailey, 2008), расни односи у Порторику (Montgomery, 2011), итд. ...
The book The Devil, History and Feminism: Sociological Adventures contains the author's essays on three topics: Historical sociology; Feminism; social conditions in Serbia.
... Other authors have suggested that girls' science interest may have become more important than science self-concepts (Kang et al., 2021: 529). The same might be true with regard to ICT: Particularly in contexts with high levels of economic security (such as Switzerland), pre-existing gender differences in subjective task values (e.g., interests) may have particularly strong effects (Cech, 2013;Charles & Bradley, 2009). Our findings are in line with studies reporting that for women's vocational choices, intrinsic motivation may be more important than self-perceived abilities (Beyer, 2014;Kang et al., 2021) For practical implications, our findings suggest that fostering girls' interest in ICT may help some girls enter occupations that do require more advanced ICT use. ...
The use of information and communication technologies (ICT) is now an integral part of many occupational task profiles. Therefore, like mathematics and science, ICT represent an important content domain that adolescents may consider in their early vocational choices. Drawing on Eccles’ situated expectancy value theory and related theories, we hypothesize that adolescents’ ICT interest and self-concept should influence their vocational choices with respect to the intensity of ICT use in future occupations. Using longitudinal data from 1,964 Swiss adolescents transitioning into firm-based vocational education and training, we find strongly gendered patterns. Higher ICT interest predicts selection into occupations involving greater intensity of both basic and advanced ICT use, but only for girls. A more positive ICT self-concept is a significant predictor of greater occupational ICT use in future occupations only for boys, and this association is driven mainly by boys choosing careers as ICT specialists. Girls’ lower average ICT interest and their less positive ICT self-concepts explain almost half of the gender differences in the intensity of advanced ICT use. These findings emphasize that ICT are an important content domain of adolescents’ vocational choices today and highlight how gendered interests and self-concepts towards ICT perpetuate occupational gender segregation.
... Cross-national evidence in support of this hypothesis is mixed. Work on the gender equality paradox finds that countries with greater individualism (indexed by greater gender equality or socioeconomic modernism, which are correlates of individualism) have larger gender disparities favouring men in aspirations for a mathematics-related career 142 and in information and communication technology occupations 143 . Other work finds that the relationship between greater gender equality and representation or interest in STEM occupations is either not significant (K. ...
... Recent decades have seen a decline in the belief in "male supremacy", followed by a surge in women's participation in the labor market and education system. However, the belief in "gender essentialism" has not diminished to the same extent (Charles & Bradley, 2009;Levanon & Grusky, 2016;Quadlin, 2020;Barone & Assirelli, 2020). How was this diagnosis made possible? ...
This article explores how attitudes and behaviors toward housework vary across countries and among individuals, focusing on gender roles. Using data from the International Social Survey Programme (ISSP), specifically its Family and Changing Gender Roles module, the study employs multilevel analysis to examine responses from 41 countries across different continents. The findings reveal that factors such as gender, education, working hours, religion, and religiousness influence attitudes and practices related to domestic labor. Moreover, while national contexts play a role in shaping gender values, there is notable uniformity across countries in actual practices concerning the sexual division of housework.
... In recent years, the world has made significant progress in closing the gender gap in education, with more women reaching higher levels of education than ever before (Buchmann et al., 2008;Cin et al., 2021;Song & Tan, 2024). However, the significant and persistent segregation of major choices in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) fields remains an ongoing challenge (Charles & Bradley, 2009;Smith, 2011). The underrepresentation of women in STEM is not only a critical gender equality issue but also urban areas and among students with vocational college education compared to urban areas and those with undergraduate college education. ...
Despite notable progress in narrowing the global gender gap in education, women’s participation in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) fields remains disproportionately low. This study investigates the substantial impact of parental, particularly maternal, gender role attitudes on their children’s major choices in China. To address endogeneity concerns, this research adopts a culture-based instrumental variable approach using regional differences in exposure to Confucian culture based on parental birthplaces as instruments. The results show that mothers who hold traditional gender role attitudes significantly discourage their daughters from pursuing STEM majors, with this discouraging effect being particularly pronounced in urban areas and among vocational college students. Further analysis on the mechanisms indicates that traditional maternal gender role attitudes negatively affect daughters’ mathematical performance, self-esteem, and risk-taking, thereby limiting their inclination toward STEM fields. These findings highlight the imperative for policy interventions aimed at challenging and transforming parental stereotypes, which may serve as a crucial mechanism for reducing gender segregation in STEM education.
... This gives women and men more freedom to pursue the values they care about, not more of social-role expectations, which also contributes to greater gender disparities [35,37]. Instead of the traditional gender division of labor based on physical attributes, greater economic prosperity will change the structure of education and careers [38]. With the emergence of new jobs that are considered appropriate for females' roles in society, more women are being socialized to fit into the careers they pursue, which brings with it mental health problems. ...
Background: Bipolar disorder and anxiety disorders are two prominent mental disorders that represent a significant global health challenge.
Objective: The Global Burden of Disease Study 2021 (GBD 2021) was employed to evaluate sex differences in the incidence of bipolar disorder (BD) and anxiety disorder (ANX) globally by year, age, and socioeconomic status.
Method: We estimated sex-specific incidence of BD and ANX from GBD 2021 globally and in 204 countries and territories from 1990 to 2021. The sociodemographic index (SDI) was used to gauge national socioeconomic development and the Health Organization (WHO) region was used as a division of regions. Differences in age-standardized incidence rates (ASRs) by sex (absolute and relative) and risk ratios (95% confidence interval) were calculated annually and by age. Annual percent change (APC) was calculated by joinpoint regression modeling and linear regression analyses were performed to explore the socioeconomic factors associated with sex differences in incidence.
Results: The absolute and relative sex difference in ASRs of BD showed a slight declining trend during 1990 and 2021, with absolute difference decreasing from 2.50 to 1.83, and relative difference decreasing from 1.08 to 1.06; The absolute and relative sex difference in ASRs of ANX showed an increasing trend during 1990 and 2021, with absolute difference increasing from 170.02 to 208.08, and relative difference increasing from 1.35 to 1.36. Worldwide, females had a higher risk of BD and ANX than males in 1990and 2021. The highest Risk ratios of BD and ANX were observed in the European Region in 2021.The greatest relative sex difference of BD was 1.09 in the age group of 30-34. The greatest relative difference of ANX was 1.51 in the age group of 20-24. Relative sex differences of BD and ANX were significantly and positively correlated with SDI (BD, standardized β = 0.27 (95% CI, 0.22 to 0.33), P < 0.001; ANX, standardized β = 0.80 (95% CI, 0.47 to 1.14), P < 0.001).
Conclusions: Sex difference in the incidence of anxiety disorders and bipolar disorder have persisted worldwide over the past several decades, and the rates have consistently been higher among females than males. The sex difference in the global incidence of bipolar disorder has shown a slight improvement, but that in the global incidence of anxiety disorders has not been effectively mitigated. The sex difference is even more pronounced at younger ages and in more developed nations. The findings emphasize the significance of sex-specific health policies to reduce sex differences in the incidence of bipolar and anxiety disorders.
