ATTITUDES OF CANADIANEDUCATORSTOWARD THE CHANGING WORK PATTERNS OF WOMEN
by
~Maureen Ellsworth
A the sissubmittedtothesen e c aot Graduate Studiesin partial fUlfilmentof the
requireme ntsfor the degreeof MasterofEducation
FacultyofEducation Memorialuniv e r s ity of Newfoundland
Augu st 1992
St.John's Newfoundland
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Canada
ACknowledgements
I wouldlike to express my appreciationtothos e who he lpe d me in variou swaysdur ingthe writingofthi s the s i s.
special appreciatio nis extended toDr.Timothy Seifert, Dr. BruceGil b e r t andDr. Dav idWatt s, my advisors, for their guidanceandassista nce.
I amthank fulfo r the patienc e and enc ou r ag e ment ofMs . Miche lleShapterwho served as my statisticalconsu ltant.
I wo u ld like tothank Dr. AliceCo ll ins for her-help in the deve lopmentofthe quest ionnaire.
I am grate f ulto the Avalon Consol i da ted Int egrated School Boardand the Terra Nova-Cap e Freels Int e grate d Schoo l Bo a r d forgrantingme permis sion to conduc t the stud y in the i r schools. The cooperation and assistanc eof the administrato rs and teachingstaffs of the schoo ls in the di str ibuti on and completion of the questionna ire swas deepl y appre ciated.
Sinc ereqrat.Lbude is also extended toRos s Newhook and Glen ys We llmanfo r their constant suppo r t andencourag ement.
i i
llbgtract
Investigation of educators' sex-roleattitudesis of particular importance in determiningthe influe nce the y may ha ve on female studentsIcareerCho ice s. The purposeof thisstud y wa s toassess the attitudesof educeuocstoward care e r-re l a t e d aspects of women 'schanging rol e in society. Comparisons of sUbgroups were made on the basis offo ur ind e pe nde nt variables :sex, age, marita l status,and locatio n.
Aque s tion na i r e wasdevelopedto measureeducato rsI
attitude stowardthe changing workpatternsof women. It cons istedof foursubs c a l e s:Se xua l Equality, Dual Role, Nont rad itiona land In f o rma t i on/Knowl e dge . The sample consistedof 287ed uc a t o rs from the AvalonConsol ida ted IntegratedandTerra Nova-Ca peFr eel s Integrat e dsc hool boards inthe provinceof Newfound landand Labrador.
A significantdi f f e re nc eon the basisof sex was found in all ofthe subscalesas wel l as thetot a l questionna i re. Femaleshadmo r eegalit ar i a n atti tudestha nmales andwer e mor e awa reof the financial ine q ui ties thatman y women fa ce inoursociet y. Therewas a signi fica nt differe nc e on the ba s i s of age inthe Dual Roleand No ntradi tional subscales as wellas the total scale. Youn ge rrespond e nts (20-29 ye a r s ) and those aged30-39 wer emore eg..llitarianthan older responde nts (40and over) . A sig nificant dif f erence bas ed
iii
on location was found inthe Sexual Equality and Information/Knowledge sunscar es • Respondents1n theurban areawere more egalitarian than those in the rural areas and were more aware of the financial inequitiesthat manywo me n face in our society. The r e was a significant interaction effect between sex and location in the Dual Roleand Nontraditional subscales. Urban females were more egalitarianthanrural females. There were no significant differences based on marital status.
Recommendations were made in the areas of future research and intervention strategies.
iv
Table ofcont e nts
Acknowledgements Abstract List of Tables
CHAPTER
INTRODUCTIONTO THE STUDY Purposeof theStudy Rationale Significance Oef in!tion of Terms ResearchQuestions
Page I i iii viii
12
I I REVIEWOF RELATEDLITERATURE Introduction
Models of Career Choice Significantothersin General Students' AttitudesandPerceptions Counsellorsand Teachers AttitudesToward Science and
Mathematics Summary
"
"
15 21 25 34
'0
,.
CHAPTER
III METHODOLOGY Introduction Inst r umentatio n Procedures Sa mple
Sta tis ti c a l Analysis
Page
51 51 51 55
5 .
58
10.
IV PRESENTATION, ANALYSIS, AND
INTERPRETATION OF RESULTS 60
Subscal eAnalysis 60
BetweenGroups oi r rerences 62
Regress ionAnalysi s 72
Summary 73
SUMMARY,DISCUSSION 1r.NO RECOMMENDATIONS 76
Pu r po s e of the st ud y 76
Di s c ussi on of ResearchFindings 77
Limitations ofth e Study a6
Recommendations ea
References 92
1r.ppendices
Appe ndixA - Sources Us e din the Development of theQuestionna ire Appendix B - Copy of Que st i o nnaire and Final
Breakdownof th e Fou r Sub sca les 109
vi
AppendixC - ret.eer to superintendent Appe nd i x D - FrequencyDistributionsof Entire
Scale and Four SUbscales
vii
120
122
Lis t of Tab l es
Pa eJe
Table 1 BreakdownofRur a l andUr b a nRespondent s
By IndependentVariab l es 57
Tab l e i': TenHighe st-Ra n kedIte ms wit h Me an Scores 69
Tabl e 3 TenLowest-Ranked r eenowithMe a n Scores 70
Table 4 Corre lationsBetweenthe Fou r subsca I es andAge 71
viii
CHJl.PTER I Introduction to the study
put'pose of the Study
Thepur poseofth i s study was to assess the att i tudes of educa torstowardverioue career-related aspects of the changingrole of women insociety. An instrume nt wa s developedto measurethede g r e e of acceptance or rejection oftheeffects of these changes.
Theemphasis was on factors associated wi thfemales' increased participationin the work force and the i rgra d u a l movement intooccupational areas traditionallyheldby males.
~
"One of the most significan tsocial trends inCa nad a over the past severa ldecades has beenthe dra ma t i c increase in the labour forceparticipationofwo me n " (Ma r sha ll, 198 7, p, 7). Between197 5 and1985, thf.= female la bou r fo r c e increasedby 46.3\, in contrast to a15.3% growthfor males (Labou r Canada, 198 7 ) . A moredeta iledexami na tionofth e par ticipationof womeninthe labour for ce, however , revea ls disturbinginequi ties, Wome nstill tend to be concen t r a ted intradi tiona lly female jobs whic h are genera llylow-pa i d and offe r littl e opportu nity for advancemen t. Re s earch conduc tedby the tscnenvsBureau of Labour Can ad a (1987)
showedthat59\ of all working women inCana da we r e concentratedin clerical, sales and service occupations while onlye.J\wereclass i f i e d in managerialand admini st r at i ve occupations. Canadianwomen employed full- ti me earnedonly64.9\ of the average ea r ni ng s of men.There wereno occupationalcategoriesinwhic hthe average earn ingsof women exceededthoseof men and the average inc ome of femaleswas sUbstantially lessthan that of males at all educational levels.
The Newfou nd landRoyal Commission on Employme nt and Unemployment (1986) foundth a t the vast majorityof employed women inthe provinceof Newfoundlandwerein low- wage positions andthat femalesare continui ng to trainforlow- salariedpositi onsratherthan for the higher-paid , nontraditionaloccupations. The members of thecommission decried the lack of researchconducted on female employn 'ilnt inNewfoun d la nd . Ina reviewof available literature, howe v er , they co ncl ude d thatsex- stereotypi ng appea rs to ha ve a cons iderab le impa c t on the career cho icesmade by youngwomeninsecondary and posc-eeccnaerv instituti on s. Inaddition, teachers are often unaware thatthey sometimes tre at fe mal e s ina mann erthathelps to formmisperceptions ab ou t the ir capabili ties. The Roya l Commissionstresse d that females "ne e dto be gi v enequal opp ortun ity in occupations that havetr a d it i ona ll y been mal e domin a ted' the educationalsystemne e ds to becha ngedtore mo ve all
vestiges ofae x-et.e r eotrypLnq " (p. 254). Inadd i t i on, the commission members noted that femalestuden ts in Newfoundlandofte nmake curriculumchoic es in hi gh schoo l whichli mit their future employmentopt i o ns.
