Gender stereotypes and vocational variables in secondary education female students

Abstract

Gender stereotypes are at the root of gender inequalities in education and employment. These stereotypes affect adolescents' academic performance, interests, behaviours and career choices. The aims of the study are: a) to examine whether there are differences in career decision self-efficacy, career adaptability and clarity of life design of adolescent girls according to their gender stereotypes; b) to introduce a model with the independent variable gender stereotype to understand the relationship between the analyzed variables. The study involved 1,012 female students in the 3rd and 4th years of secondary education. Data collection was carried out using the Academic and Vocational Guidance Questionnaire. Correlation analyses and parametric tests were carried out; a structural equation model was run to understand the relationships between variables and to test a hypothetical model predicting the effect of gender stereotypes. Results showed that girls with high gender stereotypes have lower scores on career decision-making self-efficacy, career adaptability and clarity of life plan design than girls with low stereotypes. A parsimonious model was constructed to fit the data, in which adolescent girls' stereotypes predicted career decision-making self-efficacy, and in turn self-efficacy predicted career adaptability and clarity of life project design. The improvement of these vocational variables in adolescent female students requires a critical analysis of the beliefs that underlie gender stereotypes; an analysis that allows them to become aware of the socio-cultural nature of these stereotypes, promote their deconstruction and empower them vocationally.

Keywords: gender stereotypes; career choice; secondary school students; self-efficacy; career adaptability; life-design