... This bias is fueled by ongoing horizontal segregation in education and the workplace (Jussim, 1989). These biases perpetuate the stereotype that men excel in STEM fields while women thrive in humanities and people-centered areas (Charles & Bradley, 2009). ...
The Uruguayan computational thinking (CT) program promotes CT skills for students in fourth, fifth, and sixth grades. Since 2017, it has reached over 70,000 students, with participation and Bebras challenge performance equally distributed by gender. This study examines gender perspectives in the program, focusing on teacher perceptions, student outcomes, and participation. Positive initiatives to encourage¡ girls' involvement are described. A survey revealed a slight preference among teachers for boys in programming and CT skills. Bebras results showed girls performed equally well, or better, than boys. The findings highlight that while progress has been made toward gender equality in Uruguay's CT program, challenges remain. The fact that girls perform as well as boys is promising. Addressing teacher biases and gender stereotypes can help create a more inclusive environment for all students to develop CT skills.
... Consecuentemente, la brecha de género está presente a lo largo de la historia y sigue vigente alrededor del mundo, obstaculizando la integración, reconocimiento y avance de las mujeres en diferentes áreas del conocimiento, particularmente en áreas de las ciencias, tecnología, ingeniería y matemáticas (STEM por las siglas en inglés), donde la brecha es visible en los ámbitos académicos, social y profesional; "Estas brechas se manifiestan desde la escolaridad: las niñas van alejándose progresivamente de los estudios en áreas científicas debido a múltiples causas, como presiones familiares, estereotipos, expectativas y falta de mentores o de modelos a seguir" (López et al., 2018). Los análisis indican que es cuestión de perspectiva y de tradición lo que lleva a que las mujeres se vean mayormente atraídas por áreas sociales, donde la difusión de creencias estereotípicas de género ajusta a las mujeres en campos más expresivos y centrados en el ser humano y a los hombres en campos técnicos y matemáticos intensivos (Charles y Bradley, 2009). Como lo mencionan Diekman et al. (2015), "La capacidad innata de las diferencias de género no es la causa principal de la brecha de género actual en las actividades profesionales del ámbito STEM". ...
The primary objective of this research is to identify elements and concepts that intervene in the existing gender gap in STEM areas (science, technology, engineering and mathematics), to subsequently design and validate a serious game that allows training and raising awareness among university students. A bibliographic review of serious games focused on training in the concept is performed. A three-phase game development methodology is applied to design and validate the serious game “Brechas.” The proposed game has a board mediated by digital tools in which participants answer questions while learning the main concepts about gender gaps in the international, national, and local contexts. The designed tool is refined by the application to 47 participants. In conclusion, this tool allows instructing and raising awareness among students regarding existing disparities in gender issues, especially in STEM areas.
... Despite decades of efforts aimed at increasing gender integration within the educational system, people's educational choices continue to be significantly influenced by gender (Charles and Bradley 2002;Barone 2011). Women, in particular, remain underrepresented in fields such as Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics, commonly referred to as STEM fields (Charles and Bradley 2009;Mann and DiPrete 2013). The gender disparity in STEM degrees has attracted substantial attention from researchers, which is warranted because previous research has shown that the substantial gap between men and women in STEM fields cannot be solely attributed to differences in mathematical abilities (Hyde et al. 2008;Lindberg et al. 2010;Reardon et al. 2019). ...
This study examines the influence of pupils' ordinal positions in the distribution of grades in their 9th grade school cohort on subsequent tertiary-level STEM degrees, at age 30. Population-wide data from Sweden between the years 1990-1997 is used. The identification strategy uses differences between pupils' ranks in their school and their ranks in the country-wide ability distribution after conditioning on school-cohort fixed effects and school-level grade distributions. The findings reveal a relative gratification of being at the top of the school ability distribution. Both boys and girls who occupy a higher rank in 9th grade are more likely to acquire a STEM degree, although the results are more pronounced for boys than girls. While a slight relative deprivation of being at the bottom of the ability distribution is seen for boy, girls are not impacted at all. This result is also robust when measuring the ranks within each gender in-group, meaning comparing boys with boys, and girls with girls. Implying that, in connection to STEM degrees, women are less receptive to ordinal rank in school compared to men. 2
... Indeed, gender parity in STEM develops frequently either in schools or education-related contexts (Baker and Wiseman 2009;Baker and LeTendre 2005). One example of this is the diminished frequency of gendered differentiation in STEM education curricula, education policy, and instructional practices or other formalised structures, although institutionalised social and cultural differentiation persists in school communities (Charles and Bradley 2009;Inglehart and Norris 2003;Stoet and Geary 2018). ...
Do gender parity and egalitarian values in STEM education mask institutionalised gender inequalities in STEM? This study uses student background questionnaire data from the 2015 Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study (TIMSS) supplemented by national level data on gender parity in educational enrolment and female participation in the STEM workforce from the United Nations and International Labor Organization to empirically examine the evidence. Using two-level hierarchical linear models, we analyse the effects of students' STEM expectancies and task values on their anticipated STEM education and career participation. Results confirm that gender equity and egalitarian values dominate the cross-national expectancies and task values for STEM education, both across genders as well as for female and male students separately, even though there is wide variation and significant gendered inequality that persists in both educational access and STEM workforce participation. Thus, the 'cloak of equality' hypothesis is supported by the evidence presented.
... The extents of male-domination or female-domination in each sector allow also for cross-country and temporal comparisons as the index does not suffer from the technical dependencies of the afore-mentioned indices. Previous literature in gender segregation by field of education has applied the A index using data for advanced economies in cross-sectional or panel-data, econometric settings (Charles & Bradley, 2009;Zuazu, 2020). ...
Structural change has long been at the core of economic development debates. However, the gender implications of structural change are still largely unexplored. This paper helps to fill this gap by analysing the role of structural change in the gender distribution of sectoral employment in sub‐Saharan African countries. I employ aggregate and disaggregate measures of gender sectoral segregation in employment, which measure the difference between the gender distribution across sectors with respect to the overall participation of women and men in the labour market. I build a panel database consisting of 10 sectors and 11 countries during 1960–2010. Fixed effects and instrumental variables' regression models show a significant, nonlinear link between labour productivity and gender segregation. Increasing labour productivity depresses gender segregation at initial phases of structural change. However, further productivity gains beyond a certain threshold of sectoral development increases gender segregation. Country‐industry panel data models complement the analysis showing that relative labour productivity has a nonlinear impact in gender segregation: Initial increases in relative productivity increases feminization but further relative productivity gains foster the masculinization of sectors. The estimates suggest that manufacturing, utilities, construction, business, and government services are key to correct gender biases in employment along the process of structural change.
... In individualistic, liberal, and resourced societies, where education and career choices are framed as an expression of an authentic inner self, beliefs about gender differences ("gender essentialism") more strongly influence career aspirations (Budge et al., 2023). Since understandings of those "inner selves" are highly gendered, self-expressive choice may manifest as "expression of gendered selves" (Charles & Bradley, 2009). A qualitative study by Yeshurun (2021) that examined Israeli girls' high school major decisions showed that although all girls consulted their parents when making the decision, parents of girls who chose a combination of STEM and non-STEM majors (e.g., history and physics), were highly involved in the decision-making process and actively encouraged their girls to major in STEM. ...
