Sex Segregation in the Workplace Trends, Explanations, Remedies (1984) / Chapter Skim
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11 Sex Typing in Occupational Socialization
11 Sex Typing in Occupational Socialization
Pages 192-232
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From page 192... ...
Department of Labor, 1977) , the amount of sex segregation in the labor market has decreased little (England, 1981a)
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From page 193... ...
In the final section, we discuss the role that socialization can be interpreted to play in producing sex segregation in the labor market. THEORIES OF OCCUPATIONAL CHOICE AND SEX-ROLE SOCIALIZATION This section provides an overview of the theoretical bases on which sex differences in occupational orientation and job-relevant traits have been assumed to arise.
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Women's lower expected lifetime labor force participation explains only the greater tendency of women to be in jobs requiring low skill, not the concentration of women in a small number of female occupations within each skill type (Blau and Jusenius, 1976~. Within the human capital framework, the pattern of sex segregation existing in the labor market can be accounted for only by an extreme distribution of women's "tastes." Another problem is that the causal direction of the relationship between occupational outcomes and labor force attachment is ambiguous.
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From page 195... ...
One major tenet of social learning theory is that sextyped behavior need not be consistent across situations but depends on the social context in which it occurs. The bases of sex typing are viewed as arising in the social environment, not the organism, so that relatively rapid changes can occur if learning conditions are altered.
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Models of sex typing based on information processing have been proposed recently by Bem (1981) and Martin and Halverson (19811.
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This division of labor results in essential consistency between men's familial and occupational roles but produces conflict between the familial role of women and their participation in the labor market. Fulfillment of familial role responsibilities competes with work outside the home for the limited supply of a woman's time, energy, and emotional commitment.
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From page 198... ...
Males are socialized to be assertive, authoritative, and competent in occupational skills, whereas females are socialized to be nurturant, deferent, and competent in domestic skills (Oetzel, 1966; Maccoby and lacklin, 1974; Block, 1976; Tavris and Offir, 1977; Frieze et al., 1978~. The extent to which women's familial role responsibilities account for sex segregation in the labor market remains an open question.
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This section examines the degree to which occupational aspirations and expectations prior to labor market entry are sex typed and considers the probable relationship between this sex typing and subsequent sex segregation in the labor market. We will also examine sex differences in knowledge of the occupational world and in occupational values held prior to labor market entry.
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From page 200... ...
Occupational Aspirations and Expectations Research on occupational aspirations and expectations held prior to labor market entry provides strong evidence that sex differences in occupational choice exist. Young women are more likely to choose typically "female" occupations, whereas young men are more likely to choose typically "male" occupations (Stephenson, 1957; Sewell and Ornstein, 1964; Douvan and Adelson, 1966; Werts, 1966; Astin and Panos, 1969; Marini and Greenberger, 1978; Harren et al., 1979; Herzog, 19821.
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provides further evidence that the sexual composition of an occupation influences the degree to which it is considered a viable career choice. R e I ~ t i 0 n s h i p 0 f O c c u p a t i 0 n a ~ A s p i r a t i 0 n s t 0 Subsequent Occupational Behavior The degree of correspondence between occupational aspirations held prior to labor market entry and subsequent occupational attainments is indicative of the degree to which individuals realize their occupational aspirations.
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However, as we will discuss, discriminatory practices and structural barriers within the labor market may generate a pattern of sex segregation that is maintained over time via socialization. Most research on the relationship between occupational goals and attainments has focused on the overall degree of congruence between occupational aspirations ant]
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To conclude, our comparison of the sex typing of occupational aspirations and attainments indicates that the degree of sex segregation in aspirations is only sTighfly lower than the degree of sex segregation in employment. This overall similarity between the sex typing of occupational aspirations and attainments indicates that influences prior to labor market entry play an important role
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From page 204... ...
