If women are underrepresented in jobs, this is often seen as evidence of discrimination and preferential treatment of men. However, it doesn’t seem to be that simple. Psychologists led by Gijsbert Stoet from the University of Essex in Colchester have just published a large study that shows: In countries where gender equality is particularly good, the career aspirations of young people drift further apart than in countries where traditional Role patterns are more firmly attached. According to the psychologist David Geary from the University of Missouri-Columbia, who was involved in the publication, the results of their work fit the so-called “gender equality paradox”, which has already been described in other studies that are of course not uncontroversial.
For those in the journal Plos One published work the two scientists evaluated data from 473,260 young people aged 16 who were interviewed in 2018 as part of the PISA study. The participants came from 80 countries and in the survey also provided information about their future career aspirations. The researchers sorted the career ideas into three categories: professions in which one primarily has to do with things (craft); those in which contact with other people plays a major role (medicine, teachers); or professions from the so-called MINT area, which stands for mathematics, engineering, natural sciences, technology.
Freed from financial hardships, it is easier to focus on your intrinsic interests
In all countries, the average ideals of the young people surveyed matched the clichéd understanding of roles: the young women were primarily interested in jobs in which they had a lot of contact with people. For every boy who stated this preference, there were three girls with these preferences. The difference was largest in Lithuania (42.1 percent among girls, 7.1 percent among boys). The smallest difference in this area was found in Lebanon (54.3 percent of girls, 32 percent of boys).
Stoet and Geary observed similar numbers for clerical occupations. For every girl with this preference there were 4.3 boys. The difference was greatest in the Czech Republic (56.2 percent boys, 6.3 percent girls), smallest in the United Arab Emirates (38.6 percent boys, 22.3 percent girls), followed by countries such as Morocco, Lebanon, Qatar, where gender equality is not particularly important. A similar connection was also found for occupations in the STEM field. Here the gender difference was smallest in Morocco (17.2 percent of boys, 11.5 percent of girls).
Correlation with an index for gender equality was found in all three areas. The better a country did, the more the comparison of career aspirations corresponded to the stereotypes. The scientists explain this by saying that the people in these countries are relatively wealthy, which is partly due to the participation of women in economic life. Freed from financial hardship, it is easier to pursue intrinsic interests and choose a job primarily based on whether it is fun and fulfilling. This reveals that men and women have differences within themselves that become apparent when they are freed from constraints.