Although choosing a high school major is often adolescents’ first significant career decision, little is known about the factors that enable adolescents to choose a high school major autonomously (i.e., a major that reflects their values and preferences) or the familial and individual constellations that affect this decision. The current study examined the mediating role of adolescents’ identity processing style in the association between perceived parental need support and adolescents’ level of autonomous motivation when choosing their high school major. Second, we examined whether these proposed relationships differed for gender-stereotyped and non-stereotyped fields. The sample was composed of 571 9th -grade students (296 boys) who self-reported their perceived parental need support, motivation for choosing a high school major, identity processing style, and their preference for a high school major. Results showed that an informative identity style mediated the relationship between parental need support and adolescents’ autonomous motivation. Gender played a moderating role in this relationship so boys’ autonomous motivation for choosing a non-STEM major was more strongly linked to parental support than girls’ motivation to make a similar choice. In contrast, girls’ autonomous motivation for choosing a STEM major was more strongly related to the provision of parental support than boys. These findings emphasize the importance of nuanced parental need-support considering the students’ gender and major (STEM vs. non-STEM) and the need to promote self-exploration when deciding on a high school major.
... Beyond the glass-ceiling, women also encounter what is known as the glass-wall. This concept refers to occupational segregation, where women are channeled into careers traditionally associated with specific gender roles, such as education, health, and social services, while being excluded from areas dominated by men, such as engineering, technology, and leadership (Charles and Bradley 2009). Occupational segregation perpetuates gender inequality, limiting women's opportunities for professional advancement. ...
This paper aims to review the literature on gender diversity on top management teams and its impact on firm’s performance and audit quality. Over the period of 1997–2023 a total of 125 published articles were identified. Main findings reveal that literature on gender diversity continues to be contradictory, inconsistent and inconclusive regarding its impacts on firm’s performance and audit quality, highlighting the need to intensify research on this field to validate empirically those relationships. The literature review informs researchers on other audiences about the main characteristics of the literature on gender diversity and identifies several research gaps in the area.
... This applies to both adolescent females and adolescent males. Our research indicates that presenting a more genderneutral portrayal of science may increase the likelihood of females pursuing jobs in the STEM fields (Charles & Bradley, 2009;Else-Quest et al., 2010). The article outlined the low availability of employment opportunities for women in STEM fields. ...
There is a widely held belief that there is an increasing gender gap in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) worldwide. Women have achieved gender equality with men in certain professions, such as the humanities and social sciences. However, women still lack adequate representation in the highest positions of academia and the professional world in science, technology,
engineering, and mathematics (STEM). This paper is grounded in institutional theory to explore the factors that demotivate or hinder women from joining STEM as a profession in universities. The research is based on a qualitative case study of the University of Peshawar. We conducted 20 interviews with female staff members in 13 STEM departments, with 32 female staff out of 183 faculty members.
The collected data generated a total of 123 codes. The axial coding procedure generated 38 codes, which were grouped into fourteen distinct categories and four overarching themes of (1) male dominant culture, (2) multiple influences, (3) professional environment, and (4) job opportunities. The study
highlights the complex interplay between societal attitudes and gender in STEM fields, emphasising the need for comprehensive strategies to promote gender equality. Addressing these factors and thoroughly analysing women's engagement in STEM departments is crucial.
... These women, historically disadvantaged in education, may benefit noticeably from the Compulsory Education Law and higher education expansion that offered more educational opportunities (Guo et al., 2019;Liu & Wan, 2019;Zhang & Chen, 2014). However, there may be inequality in the ranking of higher education institutes respondents attended (e.g., elite versus ordinary universities) (Charles & Bradley, 2009) as predicted by the "effectively maintained inequality (EMI)" hypothesis (Lucas, 2001), which cannot be examined here due to lack of information. ...
Research on educational mobility for Chinese born in or before 1976–85 abounds. Although the Compulsory Education Law implemented in 1986 and the expansion of higher education introduced in 1999 changed Chinese millennials’ educational achievements, little is known about the educational mobility for the 1986–95 birth cohort and where it stands in the long-term trends. In this study, we calculated population-level educational percentile ranks by birth cohort and gender using data from the 1982 to 2020 China Censuses before linking these ranks to respondents in Chinese General Social Survey (CGSS) or China Family Panel Studies (CFPS) to document 1986–95 birth cohort's educational mobility and its historical position. We also explored the role played by offspring's hukou origin (urban or rural) and ethnicity (Han or ethnic minorities). In the 1986–95 birth cohort, women's educational percentile ranks for secondary and tertiary levels fell below men's for the first time in China, suggesting that the proportion of women in higher education overtook men's. From 1976–85 to 1986–95 birth cohorts, while educational rank-rank correlations remained stable in all parent–child dyads and were constantly higher for offspring with urban hukou origin, there is suggestive evidence on increased educational mobility for women with rural hukou origin. Ethnicity differences were not found. Our findings imply that China's Compulsory Education Law and higher education expansion may have contributed to greater educational mobility for women with rural hukou origin in the 1986–95 birth cohort and their diminished disadvantage in education.
... Although patterns of gendered subject choice have changed over time and vary across cultures, the general tendency of men and women to choose different academic disciplines is a well-known global phenomenon that has remained stable over time (Barone, 2011;Charles & Bradley, 2009) and the persistence of gender disparities has been a topic of lively discussion. One issue that has sparked considerable debate is the underrepresentation of women in fields of Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM), both in higher education and on the labor market (e.g., Tandrayen-Ragoobur & Gokulsing, 2021;Thébaud & Charles, 2018;Xu, 2008). ...
Gendered field-of-study choice is a lively topic of discussion. The explanation usually given for the fact that women are still an exception in typically ‘male’ fields—particularly STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics)—employs domain-specific stereotypes regarding men’s and women’s ‘natural’ abilities in different fields. The central argument of our study is that domain-specific gender stereotypes help explain why few women enter such fields; however, they are not necessarily the driving forces behind the finding that female students who chose typically male subjects have weaker academic self-concepts than their male peers. If it were only domain-specific gender stereotypes that influence students’ perceptions of their abilities, we should find the opposite result in typically female fields of study and no differences in gender-mixed fields. Because existing studies often focus on the male-dominated STEM domain alone, research may have drawn the wrong conclusions. By comparing students in male-dominated, female-dominated, and gender-mixed fields of study, we ask: Does gender composition in the field of study matter for gender disparities in college (university) students’ academic self-concepts? Using data from 10,425 students in the German National Educational Panel Study, our results suggest that it is not only in male-dominated fields of study that women rate their own abilities to be poorer than men rate theirs; the same is true in female-dominated and gender-mixed fields. Therefore, domain-specific gender stereotypes regarding students’ abilities do not (alone) seem to drive gender disparities in STEM students’ perception of their own abilities. No matter what academic field we consider, female students generally exhibit weaker academic self-concepts; however, the gap is most pronounced in male-dominated fields.
... Ultimately, female workers adjust and fit in the specific position strategically created for them. Female workers, with their tradition of obedience, are assimilated into a state of living affairs (Munir et al., 2018) in the prevailing patriarchy model (Charles & Bradley, 2009;Bettio et al., 2009;Burchell et al., 2014;Wong & Charles, 2020). This perpetuates an autocratic work environment which ultimately results in the lack of capability for voice, or rather, 'no voice'. ...
