Perceptions of masculinity and career specific gender stereotypes

<p>Career gender bias is the tendency for men or women to resist work in careers that tend to be dominated by individuals of a specific gender (nursing, public relations, elementary education, child-care, police, fire, manufacturing). This study posits that current university students exhibit career gender bias and classify certain Bureau of Labor Statistics job classifications as male, female or unisex occupations. Furthermore, with use of the Bem Sex-Role Inventory (Bem, 1974) scale, this study attempted to understand if masculinity, femininity, or androgyny gender identity influences college students’ perceptions of career gender stereotypes and ultimately their view about the growing or declining Bureau of Labor Statistics listed professions. Participants in this study designated growing and declining occupations within male and female subgroups with several careers being viewed as unisex by students scoring high in femininity. Furthermore, data from this study indicate that female participants continue to feel open to male, female, and unisex careers; however, male participants appear to be uncomfortable pursuing unisex or female dominated careers.</p>

Name thesis:degree_name

Master of Arts (MA)

Level thesis:degree_level

Open Access Thesis

Discipline thesis:degree_discipline

Communication, Media and Theatre Arts

Year dc:date.available

2011

Author dc:creator

• Golden, Brian A.

Contributors dc:contributor

• Jeannette Kindred, PhD, Chair
• Sally McCracken, PhD
• Tsai-Shan Shen, PhD

• career gender bias
• gender stereotypes
• growing employment
• declining employment
• Gender, Race, Sexuality, and Ethnicity in Communication

Repository record dc:identifier

https://commons.emich.edu/theses/350

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:commons.emich.edu:theses-1348