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OCR for page 233
12
Commentary
WENDY C. WOLF
In Chapter 11, Marini and Brinton pro-
vide a very good review of the literature on
the multitude of factors that influence the
occupational choice of girls prior to entrance
into the labor market. My perspective is that
the goal of such a paper should be to identify
the most critical or most powerful forces that
influence girls' job choices, decide which of
these are amenable to policy intervention,
and discuss what strategies are effective to
intervene in these processes. In light of that
goal, a few general comments are in order.
The forces that impinge on job choice for
girls are many, strong, and cumulative. Their
cumulativeness is important to remember
when considering points of intervention. If
one intervenes early in a girl's life, there are
myriad other forces that act on her before
she gets to the point of making a job choice.
Changing one aspect of the system rarely
has, or for that matter should be expected
to have, marked impact on the ultimate job
choice. For example, we know that text-
books affect girls in some way. So do coun-
selors. But changing one textbook, or text-
books in one course, or changing counselors
in one school in one year, is not likely to
have a significant impact on girls' occupa-
233
tional choices. Many have tried small ex-
periments to change one aspect of a girl's
educational experience lo and behold, they
don't fincI any impact. This is not very sur-
prising. Even if there is an intervention in
one or two areas, there are always other
factors that in fact reinforce occupational
choices that are sex typed or views about
appropriate roles for girls.
The second point relates to the issue of
premarket versus market forces. It may be
a fallacy to neatly separate all forces into two
types. There are a number of ways that the
labor market fee(ls back information to young
girls about appropriate roles for females. It
is important, therefore, not to make such a
rigid distinction.
One area of special importance in Marini
and Brinton's review relates to the math/
science issue in high school. Despite recent
news articles suggesting that the difference
in math/science ability between girls and
boys may be due to girls' lack of testoster-
one, there is evidence that girls and boys
with comparable levels of achievement in
math and science at the end of the eighth
grade take different amounts of math and
science in high school. Enrollment in high
OCR for page 234
234
WENDY C. WOLF
school math and science courses has fairly
substantial consequences on the kinds of job
choices that are macle at later points. This
is one area in which concrete steps can be
taken to allow girls to make schooling choices
that wit} not limit their access to jobs later.
Generally, the cumulativeness of forces
makes me a bit skeptical about the success
of any one intervention, especially if it is too
distant from the time of the actual job choice.
The closer to the time of job choice that the
intervention is made, the more likely it is
to change the job aspirations of girls.
What prompts a statement such as this?
Looking at a number of nontraditional pro-
grams for women makes it clear that one can
stimulate the demand for such programs. If
told about the advantages and disadvantages
of men's jobs, women with high income
needs, who are older, who have been out
in the labor force, or who have been in tra-
ditionally female jobs that are low paying
wit} respond with interest. At least enough
persons will respond} to fill openings. The
demand for nontraditional work can be stim-
ulated. This may be one of the reasons that,
looking at college students or young girls,
one doesn't observe much of a change over
time in sex-typed occupational aspirations.
Once women have been working for a while
and have had some negative experiences,
they are more willing to entertain nontra-
ditional career options than at younger ages,
when peer group pressures are important
forces reinforcing traditionally female aspi-
rations.
There is anecdotal evidence (and we need
more concrete empirical evidence) that at
least for women with high income needs,
one can stimulate the demand for nontra-
ditional training and employment, despite
years of socialization. Nevertheless, there is
variation in aspirations for nontraditional oc-
cupational choices (and the ability to stim-
ulate them). Older women tend to be more
likely to have such aspirations, and Hispan-
ics less, than black and white women. In
short, there is some promise, despite the
evidence that high school girls are likely to
be ~lisinterested in nontraditional careers.
One final comment is in order. It is a
shame that we, as researchers and policy
makers, often focus so much on individual
factors that affect individual women and their
choices and neglect employers and how they,
through subtle and some not so subtle
mechanisms, influence occupational sex
segregation.
This neglect occurs for a number of rea-
sons. First, it is easier to study women than
it is to study employers. Second, in a pe-
culiar way, it is felt that we may have more
control or effect on individuals than we do
on institutions and businesses. It should be
obvious that individual factors and often in-
dividual forces are but one part of the spec-
trum. There are numerous factors related
to behaviors of employment that effect women
once they enter the labor force. And, in fact,
there are labor market factors that influence
their choices prior to entry into the labor
market.
Representative terms from entire chapter:
labor market