In WhoTurnsThe Wheel, theSciencecouncil of Canada (1981) reported that the impact of scienceand technologyis be c o mi ng increas i nglysignifi cant in our society. Wome n must be prepa redforthech ange s in theworkplacecreated by t.e ohnoloq LceLInncvet.Icn , GirlsWho donot acquire ma thematical andsc i e ntifi c skil l s will be ineligiblefor admissionto scienceand technologyprograms in post- secondary institutions. They will be unable to take advantage of increasedopportunitiesdevelopingin these areas. If fe ma l e s are not encouragedby school personnel to acquireskillsin the mathematical andscientific areas, their success infutu r e ca r e e r endeavors will be je o pa r d ized.
A LabourCana da Ta sk Fo r c e on Micro-Elect ronicsand Employment (198 2) stressed that two- t hirdsof womenwo r ke r s in Canada are concentrated in positionswhich are prime targets for ef:iciency and pr od uc t i v i t y improvements thr o ug h the introduction of mi croelectronic te c hn ol og y. In a 1985 re po r t to Employment and Immigra tionCanada (EIC) , the Women's Emp l oyme nt Dire ct orate stressedtha t the jobsecto rs inwhi c h the majorityof women conti nue to be employedare being eroded by offi ceautomation. Thereisanurgency in
Erc'sefforts to promote nontraditional empl o yment for wo me n. Anotherfactor tha t will influence fema les' career choicesin the fut u r e isthe fact that "t r a d it i on al women 's occupations arenow preciselythosetha t aremost in oversupply " (He r r&Cramer, 1988, p, 156 ).The aut hors statedthat women will likely be forcedbythe reali ties of the labo urmarket tobr oa de n theirchoicesof occupat ions.
One major consequenceof oc c upat i o nal segrega tio n is obvious lyth elower financialrewards andlackof opportunityfor adva ncementthat are inheren t in most traditionaljobs for females (Employment andImmi g ratio n Canada, 1985). Efforts are being made to change this situation th r oug h calls for pay equ i t y leg i s l a tionand encouragementof femalesto considernon t r a d iti o na l employment. Change is takingplace,howe ve r , at a very slow rate. Educators are obligatedto stUdythe continui ng tr end of occupational segr egation . It isthe i r responsibilityto developfully thepote ntia l of every stiudent. The future of hal f of our young people is greatly affected by our unde rs ta ndingofand in f l ue nc eupo n the ca reerchoicesof female s tudent;s,
Boak andBoak (1989) attempted to provide insig htsinto the career knowl e dge andinte restsof femalehigh scho ol studentsin Newfou nd land. They found thatparen t s and te a ch e r s were most oft en citedby the etuden esasimport a nt sourcesofinfl uence ontheircareer int ere s t s . Hous e r and
Garvey (198 5 ) foundtha t the one dime nsio n thatmost siqnificantlydiffe re ntia ted....omen who ente r e d nontraditional vocationalprograms from those who en tered tr a diti o na lpr ograms was theamount of supp o rtand encouragemen t the y received from the sign i fi ca ntot h e rs in the i r iIvea. Nontradi tio nals, or pioneer s,consiste ntly receivedmore suppo rtfro mfemaleand male frien ds , family memb e r s,teachers and counsellors . Inanearlier study , Ho u s e r and Garvey (1983) foundtha t the amount of support a studentexpects fromthe significa ntothe rs in herlif e clearlydifferentiates thosewho enroll ina nontrad i t i on al programfr o m thosewho dono t. Stringer and Dunc a n (1985) compa red wo me n enteringtraditiona l (nursi ng and medi c a l reha bilitat ion) andnontradit ional (medicaland denta l) careers. They found tha t femalesent e ringnont rad i tiona l fieldswere morelike l y toperceive the at t i tudesof significantothers as favorabletoward nontrad ition al careers. The abovestudiessugges t thatthe at t itudesof sig nificantot hersmay exert a strong in fluenc eon a female 'scareer choice.
Most of the ba c kgroun d orexte rna l factorswhich ha ve beeninvest iga ted as possible influences on femal es' ca ree r choices (socioeconomicstatus, educa tio nal/ca r eer level of par e nts, sup port ofpa r en t s ) arenot gene ral lyunde r the con trolof school personnel. The atti tudesandlev e l of awareness oftea c he r s, administrators and counse llors in
relationto females' educationaland career plans can have either an inhib iting or enhancingeffect. 1\t least these factorsare more amenable to change withinthe schoolsystem (Heins, Hendricks&Martindale , 1982 ) .
Co ncerns aboutthelackof rese a r c h on attitudesof Canadi anstowardwome n 'srole s and issues (Women'sBureau of Labour Canada,198 4) andthe possiblenegativeef f e c t s of teachers'attitudeson femalestudents' career aspirations
(Ne wfo un dla nd Royal Commission onEmpl oyment and unemploymen t, 1986; Fo x and Ri c hmond, 1979) unde r linethe importance of clari f y i ng the particul ar nat u r e of attitudes of schoo l pe r s onneltoward ca reer-r e la ted aspectsof women 's changingrole insociety. 1\sBoak and Boak (1989) stated, future studies are required "to gainins i g ht into whe t her '" teachers have differentialed uc a t i o nal and career expectat ionsfor yo ung pe o ple basedon gender and how their ex pecta t ions arema n i f e ste d" [p, 53).
Signifi c a nce
Becauseof the dramati c increasein female
participationin thewo r kf o r c eove r thela s t two decades and the pare Icurer-problems associated wi t h occupational segregation , researchershavedeve l o pe d an interest in thtl
"un i que careerdevelopment ne e ds of females" (Herr& Cramer, 1988, p. 154). The issuesassociated with fema les ' increasingparticipation inan occupationally segregated
labour market, however, have profound implications in society at large. Any focus on the particular career needs of females must be perceived in the broader social context of the effects of changes on the family and the workplace.
Increasedparticipation of womenin the paid workforce has created the need for femalesand males to cope with additional family pressures. Thesechallenges are associated withsuch issues as sexual division of la b our in the home and the shortage of adequate daycare facilities.
The changingcomposition of the labour force and the increase in the number of women entering nontraditional careerscreate a dynamic situation in theworkplace, as both femalesand males adjust to working together. The financial advantages for the family of higher paying jobs for females will have to be balanced against the broader economic problems thatmay resultfrom increased competition for hig h-te c hn ol og y occupations. Anexaminationof issues relatedto the dynamics of women's Changing role and the challenges that changes create indicate tha t the unique career development needs of females must be viewed in a much broader social context. Inshort,women's issues are social issues that affect all members of society in one way or another.
The Women'sBureauof Labour Canada(1984) statedthat comparatively little is knownabout theattitUdes and opinions held by Canadians on women's roles and issues.
This study focused on exploring the attitudesof teachers . administratorsand counsellors in theschoo l syste mto ward va r i o u s aspects of femal e s' educational and career decisions and the i r a....areness of the realities of wOJllen's wor l d of work. The natureof these attitudes(ona continuum fr OID tr a d i tio na l to egalitarian) would shed some light on the particularkindof influe nc e that they maybe exer tingon femalestudents. Me an i ng f ul social change willreq u ire an accomp a ny ingchange inund erl y i ng at titudesand percept i on s ofwo men' s ro l e s. This is anece s s a r yre q ui r ementfor far - reaching behavioral changesle a d i ng to genderroleequit y . Interve ntio nsdes ignedto broaden girls' perceptionsof availablecareerswould likelyhave limit ed effective nessif membersof teach ing st a f f s harbour neg ati ve attitudes towardsa moreegalitar i an approach or have misperceptions about women' s role in the wor ldof work.
Assessingthe attitudesand level of awareness of the teach ingstaffin the school env ironment in relat ion to females'career paths....ouldprovide a contex t in which interventio nsmay bedeveloped. Par ticu lar interven tions des i g ne d fo r females in the schoo l may be more beneficia l if they were supp leme ntedby programs developed tocha ng e the att itudes and knowl edg e of the peopl ewho exe r t an influen c e onthem. As Ha ring and Be ya r d-Tyl e r (1984) emphas ized ,the re s ult will ho pe full y be youngwomenwhoaremorecapabl eof serious lyconsideringfinancially re wa r d ing and ch a llengi ng
occupations that arepresentlynon tradi tio nal fo r their gend e r. De ve lopi ng the full po t e nti al of fe malestud en ts can only impro ve the i r quali ty of life. Ed uc ators can pla y a vital role in helping to removethe barrie r s to females ' fulland equal participation inthe worl dof work.
