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Exploring Factors Contributing to Women’s Nontraditional Career Aspirations
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by Lori Bona, Allison Kelly, Megan Jung - St. Catherine University
Categories: Gender
This study sought to determine if women aspiring to enter traditional, or femaledominated,
careers (e.g., nursing, social work, etc.) versus male-dominated careers
(e.g., science, technology, mathematics, and engineering, etc.) would differ on 10
factors: interest and confidence in math and science, overall academic confidence,
traditional gender role attitudes, importance of having a job with a flexible work
schedule for family, influence of a mentor, parental modeling of traditional gender
roles, and attachment to parents. A survey exploring these factors was distributed
to 141 college women. Results indicated that women who were pursuing careers in
a male-dominated field had significantly higher confidence and interest in math
and science and also had parents who modeled less-traditional gender roles than
women who were aspiring to enter traditional gender careers. However, because
there were many factors which did not yield significant differences among the two
career groups, future research should explore other influences, such as the learning
environment, on women’s career choices.
Fall 2010 | Psi Chi Journal of Undergraduate Research (Vol. 15, No. 3, p. 123), published by Psi Chi, The International Honor Society in Psychology (Chattanooga, TN). Copyright, 2010, Psi Chi, The International Honor Society in Psychology. All rights reserved.