The effects of gender stereotypes on women's career choice: Opening the glass door.

Abstract

Summers, suggested that the underrepresentation of women in science and engineering might be due, at least in part, to inherent sex differences in cognitive abilities central to math and science. Dr. Summers's comments were viewed by many to reflect deep-seated stereotypes about men's and women's natural abilities. There has been much debate ovet different theoties that might account for women's underinvolvement in math-and science-related careers (e.g., Bandura, Barbaranelli, Caprara, & Pastorelli, 2001;Benbow & Stanley, 1980). The focus of this chapter is not to directly consider the evidence to support or refute these stereotypic beliefs, but to consider instead the social psychological effect of the mete suggestion that there are underlying sex differences in ability. In other words, we address how cultural stereotypes help to diminish women's interest and performance in domains that have been traditionally dominated by men.The belief that mathematics is a masculine domain dates back to Pythagoras, who in the 5th century BC founded a society in which abstract

The power of affirming group values: Group affirmation buffers the self-esteem of women exposed to blatant sexism

“…Besides the burden of experiencing discrimination firsthand, young women and adolescents are exposed to sexism indirectly via the news and entertainment industries (Collins, 2002; Nutt, 2010; Zhang et al, 2009), all of which can reduce motivation and self-efficacy, and lead to disengagement from academics, avoidance of male-dominated careers, and the decision to opt out of the workforce altogether (Major & Schmader, 1998; Major & O’Brien, 2005; Zhang et al, 2009). One topic of debate is the extent to which young women should be educated about sexism (Collins, 2002), especially given that they underestimate its prevalence in society, the likelihood of their personally experiencing it, and the assertiveness of their responses to its perpetrators (Crosby, 1984; Sipe et al, 2009; Taylor, Wright, Moghaddam, & Lalonde, 1990).…”

A registered report on how implicit pro-rich bias is shaped by the perceiver's gender and socioeconomic status

“…Although women receive undergraduate and postgraduate degrees in similar if not greater numbers than men [80,98], gender disparities persist in educational environments. For example, in high-status disciplines such as science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM), women are marginalized professionally [99][100][101][102][103]. Even outside of STEM disciplines, women may find themselves underrepresented at the most prestigious academic institutions [98] and face additional hurdles in the pursuit of advanced degrees [80].…”

The Impact of Economic Perceptions on Work-Related Decisions

“…Throughout the years, vocational psychologists have examined the many contextual variables that impact the career decision-making process of individuals at various stages throughout their career trajectory (Byars-Winston & Fouad, 2008; Duffy & Sedlacek, 2007; Fouad & Byars-Winston 2005a; Fouad et al, 2008; Houser & Garvey, 1983; Phillips, Jome, Walsh, & Savickas, 2005; Zhang et al, 2009). Researchers have argued for years that the consideration of various contextual influences leads to a better understanding of how people make career decisions, as well as more accurate empirical inspection within the vocational literature (Fouad & Kantamneni, 2008).…”