Definitionat Terms
Forthe purposesofthi s study, the foll owing definitionswill be used:
Attitu.de refe rsto"a mannerof acting , feeling, thin}d ng tha t shows one'sdisposi t ion, opi ni o n, etc."
(Guralnik , 198 2, p , 90). It encompassesthe behavior , fe el i ngs or thoughtsof apersontowa rd a si tuation, cause or otherpeople. Inth i s study ,the focus is on how educa t orsfee l about the changing roleof womeninsoci e ty.
Conservative refers tothe tendencylitopreserve esta blished tra d it i o ns or ins titut ionsand to resist or oppose any cha nges in these " (Gural ni k, 198 2, p, 30 2 ) . A conservative perso nwould be inc lined tokeepth ings asthe y are or were in the past. Inte r ms of the cha ngi ng rol e of ....omen insociety, he/she wo u l d be oppose d to maj or changes inthat role which....ould de vi ate sign i fi ca nt lyfrom the tradi tionalone ofhome ma ker .
Contemporary refe r sto"thepre sent or recenttime s ; modern " (Gural nik, 198 2 , p, 306) . Pe ople who have contempo raryattitudes towards the cha nging ro l e ofwomen in
10 socie t y ha v egen e r a ll ytol eran t vt ev s otthe cha ng e s that ha v e taken plac e intha t ro l e up toth e prese n t time .
Dualrole re f e r s to thet....o major rol e s a person underta ke s when dealingwiththe responsib ili tiesof both homean dth e workplace.
Ec;alitarianrefers toa model of sex rol e beh a v i or which stres s e s tha t men and womenareequals in the home and the wor k p lace . While "chLkdbearLnq remai ns the biological funct ion of females, child - rais i ng,householdta s k s and labour force pa rt i c ipa tionare no t only permi s sibl e fo r eit her sex, but, ideally, ar e equallysha r e d" (Labour Ca nad a, 1984.p,J) . It is ba s ed on the at ti t ud e thatme n andwomen should ha ve access to ide ntica l pos i tionsand re wards .
Libera l refers tothete nd e nc y to be toler an t ·o f othe rs ' views aswell as open-minded nessto ideasthat challen ge tr a d itionor esta blished insti t u tio ns· (Gura l nik , 1982, p , 814). Inthisstudy, a liberal person wo u l d be incline dtofavou r pro g r e s s or re f o rm in the roleof women in socie ty.
Nontraditi onal emp l oyme n t for fe mal e s referstooc c u pa- ti onal cate go rie s in whi ch there arele s s than 30 \ women.
occupationalsegregation refersto a si t ua ti on in th e workforcethat re sults whe n dif f erentgroups,suc h as femalesan dmales, tend toenter di f f ere n t oc cupat i on al
11 Perceptionre rer-eto "a specific id e a, concept, impression" formedthroughone 'sund e r s t an d i ng or comprehension;insight; awareness (Gu rah1 i k, 198 2 , p, 1054) . Inth i s stud y, thefoc us is onthe pe r c e ption s or ideasthat educators have about the changing role of women insociety .
Ruralrefers to communitieswi th a populationof less than 5000 . Inth i s study, the rural areas were located in the Terra Nova-Cape Freels Integratedschool board .
School personnel referstothe pr of e s s iona l staff at the schoolle ve l in the educational system andinc l udes teachers, administratorsand guidancecounsellors.
Sex-role egal i tarianlsm wtls defined by Beere, King, Beereand King (198 4 )as"an attitude thatcauses one to respond to anotherindi vid ual independentlyof the ot her 's se x" (p. 564). A personwith anegalitaria nattitude be li e ve s that the sex of an individual should not infl u e nc e the perce ptionof his/herabilities, rights,obligationsand opportunities.
Sexual equality incorporates the idea l of equality of femalesand malesinte r ms of economic equalityas well as ('q ua lity of opportunity, rights and privileges.
Sex role refers to the expectatio nsof behavior as a functionor one's gender.
stereotype is a "fixed or convent ional notion or conception, asof a person, group, idea,etc.heldby a number of people andallowi ng forno individuality, critical
12 judgment, etc." (GUral ni k. 198 2, p. 1397 ). Astere o typic a l vrevof....ome n andthe ir ro l ein society would be relati ve l y infle xible and nar row. Itwouldnot inc lude an awarenes s or toleranceofagre atde al ofvariety in behavlars of females.
Trad itio nal means co n fo naing totr adit io n, "a lo ng estab l ished custo morpractic e " (Gu ralnlk, 1982 , p, 150 7). Inte rms of sexrol es , i tre fe r s toa model ofse xrole behavior inwh I ch it isarguedthatwomen"ordinaril y belo ng inthehome andfunct i on primaril yas childbe arer s, child rai sers, and ho memake rs, whereasmenare the par t ici pants in theeconomi c sector" (Labo urCanad a, 1984, p. J).
Urbanre f ers to communitie s withill populatio nof5000 Inthis study, the ur ba n ar e a was the cityofSt.
John' s.
Researc hOuestions
An at titud e ques tion naire wa s developedtoassess at titudesoftea cherstoward the chang ingworkpat te rns of women. The que st i onna ire consis tedof four subs cal es:
Se xual Equality , Dual Role , Nont raditio na l andIn f ormat ion ! Knowl e dge. Score son the foursubsc alesand the total score werebrokendownacc ording to the variab l es ofsex , age , ma ri tal sta t us andlocation. The followingrese a rc h questions were exa min ed:
1. What aretheme a n scores for eachofthefour
13 subscales (Sexual Equality. Dual Role, Nont raditiona l, Informa tion/K nowledge) ?
2. In th e Sexual EqualitysubseaLe (5), were there any significant differences betweenth e meanscores of the respond e ntsbasedon the variablesof age ,sex, ma r ital sta t usor locatio n?
3. Inthe DualRolesubsea Le (D) , werethe r e any significant differencesbet weenthe mean scoresof the re s pon d e-nt s basedon the variablesof age ,sex,marita l statusorloc at i on?
4. Inthe Non t r a d i t i o nal subsea Le (N) .were there any signi fica nt differe nces bet wee nthe mean sc o resof th e respondents ba s ed on the varia b lesof age,sex ,marital statusor location?
5. Inthe Informat ion/ Knowledg e subseaLe(1 ) , we re the r e anysig n i fica nt diffe r ences between the mea n scor esof the re s pond ents ba s e d on the varia b l e s of ag e , se x,marita l status or locat i on ?
6. What were thetenhighes t -ra nked ite msin the enti re que st ionna ire ?
7. Wha t were the ten lowest- ra nked it e ms inthe enti r e que st i o nna ire ?
8. We re there any signifi ca nt differen cesbetween the mea nsco r es on the entireques ti o nna i re based onthe var iab lesof ag e,sex, mar i talsta tusor loc at ion?
14
CHAPTE R II Re v iew of RelatedLite r a tur e
Intr odu c tio n
Agreatdeal ofresee rch in toth e career developmentof women hasconc entratedon del lneating factorswhich influenc etheir choices of careers. Th e purposeof many studies has been todete rmine specif icpersonalitytr ai t s and backgroundfactors which may help toid e ntify and predictwomen 's vocat i onal cho ices (Ch us mir. 1983) . Females' caree rcho ices in general are influenced by so many vari a b les, bothexternaland int e r na l, thatcle a r . simple explanations donot exist for th e differe nces between female and male career paths. Clement (1987 )no t e dt.he complex nature of the study of females' career choices by stressing t.hat future re s e arc hmay ha ve totakea broader approach whichencompassesboth psychologi caland situational va ri a b l e s. Acomprehens ivereview of researchrela tedto renares ' career asp i r a t i ons, expectationsand cho i c e s re ve al s thatresu l ts are oftenconfl i cting (Herr& Cramer, 1988, p ,159 ) . The particularcomb i na t i o n and relative importance of factors which influence women haveno t been clearlydelineated.