Studies of the discrepancy between aspirations and expectations further indicate that girls are more likely than boys to expect to enter occupations that are sex typed to the same or a higher degree than their aspirations (Looft, 1971a:366; Papalia and Tennent, 19751. Attempts to assess developmental changes in He sex typing of occupational choices with increasing age in any precise way have been few.
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From page 205... ...
Although there may be a small overall decline in the sex typing of occupational aspirations among youth, the occupational choices of college students have been found to become more sex typed over the college years (Davis, 1965; Astin and Panos, 1969; Hind and Wirth, 19691. Of entering freshmen planning careers in male occupations, women were more likely than men to switch to some other occupational choice during their undergraduate years.
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From page 206... ...
indicate that knowledge alone plays a limited role in determining the occupational choices of young males and females. These studies indicate that, unless the presentation of jobs and career information includes examples of women in nontraditional roles or encourages discussion of sex-role stereotyping, the provision of information does little to heighten students' awareness of sex typing or to broaden their occupational aspirations to include jobs atypically held by their sex.
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From page 207... ...
Thus, despite some evidence of declining sex differences in the occupational plans of adolescents in the 1970s, which we discussed earlier, sex differences in occupational values persist. Since the two sexes differ upon entry into the labor force not only in the attitudes, knowledge, and values they hold about occupations but also in the skills and personalsocial attributes that affect access to occupations, we will consider evidence on the existence of sex differences in abilities and dispositional traits.
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These sex differences in occupational choice have an important bearing on subsequent sex segregation in the labor market, since the degree of sex segregation in occupational aspirations prior to labor market entry closely approximates the degree of sex segregation in
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Although sex differences in abilities and clispositional traits exist prior to entry into the labor market, they are unlikely to play an important role in the determination of occupational segregation. Most differences are small anal appear to result from, rather than cause, sex differences in occupational orientation.
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. Maternal employment affects the sex-role attitudes of both sexes, but it affects the sex typing of personal and social attributes, interests, and activities almost exclusively for girls.
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School Influences The role of schools in promoting or inhibiting sex segregation in occupational goals is a multifaceted one. In this section we review research on a variety of socialization influences arising within the school, including the availability of same-sex role models, sex stereotyping in textbooks and educational material, the role of counselors in channeling students into careers, tracking and vocational education, and training in mathematics and science.
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Two groups of researchers, publishing comprehensive studies of sex stereotyping in elementary school textbooks in the mid1970s, found pervasive evidence of sex bias. Weitzman and Rizzo's (1974)
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Ike topics we touch on include counselor bias in assessment and counseling concerning women's career preferences, sex bias in occupational reference materials used for counseling purposes, and the importance of the counselor in effecting changes in females' occupational aspirations and outcomes. Studies of counselors' attitudes and knowledge about women's careers suggest that counselors contribute to the sex stereotyping of occupations.
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, although a more recent study of the 1976-1977 edition reported substantial reduction in the amount of sex bias (Farmer and Backer, 1977~. In general, research on counselors' attitudes and knowledge, and on the career information materials they use, indicates that bias exists in the perceived appropriateness of a variety of occupational aspirations for women, in the roles women are assumed to fill in the labor market, and in the reasons perceived to lie behind career choices.
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From page 215... ...
However, girls who did enroll in the vocational education track did not differ in ability from those in other noncollege preparatory tracks. In contrast, boys who enrolled in the vocational education track tended to be lower in ability than those in other noncollege preparatory tracks (HarnischtegerandWiley, 19801.
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A study by Grasso (1980) of females who did not go to college, based on data from the National Longitudinal Survey of the Labor Market Experiences of Young Women collected in 1968 and 1972, indicated that girls in all curricula had highly sex-typed occupational aspirations but that those in business and office programs were the most traditional, with 69 percent aspiring to jobs that were 80 to 100 percent female.
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From page 217... ...
