Precursors to the Gender Gap in College Enrollment: Children's Aspirations and Expectations for Their Futures

Abstract

In light of the increasing gender gap in college enrollment, data from two waves of interviews with 115 elementary and middle school children were examined for developmental and gender differences in participants’ aspirations and expectations for their futures. While there were no gender differences in children's educational aspirations or expectations, girls were more likely than boys to aspire to careers that require a college education, more likely to emphasize career advancement in their rationale for attending college, and less likely to choose sex-typed occupations. Implications for professional school counselors are discussed.

Career and work-based learning interventions for young recipients of Supplemental Security Income

“…Age was examined in this study because Kortering, Braziel, and McClannon (2010) found grade level (which is often closely associated with age) to be predictive of post-school employment plans for students with learning disabilities. Gender was incorporated into the study based upon the work of Blackhurst and Auger (2008), who found that females expressed preferences for occupations requiring a college education at rates higher than males. The inclusion of disability was supported by the work of Grigal and Neubert (2004), who discovered significant interactions between type of student disability and parent work and postsecondary expectations for the student.…”

Gender stereotyping within career and technical education : exploring relationships among gender, coursetaking, and outcomes of high school CTE students.

“…There is clearly a need for future research in this area, however, current CTE policy presumes that students will begin a certain career path early in high school and persist in that field throughout adult life as well. Especially in terms of nontraditional participation, the theory is that if more students are recruited to nontraditional programs, then subsequently, more students will finish nontraditional programs, seek out jobs in nontraditional fields, thus bringing about increased gender balance within the workforce (Blackhurst & Auger, 2008;Teig & Susskind, 2008;Wilbourn & Kee, 2010). However, based upon what is known about student transitions, this calls into question the practicality of such policy expectations.…”

“…School counseling can be especially helpful for young people in terms of increasing their awareness of career options and understanding how their interests and abilities relate to various occupational requirements (Blackhurst & Auger, 2008). However, Gottfredson & Lapan (1997) pointed out that despite the fact that people to form a gender-self concept that will eventually influence their vocational aspirations as young as age six, students do not typically start to receive career counseling until their teen years.…”

“…In 2010, women earned the majority of postsecondary degrees at all levels (62% of associates degrees, 58% of bachelor's degrees, 60% of master's degrees, and 52% of doctoral degrees) (NCES, 2012). In recent studies of elementary and middle school students, girls exhibited a preference for careers that were less sex-typed than boys, implying that girls are expanding their career aspirations and suggesting that this might lead to a less segregated professional workforce in the future (Blackhurst & Auger, 2008;Schuette et al, 2012).…”

“…Individuals might then be free to focus on what they want to be rather than be constrained by society's determination of appropriateness (Wilbourn & Kee, 2010). In order to facilitate such a shift in occupational gender paradigms, earlier career preparedness programs that expose students to a variety of occupational options might be the answer (Blackhurst & Auger, 2008). An existing avenue to accomplish such a goal might be high school career and technical education programs (CTE), given its prevalence and high participation rate among American high school students (NCES, 2003).…”