Firm restructuring and labour subcontracting has paved the way for the rise of informalisation in the female-dominated textiles industry of Pakistan after the expiry of the Agreement on Textiles and Clothing (ATC). Despite the emergence of low quality of employment available for women in the informal economy, there is a dearth of knowledge on their position at the workplace, namely ‘employee voice.’ This study therefore explores the employee voice of informal female workers of the stitching and ginning sections of the textiles industry in Pakistan in the post ATC period. A grounded theory approach, involving 25 in-depth interviews with informal female workers and employers, is used to explore employer-employee interactions. The findings reveal that the core requirements of the ‘capability for voice’ of informal female workers centre on ‘decisions of employers’, ‘bearing of tradition’ and ‘worker performance’. The grounded theory clarifies the procedure and identifies the interaction of the above categories to form the contextual conditions that direct the expectations of employers and female workers in the informal labour market. The expectations of a ‘perfect fit’ of informal female workers, within the hierarchy of the textiles industry, gives rise to a situation of ‘tolerance/no voice’, despite the negative workplace culture. The findings indicate that strategies to advance gender equality in Pakistan must consider informalisation of the labour market through a gender perspective.
... Societal perceptions and stereotypes play a significant role in shaping the choices and experiences of individuals in STEM fields. Traditional gender norms and expectations may influence students' self-perceptions and career aspirations (Eccles, 2007;Charles & Bradley, 2009) [9] . The persistent belief that certain STEM disciplines are more suited to males contributes to the perpetuation of gender disparities. ...
This study conducted a comparative analysis of the performance of male and female students in physics at the West African Examination Council (WAEC) examination scores over five years in Zuarungu Senior High School in the Upper East Region of Ghana with a sample size of 419. Historical data was obtained from Zuarungu Senior High School, and statistical analysis was conducted using SPSS version 26.0. The findings revealed fluctuations in performance trends over the years, with females generally showing a slightly higher count in the A1-C6 and D7-E8 grade categories, while males had a higher count in the F9 grade category. These disparities underscore the need for targeted interventions to promote gender equity in physics education. Recommendations include implementing gender-sensitive teaching practices, promoting diverse role models, and creating inclusive learning environments. Overall, the study contributes to the existing literature on gender differences in physics performance and provides insights for educators and policymakers to address these disparities effectively.
... Persistent gender disparities in computing exist across the globe, with some variation. Researchers find that the more gender-egalitarian nations are (on measures such as tertiary educational attainment), the larger the gender gap in STEM and mathematics fields (Charles & Bradley, 2009;McDaniel, 2016). Several key studies establishing this pattern draw on the limited cross-national and cross-sectional survey data available, finding similar patterns: highly industrialized economies tend to have more rigid gender-typing of STEM career fields as evidenced, for example, in girls' and women's attitudes and performance (Charles, 2017). ...
Although gender parity has been achieved in some STEM fields, gender disparities persist in computing, one of the fastest-growing and highest-earning career fields. In this systematic literature review, we expand upon academic momentum theory to categorize computing interventions intended to make computing environments more inclusive to girls and women and consider how those characteristics vary by the success of the intervention. Particular attention is given to the efficacy of broadening participation and success for women in computer science, information technology, and related fields. After scrutinizing 168 relevant studies, 48 met the inclusion criteria and were included. We introduce a framework for gender equity in computing, expanding on existing research on academic and STEM momentum to encompass new domains representing social and structural momentum. Our analysis reveals the complex roles of intervention domains, strategies, goals, levels, and duration in shaping their efficacy. Implications for theory, research, and practice are discussed.
How do people conduct gender classification in ambiguous contexts? A gender framing perspective suggests the pervasiveness and consequences of using gender in novel contexts, but there is a paucity of knowledge about how people assign a gender to ambiguous targets in interpersonal relations. This study fills in this knowledge gap by investigating how U.S. individuals classify the gender of two types of gender-ambiguous names—Chinese names written in English letters and gender-neutral American names. It also examines how respondents’ gender ideologies and racial stereotypes are associated with their perceptions of gender-ambiguous names. An online survey experiment with 795 U.S. individuals finds that respondents predominantly assign a binary gender (versus neutral or unsure) to both Chinese names (40.8 percent men and 37.4 percent women) and gender-neutral American names (41.1 percent men and 19.4 percent women). Multivariate analyses reveal that respondents with traditional gender ideologies associate a gender-binary perception with gender-neutral American names rather than Chinese names. Meanwhile, respondents who endorse the racialized stereotypes that Chinese people are socially cold and/or generally competent are more likely to perceive Chinese names as men’s names. These findings demonstrate that a gender-binary frame persists in ambiguous contexts, and that the classification outcome is conditional on contextual signals and preexisting cultural beliefs. They also deepen understanding of gender neutrality during social interactions and a gendered nature of racialized stereotypes.
A long-standing sociological puzzle deals with how societies shape individuals and their identities. Sociologists have theorized that identities are organized around core elements, termed “master identities,” that influence the adoption and expression of other identities. In this study, I examine the position of values as master identities within identity frameworks. I investigate the link between conservation and self-transcendence values and holding a diverse set of voluntary memberships. Additionally, I explore whether values mediate the relationship between age, gender, and memberships in voluntary organizations. Using multilevel structural equation models and data from the European Social Survey 2002, I find that conservation and self-transcendence are both directly associated with holding memberships across domains and mediate the relationship between both age and gender and voluntary memberships.
Across the globe, women choose science, technology, engineering, and mathematics majors (STEM) less often than men. One frequently suggested explanation of this gender gap is that women perform less well in math and better in language than men in secondary school and have a comparative advantage in language. Studies for the Anglo-Saxon context have only found weak support for this school performance explanation due to small gender differences in math performance and comparative (math-to-language) grade advantages and weak effects of comparative test advantages on STEM major choice. We aim to contribute to the literature by assessing the role of math and language competencies and grades in explaining the gender gap in STEM major choice for Germany, a country with considerable gender differences in math and language performance. Decomposition analyses of the gender gap in STEM major choice in higher tertiary education among upper secondary students from the German National Educational Panel Study show that math and language performance can explain nearly half of the gender gap in STEM major choice. The role of math competencies and grades in the German language proves especially important due to substantial gender differences herein and strong effects on the likelihood of STEM declaration. Our findings suggest that in contexts with strong gender differences in math and language performance, prior school performance can to a large extent explain women’s underrepresentation in STEM university majors.
Using data from Project Implicit collected between 2005 and 2020, comprising 1,489,721 observations in 111 countries, we find that implicit and explicit gender stereotypes about career and family are more pronounced in more economically developed countries. Besides, these gender stereotypes are strongly correlated at the country level with gender differences in values (such as family values), self-reported personality traits (such as agreeableness or dependence), and occupational preferences (such as health-related occupations), and may account for the fact that these gender imbalances are “paradoxically” stronger in more economically developed countries (the so-called “gender equality paradox”).
In line with social role theory, our findings suggest that there are in developed countries strong gender stereotypes about career and family, which may at least partly explain the persistence or even the “paradoxical worsening” of a number of gender differences in these countries, despite generally high levels of gender equality in other areas.