This sex difference in technical training has important implications for sex segregation in the labor market since the poorer mathematics and science training of females prevents them from entering many traditionally mate occupations. As discussed below, recent evidence suggests that sex differences in mathematics and science training arise not so much from sex differences in the ability to master these subjects or, at least in the case of mathematics, from sex differences in the appeal of the subject as from the labeling of these fields as male domains.
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From page 218... ...
Mathematics and science teachers also generally provide better role models for boys than for girls from secondary school onward since most teachers of these subjects are male (Ernest, 19761. Although, as discussed above, it is unclear how much influence counselors have on students, there is considerable evidence to indicate that counselors have been a source of discouragement rather than encouragement to girls wanting to take advanced mathematics and science courses (Fox et al., 19791.
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Legislation and Governmental Intervention Related to Education Of the legislation designed to reduce sex cliscriminaton in employment and training, three pieces are particularly relevant to the occupational socialization of women prior to labor force entry: Title IX of the 1972 Educational Amendments, the Women's Educational Equity Act of 1974 and 1978, and the 1976 Vocational Education Amendments. Title IX was passed by Congress in 1972 as part ofthe Educational Amendments, and final regulations for its implementation followed in 1975.
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A study by Beller (1981) sheds some light on changes in the actual advantages that education is providing for women in terms of entrance into traditionally male occupations (defined as occupations in which the male share of employment exceeds the male share of the experienced civilian labor force by at least 5 percentage points)
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Rather, active attention to the monitoring of schools and, in particular, the administration of preand inservice courses for teachers and counselors seem to be important. Special attention needs to be focused on secondary schools, where students are influenced to make decisions that will have significant ramifications for whether they continue on to college, receive postsecondary vocational education, or immediately enter the job market.
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The degree to which actual occupational choices are conditioned by exposure to television remains unknown. But given the predominance of television as a media form for children and its role as a source of information about the world, especially prior to the development of reading skills and prior to entrance into the adult working world, it is likely to have a significant impact.
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Among these are the greater availability of same-sex role models for males across a variety of fields at higher levels of education, sex typing in the presentation of occupational roles in textbooks and other educational materials, sex bias in the attitudes and knowledge of guidance counselors regarding the appropriateness of various occupations for males and females, sex segregation in different vocational education programs, and sex differences in training in mathematics and science. Sex typing in the portrayal of occupational roles in the mass media provides another source of information about the adult occupational world, as do sex differences in the actual employment experiences of adolescents prior to leaving school.
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From page 224... ...
Because the actions of employers and the structure of work organizations are known to affect sex segregation, a reduction of sex differences in occupational orientation would not necessarily produce a concommitant reduction of sex differences in employment patterns. Moreover, for a major reduction of sex differences in occupational orientation to occur, a major reduction of sex segregation in the labor market is necessary, since existing employment patterns affect what is learned via socialization.
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Bem, S.L. 1981 "Gender schema theory: A cognitive account of sex typing."Psychological Review 88:354-64.
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Dwyer, C.A. 1973 ''^ '-~ 1978 "Sex segregation in the labor market: An analysis of young college women's occupational preferences." Pp.
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From page 227... ...
1981b "Wage appreciation and depreciation: A test of neoclassical explanations of occupational sex segregation." Paper presented at the annual meeting of the American Sociological Association, August 1981. 1982 "The failure of human capital theory to explain occupational sex segregation." Journal of Human Resources 17:358-70.
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From page 228... ...
" Working Paper 1303-01, The Urban Institute, Washington, D.C. 1980b "Long-term labor market effects of vocational education on young women." In Education, Sex Equity and Occupational Stereotyping.
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1970 "Sex typing and socialization.
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, Women in the Labor Market. New York: Columbia University Press.
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23' Smith-Lovin, L., and A.R. Tickamyer 1978 "Nonrecursive models of labor force participation, fertility behavior, and sex role attitudes." American Sociological Review 43:541~q Spitze, G., and J
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From page 232... ...
, Women in the Labor Market. New York: Columbia University Press.
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