Althoughthe concentration of females in low- paid, traditional occ upati o ns isacomplexsocial issue, sexual st e r e o t y p i ng is a commonthr e a d whi chruns throug h all of
the stud i es. Herr andCr ame r (1988 ) stressedthat sex st e r eo t y pi ng ofoccup atio n s stil l restr icts thecare e r development of re e e a e s (a ndmal es). ToolIa ny people co nt inue to viewthe sexes ina ste re ot y pica l fashion and feelthatwomenand men shou ldenac t differentdome s t i c and occupationa l role s .
Mod el sof Care e r cho ic,
Gottfredson (1981) developedIIItheoryof the development of occupationalaspirations from pr e s ch o ol throughthecolle ge years. Thetheoryus esself-conceptas an integral, fu ndamental principle in vocational development . Gottfredson st a t ed tha t "soc i al class, int e l lig e nce. andsexare seen asillportantdeterminants of bo th se lf-concep t and the type s of compromises people Ilust make . thus the the o ry integ ra tesa social systellS perspect i ve wit hthe more psyc holog ica l approaches "
(p. 546 ). A progress iveand permanent ci rc ums c ript i o n(if occ upa t i onal pre fere ncesta ke s place acc o rd i n g toa childIs developingself-concept.
Earlyindividual jUdgmentsof compatibilityof job and se l f emerge as sel f-i mages and preferencescondi tio ne dby cogni tivedevelopmentand socialenvironme nt. Betweenthe age s of 6-8,childrenreject occupation s that are perc e i ved as inap propriate for one'ssex. At a later stage, oc c upa tions ofun ac ce ptabl ylowprest ige are ruled out
16 becausetheyare incon sistent withsocial clas s self - conce pt. ouring adolescenc e youngpeop 'le narrow their choice s furthe r byjUdging occupationson the basis of pers onal intere sts ,abilities and val ues .
At the endofhigh schoo l , students mustadjustto th e realityof jo b market forcesas well asli f eand family pl a n s and the princ iplesof compromi s e co me intoplay. Voc ati ona l interestsorfield of work wou ldbe most re a d il y sacrificed followedby prestigelevel of the job . Sextype of job wouldbe compromised last as gende r self-concept wou l d bethemost st r o ngl ypr o t e c tedaspe c t of self.
Hesketh, El ms lie and Kaldo r (199 0 ) offered an alt e rna t ive acc ountof compr omi s ewhich involveda mod i f i c a t i o nof Go t tf redson's theory (1981). I t cha Lj.enqed
"t .he assumpt i onthatfactors inc o r po ra t ed earlLer intothe se l f-c onc e p t, such as qenderconc ept i on s. areth emost impo rta nt toapars on who is making aca ree r decis ion"
(p. 50). Thereeeae cnersthought thatse x t ype. prestig e level and int erestswe r e not independentof each otherbut tha t each psycholog ical st ru ctur e wasint e g r a t e d into the se lf-c oncep t in a cumulative manner. They consequently ccnc Lude dthat interestswou ldbe the most impor ta nt aspect of sel f-co ncept.
Twostudies were conduct ed,one witha sample ofhigh school st udentsand the other with asa mple inwh ich the ages ranged from15 to53yea rs. The resul tsof both
17
studies indicatedtha t interestswere cons i dered significantlymoreimportant tha nsex type . He s ke t h , ElmslieandKa ! do r conc ludedthat the alter nat i ve the ory of co mp r o mi s eWES supported by thedata. Inaddition , the y question ed thedete rmi nisticassumptionof Gottfr edsonthat oncean occupation ha d be e n rejectedon the ba s i s of be i ng sex inappropriate, thisde c i s i o n was unlike lyto be consid e r e d . Theyspecula tedthat people"ma y reconside r this rejection ontheba s i s of inte res t valuewhich the researchersviewed as the most important aspec t of sel f- concept inte r ms of career compromise.
Astin (19 8 4 ) developeda need-baseddevelopment a lmod el of occupa t iona lcho i c e Whichalso incorpo rated both ps yc ho log i c al and social/environmenta lvaria bles. The mode l was intended to explai ngende rdifferences incaree r choice and recentchanges in th e career aspi ra t i o ns and occupationalbehaviorof fema les. Assuming that men and womenwork for the same reasons ,sheattem pted toide nt i fy mediati ngvari a bl e sthat tra nsl ate work motiv ati ons (survival, pleasureandcontr ibution ) intodifferentwor k expec ta tionsandcareer outcomes. Males and fe males , however, di f f erinthe i r work expe c t at i on s orpe rce pti on s of whattypesof work are av a il a bl e,access ib le and can best satisfytheir needs. Work ex pe ctat i on s aredevel o pe d throughsoci alization, whe re bysociety 'sval uesare inter nalizedth roug hout childhood und er theinfl ue nce of
re
parents, teachers and other adul ts.
str uctureof opportun ity, aco nc e pt that depictsho w social fo rces sha pe and reshape oc cupat ionaldecisions, int e ractswi ththe socializat i on proc ess. Socia l change has led toch a ngesin the struc t u reof opportunityand modificat i o ns in thewo r k expectationsof women. According to Astin, barriersto employme nthave been reducedand career options have inc rease d for females.
Astin'smodel has be en praised forcontributing
"significantlyto the theo reticalbase of career development of women" (Nevill , 1984, p, 131) and for providing"a co nc e pt u a l frameworkfor understand ingchanges across time"
(Bernard, 1984,p, 139). Cri ticis ms , however, have been ma d e abo utthe lack of operationaldefin itions (Hannon, 1984) and whetherthe modelSUff i c ientlyaddresses the realities of thecareerdevelopmentof women (Gilbert, ]984 ). In addition, Fitzge r a l d and aet.z (1984) stated tha t
"the model lacks integrationwitheveIfeb f e knowledge in the fi e l d. the cons t ructsarepoorlydefinedandno sugge sti on s for measurementaregiven" (p. 136).
Farmer (1985) developeda multidimensio nal model to explain the careerand achievementmoti vationof men and women. Three sets of influences (Background, Personal and EnVironmental )on three motivation dimensions (a s p i r a tio n , masteryand career commitment) formed the frameworkof the model whi chFarmerevaluatedwith a sample of 1863 ninth and
19 twe l f t h gradestudents. The results indi c a t ed that al l th r e e sets of influences related significantly with eachof th e motivationdimensions.
Fo r the aspirationdimension, paren t and te a ch er supportwe ee significant influences, as wellas su p port for womenworki ng. Age was a mediati ng fac to rinparent and teachersupp o r t. Parenta l supportwas a moreimpor t an t influenceon aspiration for the ninthgr a de st u de nt s and teache r support was more importa nt fo r the twelft hgrade studen ts. Formastery, males sc o r e dhigher andthe results were enhancedby independe ntandcompet itive va ri ables . In contrast, mastery for fe ma l e s was enha nced by mat hemat ics abili ty, int r i ns ic values , teacher supp ort and support fo r womenworking. Theca reerdimension was infl u e nced moreby Personal factorsthan Ba c kg r o und andEn~ ironmentfa ctors combined. Farmer stated "t h e med iati ngeffec t of pa r entand te a c he r supp ortonpe r s ona l var iab les sugge ststhatcha nging socializationexpe rie ncesathome andinsc hoo l will af fect a person 'scareer comm itme nt during the sc hool years"
(p. 385). In addi tion, homema k ing was themos t significant personalvariable for fe male s indicat ingthatlowhomemaking commi tment is relate dto highcareer commitme nt. Farmer fou nd that high home ma k i ng commitm enthadanegati ve effect on lo ng- r a ng e careermotivat ionfor femal es bu t no t for males. She suggested tha t , since both aspi r a t i on and mastery we r einf l uen c e d by per c e ived support fo r Women
ac worki ngand parentandte a c her support , chan gesinthe se factorsmay affe ct mal e and femaleachievement in the fut u re.
In a laterre v i e w of hermod e l and related re search . Fanner (1987) re affirmed tha t males an d re ee aeediffer in thepatternand typesof factors In!luencing the ir motivation. Inessenc e, "the effect ofparentand tea c h er suppo rtonmotivatio n is stronge r for women tha n for men"
(p. 5).