Researchers have explored the relationship between religiosity and people’s gendered perspectives within the private sphere. However, there is limited research on how religiosity relates to people’s gendered perspectives in the public sphere. The authors examine the association between religiosity and the view that men make better leaders than women in two public spheres, politics and business, and explore variations by national context. Drawing on data collected in 44 national contexts, the analysis reveals that individuals with higher religious attendance are more inclined to support men’s leadership over women’s leadership in both political and business domains. Notably, this relationship is nuanced by a country’s level of economic development. Greater religiosity is associated with greater support for men’s leadership in more economically developed countries, whereas the reverse occurs in countries with lower economic development. The findings urge a more critical examination of religion’s role in shaping global perspectives on gender equity.
Job mismatch such as underemployment is a major characteristic of African labor markets. However, in some countries, the effect of skills’ (under)utilization on earning and job satisfaction is at this point not clear. This study aims to analyze the education-job mismatch effects on earnings and job satisfaction in Cameroon, by using data on wage employment provided by the National Institute of Statistics. To achieve it, the augmented Mincer’s model inspired by Verdugo & Verdugo’s approach is estimated by using the ordinary least squares with robust standard errors and the quantile regression technique. The estimator employs a control function approach to simultaneously account for endogeneity and double selection biases. Furthermore, the Probit with double sample selection is estimated to gauge the educational mismatch effect on job satisfaction. Results show that overeducation is associated with wage deprivation while undereducation generates a wage premium. These effects both differ for formal and informal workers and vary along the wage distribution. Compared to well-matched workers, overeducated and underemployed workers are less satisfied whereas undereducated workers are more satisfied with their job. However, the pattern of variation in terms of job satisfaction differs for formal and informal workers.
The gender gap in the fields of STEM (science, technology, engineering, mathematics, and computer science) in richer and more egalitarian countries compared to poorer and less egalitarian countries is called the “Gender Equality Paradox” (GEP). We provide an overview of the evidence for the GEP and discuss criticism against the GEP and its explanations. We suggest a new framework to explain the GEP by combining identity economics with happiness economics. Applying this framework, we suggest, that in rich countries an increase in wealth tends to increase the contradiction between the female gender role and STEM-aspirations while the male gender role remains unaffected.
Theories of change in social class mobility present contrasting expectations of either change or persistence in mobility as societies develop. This article examines intergenerational social class mobility for cohorts born from 1951 to 1980 in Finland. We analyse change across cohorts in the main association between social origins and destinations and the intervening associations between origins and education and education and destinations. We investigate how the association between education and destinations differs by origins and by education levels to gain a more complete picture of how meritocratic fairness has changed. We employ full population census and register data, using multiplicative log-linear models. The results suggest variations in the association between social origins and destinations over cohorts, which disappear when considering this association net of education. Educational inequalities have decreased for both men and women, whereas returns to education decreased for men but remained stable for women. Behind these relatively straightforward results is more complexity when considering how origins – also across cohorts – moderate class returns to education. These results suggest that the labour market is becoming more similar for individuals at different levels of education or coming from different social classes.
Purpose
Against the recent reversal of the gender gap in higher education that has been observed in many countries, this paper aims to explore why there are better chances for lower social class women to access higher education than for higher social class women in a relative comparison with the same groups of men. Based on the occupational approach and the Breen–Goldthorpe model, we demonstrate those country conditions under which stratification in individual chances to obtain higher education is more severe.
Design/methodology/approach
We use contextual characteristics which capture gender-based and occupational differentiation, including female labour force participation, the share of females in the service sector, and the share of males in upper-secondary vocational education. By using multilevel modelling techniques and data provided by the European Social Survey (2002–2018) for 33 countries, we have made a cross-country analysis of how the relationship between gender and class, as well as the achievement of higher education, is moderated by these features.
Findings
Our results show that a higher share of males in upper secondary vocational education in a given country is negatively associated with the likelihood of obtaining higher education, whereas a high share of females employed in services in a given country has a positive association with this likelihood. We have also found cross-level interactions between a higher share of employed females and women in the service sector, on the one hand, and those of working-class origin, on the other, that are positively associated with higher education achievement. In higher education achievement, the growing importance of horizontal differentiation based on occupation and gender has accompanied the declining power of vertical inequality based on social class.
Originality/value
This study combines gender and class in an analysis of patterns of inequalities of educational opportunity in different societies undergoing a post-industrialist shift.
Previous research has shown that gendered societal expectations are adopted by students as seemingly personal and individualistic self‐assessments and preferences, which then lead to gender‐normative choices about college majors and careers. This study examines one seemingly objective mechanism, which millions use each year for guidance on college majors and careers. We examine two Career Assessment Tools (CATs) with deep institutional presence: O*NET and Traitify. Analyzing an exemplar case of engineering majors, we find that CATs are less likely to recommend engineering occupations to women, even after controlling for GPA, satisfaction with the major, and planned persistence. Even in our sample of engineering majors, CATs apparently use small differences in students' gender‐normative self‐expressive preferences to drive sharply different occupational recommendations, thereby solidifying pathways toward gender‐segregated occupations and reinforcing men's dominance of engineering. If women similar to our study participants take CATs, they are likely to be steered away from engineering occupations or majors. More broadly, CATs illustrate how taken‐for‐granted, seemingly neutral technologies can reinforce gender segregation.
Social scientists have long recognized field of study as an important mechanism of gender differentiation and stratification in U.S. higher education, but they have rarely attended to how elective curriculums mediate gender differentiation in major selection. Under elective curriculums, major selection is an iterative process, in which students select courses in stepwise fashion at the beginning of each academic term, and are able to change majors early in their undergraduate careers. We observe how an elective curriculum mediates gendered patterns of major selection, using a novel data set describing 11,730 students at a large public research university. We find (a) gender and intended major are strongly correlated upon college entry; (b) large proportions of students change majors between entry and declaration; (c) because most changes are to academically adjacent fields, gendered patterns in field of study persist through the undergraduate career. Findings suggest the value of an iterative conception of major selection and offer tractable means for intervening in the process through which students select majors.
JEL codes: I21, I24, I26, J16.
In this chapter, we focus on Japan and the U.S. as countries where industrialization has progressed and clarify the trend of occupational segregation from 1980 to 2010. This chapter focuses on the varying strengths of the effects of gender and education on occupational segregation and compares occupational segregation in these two countries. With these transformations in the level of education and labor force participation rates of women in the U.S. and Japan between 1980 and 2010 in mind, let us consider the changing impact of education and gender on occupational segregation. The variation in occupational segregation caused by higher education can be considered in two ways. The first is the industrialization theory, which argues that as industrialization progresses, the importance of educational background in achieving professional status increases. Occupational segregation by gender can be caused by various factors, but one possible explanation is from the perspective of the welfare regime. The results of the analysis showed that occupational segregation in the U.S. and Japan in 1980 mainly consists of gender and education, and furthermore, it is common that the first and second dimensions cannot be clearly interpreted due to the influence of either gender or education. However, it has changed completely between 1980 and 2010. In the U.S., from 1980 to 2010, the first dimension of the space analyzed by correspondence analysis changed to education, and the second dimension changed to gender. In contrast, in Japan, from 1980 to 2010, the first dimension of occupational segregation shifted to gender and the second dimension to education. This may be due to the fact that Japan has a tax and social security system that discourages married women from entering the workforce, and women are subject to certain restrictions in their choice of occupation before they can re-enter the labor market, many of them become part-time workers.
