A Theory of Productive Activity: The Relationships Among Self-Concept, Gender, Sex Role Stereotypes, and Work-Emergent Traits

Abstract

A theoretical framework is presented that focuses on the division of labor by gender to account for both sex role stereotypes and the correspondence between these stereotypes and the self‐concepts of women and men. According to this framework, the self‐images of adults are largely constituted by attributes generated by their productive activity. These attributes, referred to as work‐emergent traits, are consequences of working within particular social and physical conditions of production because they help individuals to perform work tasks and to regulate their emotional responses to the Stressors attendant upon their work roles. Because of sexual segregation in the work force, certain traits have been generalized to all women and to all men, appearing as sex role stereotypes. Although the sexual division of labor is the root cause of stereotypical beliefs regarding the attributes of women and men, the beliefs themselves also sustain the division of labor. Suggestive pilot data, which provide initial substantiation for this theoretical perspective, are briefly discussed.

Modeling Nontraditional Career Choices: Effects of Gender and School Location on Response to a Brief Videotape

“…For example, although elementary students' occupational stereotypes decrease with age, their actual occupational choices become more stereotyped (O'Keefe & Hyde, 1983). Researchers have concluded that the belief that certain occupations are appropriate only for a single sex is greatly influenced by observation of division of labor by sex (Eagly & Steffen, 1986;Krefting, Berger, & Wallace, 1978;Yount, 1986). It is more important to see nontraditional career choices being made by both women and men than it is to be told by counselors that women have the ability to become crane operators and boys have the ability to become art teachers.…”

The gender role self‐concept of men in female‐dominated occupations: does it depend on how they see their jobs?

“…While working in sex‐typed occupations, stereotypical masculine or feminine traits emerge and form the GRSC of the respective jobholders. Following Yount's theoretical argument, a masculine GRSC will emerge from masculine activities at work. Contrary, drawing on Fraley and Roberts' () work on stability and change of personal characteristics, interactional processes (people proactively seek situations that fit their personalities well) may also take place here.…”

The Importance of Community Context for Young Women’s Occupational Aspirations

“…Young women with more traditional gender beliefs tend to have more traditional work and family plans (Novack and Novack 1996;Stringer and Duncan 1985;Weeks et al 1984;Yount 1986;Zuckerman 1981) and lower leadership aspirations (Boatwright et al 2003). In addition, resource dilution theory suggests that young women with more siblings may receive less parental time, energy, and financial resources (Blake 1989;Downey 2001;Powell and Steelman 1989) which may lower their occupational aspirations.…”