All thre e of theabove mode l s inco rp o ra t e both psychol og i c a l or personalsel f-conceptfactor saswell as"- social/environmentalperspective. Gottfredson (19 B1 1 believedthat jObs incompatiblewith gender sel f -c onc e pt are reject ed at a young age and thi s decisionisusually perna nent and reversedonlyunde r extreme circumstances . Farmer (198 5 )andAstin(1984) appeartohave developed more optimisticapproaches tha n Gottfredsonin te rms offemales enteringno nt r a d itional occupations. Theirmod els provide mor e hope that changing social trendsmay serveto enc oura ge femal estomo r e readilyconsider se x atyp icaloccupa tionsin th e fut u r e . Fa rme r in par t iCUlarst ressedthatparent and te a chersuppor t may be key facto rsin the care e r developme nt of women and cha ng e s in these factors ma yhave a si g nif ica nt influenc e on fe mal es' caree rmotivation.
21 Wnllieant othersin General
The study of thein fl ue nc eof otherson females' cho i c e s ha sus uall y beenconcentratedon threemaingroups : family (especially pa rents), peers andschoolpersonnel . The support of these significantothers, espec i al l ythatof paren ts ,in terms of femalesI decisionsto ente r non t r aditi on a l occupationsha s been of particularinte res t to researchers. Encouragement or discourageme ntfrompeople whose opin ions and attitudesarevie wed as important may influe nce females a great deal, especiallyin te rm s of co nsid e r ing sex atypical occupa tio ns.
Womenwere more1ike ly to be inte res tedin hig h- pres tige, mal e -domina tedoccupations ifthey perceivedthat this care e r choicewould elicita degree of approval from ot hers (Bridgesand Bower, 1965). Women enter i ng nontraditional (medical anddental) careers pe r c e i ved most significant othe r s (parentsandmale friends) as mo re fa vo r a b l y orientedtoward sucha care e r choice tha n didthe respcmdents in moretr a d itio nal (nu rsi ngand medical rehab ilitation ) fields of st ud y (Trigg andPerlma n, 197 6 ). StUdentsin nont r a d it i on a l vocational pr og ramsconsis te ntly indica tedthat their families, friends andschoo l acquaintanceswere supportive and encouragi ngof thei r decision to enroll ina ma le- domina ted pr ogram. The deg r ee of supp ort was significantlyhi gherthanthestiuden t.s in traditional pr og r a ms wouldha v e ex pe ctedif the yhad chosen
22 a similaratypicalcar eerpath (Houser" Garvey, 1983).
The results of a stud yof 87femal e phy s i c i ans (Hei n s et alo, 1982) showed that they regardedfa mily infl uence and enc o ur a ge me nt fromot he rsas importa ntmotivations to....ard the i r careers . The y were ccmpe r edto a samp leof 87 fe ma l e ne i gh bou r s who live don the same streets. compar i sons we re made on the basis of encouragement fromothersto pursue theircareers. The "otihar-s "includedparents and husba nds, as well as non-familymembers (friends and high school or college teecnersj• The female physiciansrepor t e d more support thandid their fe mal e neighbours wi thand wi t ho ut specified career goals. Although both grou ps repo rted similarlevelsof familysupport, thephys i c i an s reporte d hi g her leve lsof support from people outside the fa mily (friendsand teachers). The authors statedtha t ex tra - family suppor t provides a frameworkon whi c h to base improvementsand inn ova tionsin career cou nselli ng for women. Pare ntal socioeconomicstatusand supports are usu a lly fixed but the community, especially the schools, provide external supports.
Hous erand Garvey (1985) administered que s t i on na i r e s to fe ma l e stude ntsenrolledin vocational tr ai ni ng pro g r a ms in seconda ry sc hools , re gi o na l occupational cente rs and community co ll eg e s. They concl uded tha t the amo unt of discour agementa female student rec e i ve s fro m her peers and teac he r s/c ouns ell o r s is relate dto whethe r she decide sto
23 act ual l y enroll in anontrad it i o na l course. The amount ot influ e nceexertedby educational personnelonfemale students ' vocational dec isionsmay be veryconsiderab l e.
The above studiessu pport the id e a thatsignifican t othe rs inside and ou tside the family havean inf lue nc e on fema les' decisions to en te r non t r ad i t i o na l occupatio ns.
Hawl e y (19 71 ) suggestedtha t suppo rtfrommale s in par t i c ul a r mayhave a special influenceon female s' career decisions. Homemake rsand thosein traditional oc cu pa t i ons te nde d to believetha t maleshad stereotypical vi e ws of what was ap propriatefemale be ha v i o r. Females innont rad i t i ona l occupationsdi dnot tend to evaluatetheatti tudesof th e sig nificant ma les intheir lives as ste r eo typi c a l. Hawle y concludedtha t the careers wome nchooseand their perce p tionsof men's views ofthefe minineide alare re l at ed. Womenmay bein flu e nc e d bywhat theybeliev e men thi nk.is appropria tefemalebehav ior. Ina lat er study, Hawley (1972 ) found additio na l supp ort forthehyp othe sis tha t wo me nchoos e careers whichare consis tentwit hthe i r own judge men t of the model of fe mi ni nity heldbythe significantmenin theirlives. Nontraditiona ls (coll e ge mathematics/science majors) indicated thattheimport an t men intheir livesfelt thatawomancouldhave a ca r eerwi t hout it jeopard iz ingher marriage, fa mily orfe min i nity. Onthe ather han d, the tra d itiona l st uden ts (teaching maj ors ) thought menfeltthatonlycer ta i n rol e swereappropr iate
24 for women.
The spec i a l infl ue nc e of malescan alsoextend to teachersaswell as parentsor spouses. Fe mal e seni o r hi gh school studentsinNewfoundlandcit e d pare ntsandtea ch ers as the mo s t imp ort a nt influe nceson their career inte rests (Beak. &Boak, 19 89 ). Bothfemaleandmale te a ch e r s were listed as majorinfluences on thei r careerinte res ts but male teachers were indicated more often. Schoolguidance counsellorswereci t e d less often but the authorsattribute d this to the factth a t studentsinmany rural communitiesha d
"l i t t l e, if any,op p o r t u ni t y to meet witha cou nse l lo r "
(p.43 ).
Lemkau (1983) also suggestedthatmalesmay havea special influenceon the care e r decis ionsoffema les. Sh e stud iedwomen (50years ol d andunder) who had maste r's degrees and worked in their fields for at Le a s -a 20hours a week. Seventy-onewomen were in traditio nal pr of e s s i on s (over75 % femaleparticipa tion).one of whichwas elementary te ac h i ng . Sixty-fourwere inatypical pro f ess i ons (mor e tha n 75%male participation). She found that wome n in traditionalprofessionswere more likelyto rep o rt the positive infl ue nc e of otherwomenon thei r care e r cho i c e s , part icularlypersonsout s ide the immediatefamily (non pa re ntal relativesand te a ch ers ). Women in atyp i cal professionsmore fr e q ue ntl y ment ioned thepo s it ive in fl uence of men- - theirfathers,boyfrie nds, hu s ba nd s andma le
25 teachers. Mal es appe a r to be an impor tant sourceot encouragement totemalescons i de ring nontraditi onalcareers. Lemkau concludedth<!lt males' views of women and the model of femininitytha t they consciouslyor unconscious lyimpa r t to femalesmay help shape attitudes affectingimportantcareer decisi ons.
Su p po r t from thesig nifica n t othersintheir lives appears tobe an importantin f l u e nc e in females' career choices,especiallyin terms of decisions to enter nontraditionaloccupa t ions. The resultsof thesest udie s indicatethat the attitudesof significantmales inWOmen's li vesmay be of primar yimportance. Females who entered nontrad itionaloccupationsoftencited the acceptanceand encouragementbymales asaninfl ue nt ial factor .
students' Attit.udes and perceptions
In assessing the infl uenceofsi g n if i c ant others on students ' attitudes, it is importantto examine research which mayshed light onthe perceptions of young people which may be inhibiti ngtothe development of femalesI
ca r e e r aspirations. A femalestudent who perceives a lack ofsuppo r t for nontraditional careergoals ,especia lly from her peers, ma y be influenced to choose a more sextyp i c al occupation. The need for analyzing the attitudes of educators to wa r d women's career roles is based on the premisethat theyhave aninfluenceon st ud e nt s' attitUdes
26 towardth e ms elve s ant! ot hers.