The relationship between the level of education one attains and the status of occupation one achieves is believed to be positive in most societies. When one tries hard to advance to a higher level of education, one is expected to be rewarded with a higher status of occupation subsequently.
As summarized in “Occupational Segregation by Education and Gender in Japan: Focusing on Employment Status and Marital Status” chapter of this book, Charles and Grusky (2004) and Oda et al. (2014) have pointed to occupational segregation by gender in postindustrial societies. Their paradox that ascription becomes more salient in a society with meritocracy has been confirmed in the previous chapters of this book.
The amount of attention devoted to women and women's issues has increased dramatically in the last five decades throughout the world. In this article we examine the cultural construction of women that guided such action by analyzing texts that were produced and activities that were undertaken in relation to women by international organizations from 1945 through 1995. We show that the modernist principles of universalism, liberal individualism, and rationality provided the cultural framework for this global project. We compare the ways in which two issues important to women, education and genital mutilation, were constructed by global actors and the implications of this meaning making for action over time. Our analysis reveals an important link between the extent to which an issue is constructed to be consistent with the modernist principles and the extent to which it receives global attention.
Women's employment has been widely studied in both Western countries and Eastern Europe. In this article, the most frequently used measurements and descriptions of women's paid work are given, namely, participation rate, number of hours worked, gender segregation, and the gender gap in earnings. Next, three approaches used to study women's employment are discussed: 1. the macro-level approach, which gives a thorough understanding of the influence of the institutional context on women's work; 2. the micro-level approach, which compares individual-level results in a number of countries; and 3. the macro-micro approach, in which the relative importance is shown of institutional and individual level factors. Finally, a review is given of the hypotheses and outcomes of both the institutional level, with welfare regime and family policy playing an important role, and the individual level, which shows that being a mother has an important effect on women's employment in the different countries studied.
Although it has hardly disappeared, gender inequality in the labor market has declined noticeably in recent decades, by most standard indicators. Inequality is declining in labor-force participation rates, wages, and occupational sex segregation, even though considerable sex segregation remains, especially at the job and firm level (Jacobs 1999; Petersen and Morgan 1995; Reskin and Padavic 1999). A debate now centers on the nature of the forces behind these changes and their implications for the future. Are the forces that have been and are undermining gender inequality now unstoppable, as recent arguments posit (Jackson 1998)? Is the significance of gender as an organizing principle of inequality in society declining as a consequence? If there are forces that continue to reproduce gender inequality, what do they consist of and what is their future?.
College students, especially women, demonstrated negativity toward math and science relative to arts and language on implicit measures. Group membership (being female), group identity (self = female), and gender stereotypes (math = male) were related to attitudes and identification with mathematics. Stronger implicit math = male stereotypes corresponded with more negative implicit and explicit math attitudes for women but more positive attitudes for men. Associating the self with female and math with male made it difficult for women, even women who had selected math-intensive majors, to associate math with the self. These results point to the opportunities and constraints on personal preferences that derive from membership in social groups.
This article investigates the benefits of girls-only classroom instruction in math and science during Grades 9 and 10, in the context of a public coeducational high school. It is based on a longitudinal investigation with 786 participants: 85 girls in all-girl classes, and 319 girls and 382 boys in a regular coeducational program. Preexisting achievement, background, and psychological characteristics were included as covariates to ensure comparability of the groups. Significant post-intervention program effects were found for math and science achievement and course enrollment. In contrast, there were no significant program effects for perceived math competence or math anxiety. Although those psychological characteristics predicted performance, they were independent of program effects (i.e., they did not mediate the program effects).
Recent international education reports have highlighted some of the progress (as well as remaining disparity) in gendered education enrollment rates. But, the problem of gender segregation is still a very real issue even in some nations where girls are enrolled at levels on par with boys. Separate classes, curricula, and in many countries separate schools for boys and girls persist. This is juxtaposed against the opposite extreme that exists in some other countries' educational systems where girls are sometimes pushed into classes and advanced curricula for which they have not been adequately prepared. Using data from the most recent Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study (TIMSS) and the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), this article reports on gender parity across approximately 45 nations in access (measured by enrollment rates), performance (mathematics achievement scores), and opportunity (implemented curriculum, teacher characteristics, classroom interaction) among 13-year-old girls and boys. The results of this study suggest that while cross-national gender parity numerically exists in many of these 45 nations in access, performance, and opportunity, the implications for gender equality are less clear. Several theoretical propositions are posited to explain these cross-national trends in gender parity versus equality.
Over the last two decades, America's position in the world has declined and the world economy has suffered an extended period of stagnation resulting in a severe sociopolitical crisis. This volume brings together thirteen experts in world-systems analysis to examine the long-term effects of this crisis in world order. Using historical and quantitative analysis, the contributors both theoretically and empirically discuss possible transformations of U.S. society and the world-system, focusing on North-South trade, East-West conflicts, and the relations of the United States with Europe, Japan, and Central America. The effects of this economic crisis on American social life are explored in depth, with emphasis on the organization of business firms, the status of women, and the state of American culture.
How and where boundaries are drawn between ‘the technical’ and ‘the social’ in engineering identities and practices is a central concern for feminist technology studies, given the strong marking of sociality as feminine and technology as masculine. I explore these themes, drawing on ethnographic observations of building design engineering. This is a profoundly heterogeneous and networked engineering practice, which entails troubled boundaries and identities for the individuals involved – evident in interactions between engineers and architects, and amongst engineers, around management and design. There are complex gender tensions, as well as professional tensions, at work here. I conclude that engineers cleave to technicist engineering identities in part because they converge with (and perform) available masculinities, and that women’s (perceived and felt) membership as ‘real’ engineers is likely to be more fragile than men’s. Improving the representation of women in engineering requires foregrounding and celebrating heterogeneity in genders as well as engineering.
In a book called ‘Scenarier 2000’ (Hompland (ed.), 1987), which has caused considerable debate in Norway, a group of young social scientists predicts that in the course of the next decade women in Norway will begin to dominate those types of higher education that provide access to the leading positions in various parts of the country’s public sector. This trend implies that after the year 2000 women will be running the Norwegian welfare state. Men will make different educational choices than women, and their aim will be to hold leading positions in the private sector. Often they will choose education organized outside the public institutions of higher learning — in the so-called ‘grey’ or ‘hidden’ university. Some of the education in the ‘grey’ or ‘hidden’ university is controlled by private industrial or business enterprises and comprise what is often called the ‘corporate classroom.’ We see this trend toward differential education and employment by gender as a part of a larger process in which the public sector loses prestige and power as it gets ‘invaded’ by women. We are, then, addressing a new issue in political debate on education: the tendency to privatization within the educational system in Norway.
Much social theory takes for granted the core conceit of modern culture, that modern actors - individuals, organizations, nation states - are autochthonous and natural entities, no longer really embedded in culture. Accordingly, while there is much abstract metatheory about "actors" and their "agency," there is arguably little theory about the topic. This article offers direct arguments about how the modern (European, now global) cultural system constructs the modern actor as an authorized agent for various interests via an ongoing relocation into society of agency originally located in transcendental authority or in natural forces environing the social system. We see this authorized agentic capability as an essential feature of what modern theory and culture call an "actor," and one that, when analyzed, helps greatly in explaining a number of otherwise anomalous or little analyzed features of modern individuals, organizations, and states. These features include their isomorphism and standardization, their internal decoupling, their extraordinarily complex structuration, and their capacity for prolific collective action.
