Lifestyle Preferences as Determinants of Women's Differentiated Labor Market Careers

Abstract

Longitudinal studies have shown the long-term impact of attitudes, values, and aspirations on labor market behavior and outcomes. However, sociological theory has so far failed to incorporate this new knowledge. Preference theory does so, positing that recent social and economic changes give women genuine choices for the first time in history. A 1999 national survey in Britain shows that women choose three distinct combinations of market work and family work: They have home-centered, work-centered, or adaptive lifestyle preferences. The survey confirms that lifestyle preferences are a major determinant of fertility, employment patterns, and job choice. However, lifestyle preferences no longer determine occupational choice.

Feeding the pipeline: Gender, occupational plans, and college major selection

“…These results are consistent with the recent work of Mann and DiPrete (2012), Riegle-Crum b et al (2012) and Perez-Felkner et al (2012) who have analyzed the same data but with different measure ment and modeling strategies. They nonetheless are inconsistent with gender essentialist accounts that point to women's decisions to choose motherhood over science (Williams and Ceci, 2012 ; see also Hakim, 2002;Ceci et al, 2009 ) or with expectancy-value models that emphasize the importance of gender role ideologies in the developmen t of subjective valuations of science relative to family (e.g., Eccles, 2011a,b ). 26 For details, see Supplementary Appendix Tables S12-15.…”

“…Normative expectations about women's status as primary caregivers encourag e women to choose career paths that are, or are believed to be, more compatib le with raising a family (e.g., the ''preference theory'' espoused by Hakim (2002)). 6 In this view, it is not that young women lack confidence in their ability to do science or be scientists, but they gravita te toward other pursuits in response to (a) their preferences for high involveme nt in child-re aring and other ''hands-on'' and time-con suming aspects of family life; and (b) the incompati bility -perceived or real -between science and family life.…”

“…More recently, Moss-Racusin et al (2012) show throug h a series of experimental studies that academic scient ists evaluate mailed applications (from fictitious high school seniors) for lab manager positions more favorably if they believe the applic ant is male. 6 The elicited preferences in Hakim (2002) are from a samp le of women aged 16 to 64 in Britain, the vast majority of whom had made their career choices long before they were surveyed.…”

“…If arguments about exogenously determined gender differenc es in occupational preferences (e.g., Hakim, 2002 ), ''free and constrained '' choices (Ceci et al, 2009 ), or subjective task valuations (Eccles, 2011a,b ) are correct, it should be the case that any association between occupationa l plans and college major selection will disappear, or at least be greatly diminished, in models that include measures of work-family orientati on. Thus, although our primary interest is in the consequences of occupationa l plans rather than their sources, our analyses speak to the theoretical claim that gender differences in occupationa l preferences emerge, at least in part, from gender differences in work-family preferences .…”

Returning to STEM: gendered factors affecting employability for mature women students

“…So, decision making about future work had involved an assessment of current capabilities or 'horizons for action' (Hodkinson and Sparkes 1997) which was strongly informed by wider gender role assumptions and behaviours. Rather than being simply based on 'preference' as some have argued (Hakim 2002), such decisions were made within a constrained set of parameters (Leahy and Doughney 2006) resulting from a low sense of entitlement to sustaining their SET careers once they became mothers (Herman and Lewis 2012).…”