Manystudieshaveinvestigated the occ up a t iona l sex- rolestereotypesof schoolchildren (Bens o n &Vincent, 1980 ;
Frost &Diamond. 19 7 9 ;Hu g h e s et; al., 19 8 5; Janma n, 198 9 ;
Lifschitz, 19 8 3 ; Mason&Kahle, 1988; O' Kee fe&Hy d e , 19 8 3: Robison-Awana, Kehle&Je ns on , 198G: Teglasi,19 81: Ums tot , 19 8 0: Weeks&Porter, 19 B) ) and college stUden ts (Bayer, 19 7 5 : Beereet al. , 1984; Etaugh&Riley, 19 8 3; Etau g h&
Spa n di ko w, 1981; Etaugh &Spiller, 1989:Etaugh &-stUdy, 1989: Helmreich, Spence &Gibson, 19 8 2;strange& Re a , 198 3 : Tip ton , 197 6 ). In a review of literat u re, We ek s andPorter (19 8 3 ) statedthat sex-rolest e r e oty p e s Obvious lyexist in Amer i c a n ch i ldrenIs attitudesbut the sources of those beliefs and ways to prevent or change them arenot clear.
In an effort to examine Canadianch il d re n 'spercept ions aboutth e worldof work, La bou r canada (1986) commissioneda stUdy of the career aspirations and expecta tio ns of students.The find ing s of the re po r t confi rmed the perves Iveneee of sex-role stereoty pi ng incana dia n soc i ety.
Gender was the most signlficant variable in determinin g child re n 'scareerexpectations. Equa l ly disturbi ng wereth e unrealistic pe r c e pt i ons about future employment. Girls we r e preoccupiedwithmarria g e andieother-hoodan dassu med that a husb a nd wo uld pr ov i d e for the family. They di d no t seem to consid e r the possibilityof having to work to suppo rt the ms elv e sand thei rch ildre n.
27 Ina st ud yspo nsored bythe Secretary of state (1986).
re sea rche r s set out toassess perceptions of voca tional opportuni tiesheld byadolescent fe male s in Newf ound l a nd andto discover bel iefsand misperceptions they mig ht hav e abo u t theirab il i tie s and limita tions. The res ultswe r e similar to those of thepreviousstudy (Labo ur Can ad a,1 98 6 ) intha t yo ung femalesI perc ep tion s about their futu re roles inthe world of work were unrealistic. The y seemed unprepared to deal with the implicationsof economic re alitie s in the adul tworld.
Th e purpo s e ofth e studyof Karnesand O'I lia (1989) ...asto investigatesex role stereot ypingof leadershiproles by inte llectua llygiftedecueenee. Thesamp leconsistedof 49 boysand 48 girls ingrades four through six. When presented wi t h a list of 34 le ad ershippositions, th e studentsind ica tedwhet he r-men, womenorei t he r sex coul d hol dthat position. The resultssuggested thattheboys had more tra d i t i o na l sexrol e stereotypesthan the gir l s. In con tras t, the femalestude ntsperceivedmost ofthe lea d ersh ippo s it i o ns as suitable foreit hersex.
Ha ri ng and Beyard -Ty l e r (1984 )stud ied the attitud es of 138 seventh-graderstowardnontrad i tional occupa tio ns for womenand the females who enterthem. The authors sta t ed thatone barrierto females explor ingandselecti ng nontradi t ionaloccupa tions ha sbe en theatti t ud esofthe studentpo pu l at i on towardthos e occupat ions and, perh aps
28 more important ly, toward thepeoplewho choosethem. You ng pe op l e not only ha dnegat ive attitudes towar d pe o p lein no ntra d it i on a l occupati ons but werelikelytohi d e those at titudes. They suggested tha t schoo l cou nsell ors mus t deal no t onlywith rest ric te dchoices of fema l es , but alsowith peer pressure against broadeningthe i r options to inc lude no nt r a di t i o na l occupations.
Pfostand Fiare (1990) testedthehypo t hesis tha t
"i nt erpe r s on al conseque ncesofdeviatio n fromcult ural ly pr e s c r ibe d sex roles re s tr i c t women'sachievement in traditionallymasculinefields " (p. 16 ). They assessed the attitudesof 165 femaleand13 0 malecollegeund erg radua t e s toward studentswhowe r e describedasha v ing made various occupationa l choicesand havingdifferent le ve lsofac ad e mi c performance. Women describedaspur s u i ngma s c ul ine oc c upa t i ons , regardless of academic performance, were rated by menas least desirableromanticpar tne rs. Female subjec ts he l d similar attitudes inregard to the de s i r abi l ity ofthe s eno ntrad i t i on al womenasroman t i c partners for males. In addition, the s e womenwere chose n le a s t ofte n by femaleSUbjectsas same-sex friends . In ge ne r al , the resurt;s of the stUdy led PfostandFior e to conclude tha t womenwho pursuenontradi tio na l careers may suffer ne gat i v e social consequences by not be ing viewedas desirableromantic par t nersor fr i e nd s . Theysuggested that anticipated negative responsesto no ntradi tiona l ach i e veme nt
29 maypr ompt womento avoid opportuni ties for fu lfil l ment ina gend er atypical career.
Stude nts ' perceptions ofthe differe nces between the sexesma yincl udejudqe me ntie that fe mal e sare inferi orin someways. Robison-Awa na et at. (1986) inves t igated adolescent self -esteemand the sex-ro le pe r c e pt i on s of 71 boys and69 girls in the seventh grade. Theboy s not only ratedthemse lveshigher inself -esteem th a n did girls but alsoat t r i bu t e d significantlylower levelsof salt-esteemto the females. Sen iorhighschool studentsratedmale and femalecharactersin traditionaland no ntradit i onal occupa tionsin a stUdy by Lits chit z (198 3). The researcher concl ude d tha t occupational ste reotypeswe remorepr e v alent tha nsex-ro lestereo types. Characte rswere eval uat ed ona number of persona lity tr a i t s but the rating s of stude nts werere l ate d more to theperceived characte risticsof people incertai noccupations than the genderof the jobhol de r . The aut horstated, however , tha t the dat aind icatedwomen were rated asle ss ambitious and less inte lligent than thei r male counte r pa r t s.
Otherstudi es indica tedthatsex- ro le confli ctma y be animportan t fa c t o r infemales'career aspiratio ns. Concer ns about combini ng family and work rol e s in parti c ular appearto have an influencein the highschool and col l ege yea rs. Ina stUdy of femalestude nts' attitUde s toward sex ralesand mathematics (Sherman, 1982)I ninth- g r a degirls who
30 later took advancedmathematics courses showedevidence of sex-roleco n f l ict. The r e was conflict between female rol e requirementsand achievementin trad! tionalmale areas.
Alth,oughambitious in occupational and family plans, they thought that a mother'splace was in the home. Theywere ambivalent about being smart and, because of theirhigh intellectualability, were ill at ease with boys. Man y girl s structure theirlives on thepr e mi s e that males vie w the female'suseof her intelligencewithdistaste (Matthews
&Tiedeman, 1964).
Substantialnumber s of brig htand evengiftedyoung wamen are consci ou s ly choos ing careerswel l be Low their levelof ability. Patterson (197 3) statedthat this isth e result of the socializationprocess in this culturer-a ther- thana freeand informed choic e on the part ofthe individual. He emphasizedtha t it is importantfor counsellors to developmodern programsand practicesthat ca n assistgirls inma ki ng plans consistent withtoday'sand tomorrowIS ....or l d. He found, however,that theadolescent girl herself may be the most import a nt limitation on effectivecounsel ling. In a sense, "such girlsarevict i ms of a cul tural la g , where home and school ha ve conditioned them to accept a rolede fi ni t i o n that is no lo nge rvali d"
(Patterson, 1973, p , 270). The aut horemphasized that the cul t u r a l expe cta t i o ns of the domesticrole,as wel l as the physiologica l fact ofchild be a ri ng , impose greatlimitations
31 on thevoca ti o na l rol e. McLure and Piel (1978) reported thatone of the ma j o r barriers inhibitinghigh school female students frompursuingcareersin scienceand technology was their doubtsabout combiningfamily responsibiliti eswit h career demand s .