Extending an earlier study (Lee & Bryk, 1986), this research investigates sustained effects of single-sex and coeducational secondary school on the attitudes, values, and behaviors of young men and women, measured 2 or 4 years after high school graduation. The sample from High School and Beyond consists of 1,533 college students who had attended 75 Catholic high schools, 45 of which were single-sex. Longitudinal data were available biennially from their high school sophomore year (1980) until their college senior year (1986). Although sustained effects of single-sex secondary schooling appear for both sexes on college choice and postcollege interests, effects on young women extend to attitudinal and behavioral outcomes. The single-sex educational experience, especially during the formative adolescent period, appears to enable young women to overcome certain social-psychological barriers to their academic and professional advancement.
Research on the gender gap in earnings has been influenced heavily by human capital theory and theories of labor market segmentation. Both theories consider the role of gender differences in values on the ''supply side'' only with respect to the allocation of time between the labor market and the home and its possible effect on career decision making. Gender differences in values, however may affect the choice of occupations and jobs, as well as the way in which jobs are performed. This article reports on a study of gender differences in the job values of U.S. high school seniors from 1976 to 1991. Unlike earlier studies of job values, the authors found no gender differences in the importance of extrinsic rewards and influence, but persisting gender differences in the importance of intrinsic, altruistic, and social rewards. Young women attach greater importance to these latter rewards than do young men and less importance to the leisure-related aspects of jobs.
Two experiments tested a form of automatic stereo-typing Subjects saw primes related to gender (e g, mother, father, nurse, doctor) or neutral with respect to gender (e g, parent, student, person) followed by target pronouns (stimulus onset asynchronv = 300 ms) that were gender related (e g, she, he) or neutral (it, me) or followed by nonpronouns (do, all, Experiment 2 only) In Experiment 1, subjects judged whether each pronoun was male or female Automatic gender beliefs (stereotypes) were observed in faster responses to pronouns consistent than inconsistent with the gender component of the prime regardless of subjects' awareness of the prime-target relation, and independently of subjects explicit beliefs about gender stereotypes and language reform In Experiment 2, automatic stereotyping was obtained even though a gender-irrelevant judgment task (pronoun/not pronoun) was used Together, these experiments demonstrate that gender information imparted by words can automatically influence judgment, although the strength of such effects may be moderated by judgment task and prime type
Research in the United States has found that peers and parents play an important role in shaping students' educational aspirations. Little research has examined the extent to which these findings apply in other countries or whether the role of significant others varies according to the organization of national educational systems. This article examines the effects of peers' and parents' attitudes regarding academic performance on students' educational aspirations in 12 countries. The results indicate that peers and parents influence educational aspirations in countries with relatively undifferentiated secondary schooling, like the United States, while the influence of significant others is negligible in societies with more differentiated secondary education. In these latter systems, it appears that aspirations are largely determined by the type of school the student attends; there is little room for interpersonal affects. The effects of significant others on students' aspirations depend, in large part, on the structural features of the educational systems in which they operate.
The attitudes of two samples of adolescents (total N = 2,105) from Victoria, British Columbia, and Shanghai, People’s Republic of China, toward computer studies and selected school subjects were surveyed and compared. The Chinese students were significantly more positive in their attitudes toward computers, science, and writing than were the British Columbia students. In addition, the students from Shanghai displayed fewer sex or age differences among themselves, except when asked to give opinions about the competence of females with regard to computer use and science. Both samples of females agreed that women have as much ability as men in these areas, whereas males in both countries were significantly more skeptical. The study also supports the validity and reliability of attitude research in a cross-cultural context.
Examines the relationship between the occupational distributions of men and women in 25 industrial countries and selected social, economic, and cultural factors. The same economic structures that are associated with women's greater integration into the formal labor force also contributes to a deepening institutionalization of gender within the occupational structure. This may occur through the incorporation of women's traditional tasks into the formal economy, and/or through the hierarchical and functional differentiation of economic activity in highly industrial societies. Results indicate that some primary structural characteristics of modern economies (a relatively large service sector and a large employee class) are associated with greater female concentration in clerical, sales, and service occupations. Other social and cultural characteristics of these countries - low rates of fertility and more favorable ideological environments - partially offset these segregative forces. The actual penetration of egalitarian principles into the labor market appears to be mediated by the structure of interest articulation, with corporatist systems showing greater propensity toward segregations. -from Author
Unlike the extensive cross-national research on occupational sex segregation, sex segregation within higher education has yet to be empirically examined comparatively. This article reports analyses for a wide range of countries from 1965 through 1990, using two measures of gender differentiation by field of study. The results indicate that gender differentiation has declined surprisingly little. Women are more likely to graduate from education, arts, humanities, social sciences, and law, and men are more likely to graduate from natural sciences, mathematics, and engineering. Few differences are found between more- and less economically developed countries. These findings echo those in the occupational sex segregation literature.
This study traced the development of gender differences in learning opportunities, achievement, and choice in mathematics among White, African American, and Latino students using data from a nationally representative sample of eighth-grade students who were resurveyed in the 10th grade. It found that in this age group, female students do not lag behind male students in test scores and grades and that White female students are exposed to more learning opportunities in mathematics than are male students. However, all female students tend to have less interest in mathematics and less confidence in their mathematics abilities. Gender differences are the largest among Latinos and the smallest among African Americans. Furthermore, the major barriers to mathematics achievement for White female students are attitudes and career choices and for minority students of both sexes, they are limited learning opportunities and low levels of achievement.
This study uses data on sex differences in the eighth-grade mathematical performance of over 77,000 students in 19 countries, 1964 and 1982 data on such differences in 9 countries, and data on gender stratification of advanced educational and occupational opportunities to explore when and where gender will affect students' performance in mathematics. The analyses show that there is cross-national variation in the performance of mathematics and that it is related to variation in the gender stratification of educational and occupational opportunities in adulthood, that sex differences have declined over time, and that school and family factors leading to higher mathematical performance are less stratified by gender when women have more equal access to jobs and higher education.
Stratified social orders are maintained through a wide variety of mechanisms, one being broad-based legitimation of the notion of unequal distribution of primary resources. My attempt to develop a set of propositions provides at least a partial explanation of how such legitimation is generated and maintained. I argue that both conflict and functional theory point, at least implicitly, to the importance of the effect of unequal distribution of resources on the development of the self--constructing my argument through application of Mead's theory of the self to the case of stratification. This application is shown, in turn, to be compatible with several lines of theorizing in social psychology, including equity and status attribution theory. Once basic propositions are developed, I discuss ways in which major social institutions maintain legitimacy through their effect on the self and explore some possible sources of delegitimation.
