Question

How do gender stereotypes contribute to occupational concentration as seen in Table 11.2 on page 340 of the textbook? What do you think has contributed to the change over time?

Answer 1

Gender stereotypes are expressions of the attitudes of the society which influences all the aspects of life including the occupational concentration. The activation of stereotype involves the realization of the similarities and difference, the representation of the male and female behavior and also the set of activities and roles. Two of the major consequences of these stereotypical beliefs is that, they tend to resist change and they lead to misinterpretation.

Stereotypes when viewed from the perspective of occupational has been an area of study and research since a long time. Their is a strong desire among the researchers to link the stereotypes with the occupational roles. Stereotypes often end up accentuating the associations an individual may already have associated with the gender and occupation. Studies have found that adolescents prefer the more realistic occupational roles to be the jobs of men. Also, the social occupations like being a teacher or a PR head are more associated with the female gender. Studies also show that students also prefer the occupations and roles that confirm their biases and stereotypes. For example, males prefer professions like being a military service professional whereas a female would incline more towards the role of a teacher. With this we can explain the occupational concentration.

Primarily the education of the working class and living in a ever changing liberal environment has made the society more accepting and less susceptible to any kinds of biases and stereotypes. Also, because of schools, there is now an early socialization of both the genders which has led to a greater understanding between the two. Also, the fact that girls do better at school than boys has also led to the debunking of various myths and pre-conceived notions that one might have had about the intelligence of both the genders.

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