A studyof the attitudesof 36J wome n en rolledin agricultural progra ms and 612 womenenrolledinhome economics was conductedbyLysonand Brown (1982). They foun dtha t the attitudesofthes e collegest udent s toward social an d economicequali t y were hig hly en do rs e d bywomen in bot h tr ad i ti on a l (home eco nomics) endnont ra d i tiona l (agriCUltural) progra ms. Attitudestoward work andfamily
"'atter s , however ,were less egalitarian . The cons istently lowe r levelsof approval for womenwo r k ing while the yhave childrenat home indic ate stha t there are still contradi c t i o ns betweenthe role ofmot he r and worker for wom.e n in both traditi onaland nontradit ionalfiel d s. These resultssuggest that college voeenma y be more inc l i ne d to agree with sexual equalityin principlethaninprac tic e in the ir own li ves.
DiBen edettoand Tit tl e (1990 ) re s e archedthe prefer encesof 118 underg ra d ua t ecollege stU dent s (87 fe mal e and31 mal e ) for commit ment to workor to fa.mily. They develope dtheirst ud yin thecontext of alife-patterns or life- ro l e perspectivewhic h "indi c ate s a re c ogn itionth at ca r eer and work cannotbe unde rs toodinde pe nde nt l y of the i r
32 relationships to theccner major adult roles of women "
(p.41). Us i ng Job-C hildTrade-off and Invo lvementLevel dimensions. the researchers found th a t femalesinthe sampl e te nde dto view pre fe re ncesfor job commitment and chi l d r en in terms of a trade-of f. Theyviewedthe i r cho i c e s in te rm s of a preferencefor greateror lesser involvement in both parenti ngand work-roleareas simultaneous l y . The males in the sample viewed females' work and parentingroles inthe same manner. Mente nde d to view their choices interms of pa re ntingand work-rolesas independentof each othe r.
Trade-offsor dIfferent levels of involve ment were not invol vedto any great degree. Females viewed themale's pers pe c t i ve in a similar way andte nde d notto seemen as having to make the same choices that theythemselves feel they mus t make. The dual-ro leconflictappearedto be re garde d as a realityin the li ve s of females but no t of males.
Apr odu ct of females 'sex- ro l esocializationtoward ch o ho me and traditio na l vocatio ns has bee nlow expec t a t i on s amongwomen thatthey can perform some of the tasks and behave insome of theways requiredby nontraditiona l occupations. In a stUdy of COlleg e stUdents , Betz and Ha cket t (1986) found thatmales' oc c upa t i o na l self -efficacy was equi valen t for bo t h male -domi nated and fema le - dominated occupations. Females scored higherthan males in oc c upa t ional self-efficacy for tr ad i t i onally fema le
33
occupa t ionsbutscored lower for male-domi natedjo bs. From thi s study it appearsthat sex-stereoty p i ngmay res ult in femal esbelievi ngtha t women are not as capableas menin performing jobs thatare tradi tio nal lymale.
Internalizationofth e s eat ti tu d e s woul d ha v e a strong l y inh ibitingeffect on femalestudents' careerchoices.
Fe mal e s mayno t expect to succeedin nont radi tio na l occupationsand subsequently will not be att rac ted tothe m (Brooks and Betz, 1990). A studywas conducted to "e xa mi ne the ut ilityof Vroom's (1964) expectancymodel inpr e d i cting theperceivedcareeroptionsof coll egestuden ts " (p. 58). The sample consistedof 188 und erg r ad u a t e studen ts (7 8male and 110 female). The y measuredt.he stude nts' expe ctanc ies of successin and attractivenesstoward twelve occupations.
six occupati o ns were traditionallymale-domina tedand six weretraditionally female-dominated (basedon whe ther66\ or more of the jo b holdersin eachoccupationwere maleor female, respective ly). They fo u nd a lackof ge nd e r di f fere nc e s in work values . The r e werege nd erdiff eren c e s, howeve r, in expectancies of success, valenc e (o r
att ractivenesstoward) and likelihoodofcho i ce inreg ard to mal e-d omina t e d and female-domina tedoccupations. Sco resof maleson all thr e e variableswer esignif i cant ly higher on the maj orityofthe male-domina ted oc cu pation s. Femal e s , in contrast, scored significant lyhigher onthe th reevaria bles on the ma j o r ity ofth e female-dominatedocc upa tio ns. Bro oks
34 and aeeasuggested that"a n objective assessment ofthe extent to which an occupa tionmeets one'swork values ma y not be relevant to the prefe rencefor the jobwh e n that job is stereotypicofth e othersex" (p. 63). They belie ved tha t th e i r re s u l t s supportedGottfredso n 's (1981) sug g e st ion that young pe o pl e mayre j e c t occupations nontraditional for the i r sex andnotcons i d e r the m afterwardi fthe y fa ilto coincidewiththeir values or interests. The yalso suggested tha t the expectancy model maypr ov ideways of ident ifyi ngperceivedbarriersto conside rationof a broa d ran ge of careerchoices (for example, unr ea li st i c all ylow expec ta ncies) .
The studiesofBr o o k s and Betz (1990), DiBenede t t o and Tittle (1990), Pf os t and Fiore (1990 ), Betz andHacket t
(1986) and Sherman(1982) provide insights into fe mal e s' sex-roleconflictsand ne ga t i v e self -conce pts that are similar to the findings ofearl ier st ud i e s (Ma tthews &
Tiedema n, 1964 ;Mc Lur e& Plel , 197 8 ~ Patte r s on , 1973). The ce ntra l the me emphasized bythe aboveaut horsis tha t the ste reotypicalatti tudesof stude nts towa rd the ms elve s and othersappearto have an inhib i tingeffect in te r ms of educat iona land career aspirations.
CounsellorsandTeaohers
The overwhe lming ma jority of stud ies done in this area ha sund ersta nda bl y conce nt ra t ed on the at tit udesofhigh
35 school guida nc ecounsel lorswho havebeen directl y resp on s ibl e for careercouns ellingwithst ude nts(Ahrons, 19 7 6 ; Bin gh a m&Hous e, 1973; Donahue&Costar, 197 7 ; Engel hard, Jon e s &Stiggins, 19 7 6; Thomas&Stewa r t ,197 1 ). Teachers have not receivedas much attent ion in thi sarea. Assessment of the ir attit u desis usua lly reported in co njunctio nwiththat of cou nse l lors (Baurn, 198 9 ) orthe morebr o ad l y definedgrou pof significantoth ers (Le mk a u , 19 8 3:Houser &Garvey, 1985).
One studythat differe nti ated be t we en the at t i t ude s of te a ch e r s and guidancecounsellorswas conduc tedby Tetenbaum, Lighter andTravis (1981). The i r sample cons ist e dof 411 edu cators (269 femal esand 142male s ) . The yfou nd tha t guidan c e counsel lors and schoo l psyc hol og i st s had morepositiveattitudes towardworking mo t he rs than eit he r teac hers or administra to rs. In a review of lite r at ure , they concl ude d tha t sc hoo ls "arenot tr an smi ttingre a li s t i c role expecta t i on s " (p. 370) for fe ma l e stude nts and "re s e a r ch ersha ve notgivensu f f i cien t at t ention to educators' atti tudestoward work i ng wome nand to sex role pe r c e pt i o ns inge ne r al" (p, 374 ) .
Ha r ing and Beyard-Tyler (198 4) reviewed lite raturethat ind i cate d a pessimisticviewofthe schoo l counsel l o r' s role in fa c il i t ati ngnontra d iti on a l caree r s for wome n. They conclude d that the r e maybe a curr e nt tren d awa y from job sex-ty ping by couns e llo rs. Fox and Ric hmo nd (1979 ),
ao howeve r,stro ng l ysuggested that professionals examinetheir ownattitudes. Theystated tha t couns e ll o rs canno t ex po se stereo ty pesthey themselves acce ptandca n hard l y serve asa positive in flu e nc e if they bring harmfulbi a s tothe counsellingsetting. Some counsellorsdonotre ma in in touchwith current literatureand recentdev elopments in the wo r l d of work and"a ppe a r to be caug ht in a timewarp, assuming tha t everything is as it was" (Herr&Cra me r , 1988, p , 15 9 ).