This paper's focus is on the extremely rapid expansion of educational enrollments that occurred throughout the world between 1950 and 1970. The universal expansion of education during this period led us to construct diffusion models and to explain this process as a consequence of the population characteristics of educational systems. Estimates of these models show that such a self-generating process explains much of the variation in educational expansion. We then test the effect of economic, political, and social characteristics of countries on educational expansion. The results show that cross-national differences in levels of economic, political, and social development do not explain much of this massive post-war expansion of educational systems. Rather, between 1950 and 1970, education has expanded everywhere as a function of the available population to be educated and of the level of education existing in 1950. We conclude by speculating that the causes of this expansion lie in characteristics of the contemporary world system, since such characteristics would affect all nations simultaneously.
This cross-national study shows that women's enrollments in science and engineering fields in higher education increased between 1972 and 1992 throughout much of the world. This increase was positively influenced by women's level of enrollments in the nonscience and nonengineering fields. This finding suggests a positive spillover effect for women. The level of male enrollments in these fields also had a positive effect, thus suggesting that as fields of study become more open to men, they also become more open to women. These cross-national findings raise questions about the applicability of the persistence of an inequality perspective to women's expanded access to higher education.
This article argues for a new approach to the study of tracking in the high school, an approach that emphasizes the active and knowledgeable role students play. In addition to the more frequently studied issue of class segregation in school tracking, the article examines the often overlooked phenomenon of gender segregation. Interviews with girls who selected business courses are used to illustrate how students' knowledge of the school and of the society produces course choices that in turn tend to reproduce class and gender categories.
The twentieth century gave rise to profound changes in traditional sex roles. This study reveals how modernization has changed cultural attitudes towards gender equality and analyzes the political consequences. It systematically compares attitudes towards gender equality worldwide, comparing almost 70 nations, ranging from rich to poor, agrarian to postindustrial. This volume is essential reading to gain a better understanding of issues in comparative politics, public opinion, political behavior, development and sociology. © Ronald Inglehart and Pippa Norris 2003 and Cambridge University Press, 2009.
We analyze the acquisition of women's suffrage in 133 countries from 1890 to 1990. Throughout the twentieth century the influence of national political and organizational factors has declined and the importance of international links and influences has become increasingly important. These findings indicate that the franchise has become institutionalized worldwide as a taken-for-granted feature of national citizenship and an integral component of nation-state identity: The prevailing model of political citizenship has become more inclusive.
In a few short decades, the gender gap in college completion has reversed from favoring men to favoring women. This study, which is the first to assess broadly the causes of the growing female advantage in college completion, considers the impact of family resources as well as gender differences in academic performance and in the pathways to college completion on the rising gender gap. Analyses of General Social Survey data indicate that the female-favorable trend in college completion emerged unevenly by family status of origin to the disadvantage of sons in families with a low-educated or absent father. Additional analyses of National Educational Longitudinal Survey (NELS) data indicate that women 's superior academic performance plays a large role in producing the gender gap in college completion, but that this effect remains latent until after the transition to college. For NELS cohorts, who were born in the mid-1970s, the female advantage in college completion remains largest in families with a low-educated or absent father, but currently extends to all family types. In conjunction with women's growing incentives to attain higher education, gender differences in resources related to family background and academic performance largely explain the growing female advantage in college completion.
This article develops a supply-side mechanism about how cultural beliefs about gender differentially influence the early career-relevant decisions of men and women. Cultural beliefs about gender are argued to bias individuals' perceptions of their competence at var- ious career-relevant tasks, controlling for actual ability. To the extent that individuals then act on gender-differentiated perceptions when making career decisions, cultural beliefs about gender channel men and women in substantially different career directions. The hy- potheses are evaluated by considering how gendered beliefs about mathematics impact individuals' assessments of their own mathe- matical competence, which, in turn, leads to gender differences in decisions to persist on a path toward a career in science, math, or engineering.
Women in the United States are underrepresented in science, mathematics, and engineering (SME) educational programs and careers. One cause is the dramatic and disproportionate loss of women who intended in high school to pursue science-related careers. This article uses the longitudinal survey responses of 320 male and female SME summer program students to assess the ways in which their social relationships and experiences affect their involvement in science and technology. The issues are framed in terms of identity theory. Structural equation models support the identity framework; emotionally satisfying relationships cent tered on SME activities and discussions positively shape students' likelihood of thinking of themselves in SME terms and of engaging in SME activities. Girls are more responsive to the programs' educational interventions, whereas boys are driven more by an "internal compass" that reflects past SME identities and behaviors. These findings add to our understanding about why typical SME educational settings may be especially hostile to female students and suggest ways of increasing the retention of talented SME students. They also suggest the need to reexamine the identity theory model.
to ability, which differentially biases the way men and women assess their own competence at tasks that are career relevant, controlling for actual ability. The model implies that, ifmen and women make dzfferent assessments of their own competence at career-relevant tasks, they will also form dzfferent aspirations for career paths and activities believed to require competence at these tasks. Data from the experiment support this model. In one condition, male and female undergraduate participants completed an experimental task after being exposed to a belief that men are better at this task. In this condition, male participants assessed their task ability higher than female participants did even though all were given the same scores. Males in this condition also had higher aspirations for career-relevant activities described as requiring competence at the task. No gender differences were found in either assessments or aspirations in a second condition where participants were instead exposed to a belief that men and women have equal task ability. To illustrate the utility of the model in a "real world" (i.e., nonlaboratoryl setting, results are compared to a previous survey study that showed men make higher assessments of their own mathematical ability than women, which contributes to their higher rates ofpersistence on paths to careers in science, math, and engineering.
This study examines the effect of attending an all-girls' high school on the sex-traditionality of women's choice of college major. Using data from the High School and 'Beyond study and multinomial logit analysis, the results indicate that women who attended all-girls' high schools (versus coed high schools) were more likely to major in sex-integrated fields, compared to highly female fields. The effect may be due in small part to feminist attitudes produced in an all-female high school environment but is not due to differences in coursework (particularly math) or test scores.
Using survey data collected in fall 2000, the authors analyzed four aspects of “horizontal” variation among Russian university students: field of specialization, cost (paid versus free), intensity (full- versus part-time study), and timing of study (Soviet versus post-Soviet era). For each type of variation, they examined trends over time, gender differences, and effects on earnings and employment opportunities. In Russia, as elsewhere, horizontal differentiation of higher education has stratifying consequences. Unlike in many countries, gender differences along horizontal dimensions have not narrowed in Russia; in fact, the gender gap in part-time study has widened. But the introduction of market forces in higher education and the economy has shaped both male and female distributions across specialty, cost, and intensity. The labor market advantages accruing to a university degree differ across these horizontal dimensions and by the timing of the degree. Some of the patterns observed in Russia resemble those in the United States, while others are distinctive.
Using data on the number of men and women who received doctorates in all academic fields from 1971 to 2002, the authors examine changes in the sex composition of fields. During this period, the proportion of women who received doctorates increased dramatically from 14 percent to 46 percent. Regression models with fixed effects indicate no evidence that fields with declining relative salaries deter the entry of men, as would be predicted by the queuing theory of Reskin and Roos. Consistent with the devaluation perspective and Schelling’s tipping model, above a certain percentage of women, men are deterred from entering fields by the fields’ further feminization. However, the rank order of fields in the percentage of women changed only slightly over time, implying that, to a large extent, men and women continued to choose fields as before, even when many more women received doctorates. The findings on the effects of feminization on salaries are mixed.