Some studies suggested that counsellors hold the traditionalsex-rolest e r eo t y pe that deva l uescareer aspirations for wome n. Thomasan d ste wart (197 1) ha d 62 schoo l counse llors (18 femalesand 44 males) listen to tap e s of girlstalkingabo utthemselves in aninterview sett ing and the n ra t e themona number of dime nsions. The counsellors te nde dto eva luateconformi ng (trad i tiona l career) vocationa l planni ngas more positive than "deviant"
(pion eercareer) vocational talk. Counsellors pe.t-ceLve dthe gi r lswith«c e v t ent.« plansas morein needof counse l li ng than girlswith conformingplans. As might be expected , fe ma le counse l lorsweremoreaccepti ngof so -ca lled de v i a nt as wel l as conforming fe ma l e clientstha n ma l e counse l lo rs. Ahrons (1976) suggestedthat counsellors expe c t women to experienceconfl ict in vocational cho ices that men do not exper i e nc e. Counsel lorsmayperc e i vetheca reer role for womenas isol a t e d from,or incompatib l ewit h , ot her fema le
37 ro l e s (wife and mother) . One serious impl i c at i o n of these findings, as Ahra nsnoted, is that counsel lorsmay reflect the s e values in their counselling with gir lsandwomen.
This would help to perpetuatethe already seve rely restrictedvocational outlook that most girlshave. There is the possibility of stifling or discour agi ng, albeit unconsciously, young women'stenuouslyhel dnontraditiona l ideas and aspirations.
Donahueand Costar (1977) conducteda stUdy in which 300counsetr oz-swere instructed to selectanappropria te occupation for case study SUbjects. The numbe r of female counsellors was slight ly le s s than hal fof the tota l sample.
When the case study described a female, counsel lorschose occupationsthat paid less, required le s s prerequisite educationand were morecloselysupervised than whenthe same case study describeda male. The dataindicated that even though counsellorssometimes chose occupa tionsfor females that required formaleducation,theyseldom chos e a careertha t paid ahi gh salary or was supervisory innature.
This suggeststhat it was viewed as sociallyacceptablefor womento have an education, aslo ng as they stayed ina dependent, supervised role.
School counsellors, especial ly the males,may oft en rateoccupations as inappropriate for women(Medvene lie Colli ns, 197 6 ) . They thoughttha t nontradi tiona l hiqh - status occupations may be sui ta bl e for womenbut bl ue-col lar
3.
jobs suchas plumber or truckdri verwere inapp r opriate. I t appeared that counsellorsjudge d occupa t i o ns whichrequire somedegreeof physica lst re ngthasles sappropr iatefor women tha n otheroccupa tions. These findings are impo r ta nt bec a u s e school counsellors were the group inthe study tha t ha dthe mostco ntac t wi t hand influ en c e upo n hig h schoo l females .
Ma l e counsellors in generalmayhav e more conservat i ve , traditiona latti tudesthanfe mal e counse llors toward women' s increas i ngparticipation in the world of pa i d empl oyment (Engel h a r d et al.,197 6 ). It may be th a t some ma le cou nsel lorsharbour neqative attitudes toward wome n 's increasi ng inv olvementin the workp lace . Ma l e couns e ll o rs maybe le s s accurately info rmed thantheir fe mal e counte rpartsand may hold misconceptionsabou t the discrepancy betweenmen'sandwomen's incomesand employment oppo rtunities for women. They may tendto believetha t women are lessabl etha n menand ar e unabletoperform job s tr adit i o na lly heldby males (Bingham&Hous e , 1973 ) . Both femaleandmale counsellors,however, hav e exhibi ted si g nifica nt changesinatti tude in a more ega li t ari a n direct ionand "na r r ow, unnecessarily re str i ctiv e sex -role definit ionsarenolon g e rcons idered app ro pri a teby either male or femalegu i da nc e counsellors " (Engelha r det al. , 1976 ,p , 371).
The role of the couns e llor is ofparticula r importance
39 given the highva l u e that senior highfemalestudents place on talking with counsellorsand job-related talksby teachers. Teachers or counsellorsmay discouragefemales from a non-traditional career goal, encou ragethem toward a traditional goal or imply that some jobs wereformenand others for women (Rohfeld, 1977). Female students may feel they do not receive as much support from te a c he r s as male students and may feel teachers blame the academic failure of older female students on their individual capabilities and la c k: of personal responsibility (Secre taryof State, 198 6 ).
Itmay be thecase that counsellors either do nothav e ad e qua t e information aboutwomen in nontraditional occupations or their own biases regarding women'sroles directlylimit the information they offer during counselling. Counsellorstend todiscuss job opportunities and salaries significantlymore with studentschoosing a traditional careertha n withstudentsselectinga nontraditionalcareer, as well asth e po t e nt i a l for get ting a job,jcb statusand opportu nitiesfor advancement (Sauter et al., 1980).
In a review of related literature, Fitzgera ldand crites (1980) not e d that lithe radical and rapid restructuringof women'ssocietal roleha sof t en far outstripped the necessary revision in corresponding attitudesand expectations... Like other members of society,members of the counsel lingprofession aresubject
40 toth i s cul tural lag ..."(p. 44). Theyst ressed thatany co unsel lor workingwithwomenmust activelyattempt toal t e r his/he rat titudesand biasesregardin g th e female rol e , as wel l as to masterthe more cognit ive aspects of the new careerpsychologyof women , The most stri ki ng compone nt of career planning in modern society isth e incre a s ing signi fi- cance of scienceanJ te c hno l og y in thewo r k worl d. It is veryimporta ntthat young peoplebe pre pare d forchange s createdby teChnological innovation (ScienceCou ncilof Canada, 1981). Counsellorsand teache rssho u ldbe aware of thecritical need of female studentsto acq uirema t h ematica l and scientificskills in orderto avail of increasingcaree r opport un i ties in science and te c hn o l og y areas.
AlthoughSmith(19 79) que s tio ne d whe the rsexbias in counsellinghad been adequatelyproven in research , the resul ts of thestudies reviewedsuggest otherwise. st ud ies of attitudesofte a che r sand school couns e llors,as well as theper cept i o ns of those atti t udesby seud enee,ha v e suggestedthat sexbiasmay beafa c t o r inthe career guidanceprocess insome sc hools .
AttitUdesToward Science and Mathematics
Sco tt (1981 ) reportedtha t, in Canada, conside r ab l y fewer gir ls than boys were stUdy i ng senior phys icsand mathematics inhi g h school. Dif fer e ncesinfemaleandmale parti c ipa ti on inscient ific ar e a s ofstudy are notexpla i ne d
41 by intellectual abilities(Kimba ll , 19B1). Research e rs ha v e conductedstudies to provide informat ionabout the origins of the s e diffe rencesbe twe en fe mal e s andma l es andtoassess the impact on fe mal es ' care e r decisions (Baum, 19 8 9 ~ seca&
Hac k e t t , 19831 Fitz patrick&.silverma n, 19 89;Ha nd l e y ' Hickson. 1978; Hol l i nger, 19 8 3, 198 5;McLure &Piel, 1978 ; POGt-!(ammer&Smith. 1986; Sherman, 19 8 2 , 19 8 3 ).
Fitzpatrickand Silverman (1989) compared studen ts in nontraditiona l (engineeri ngand scie nce)and tra di t iona l (humanit iesand social sciences) programs ina sampleof113 hi gh - a ch i e v ing coll ege females. Theyfo u nd th at science majorsweremore likely tore po r t the strongpositive inf l ue nc e of highschool tea c he r s.
In a stud yof 101 7 talentedfemalehigh schoo l studen ts ,McLureand piel (1978) stressedthe importa nc e that those 9Lr-Ls attac hed to encouragement fromot he rs , inclUdingschoo l personne L A signi fi c a nt numbe r of the s e girlsreport e d tha t ne i t hertea ch ers norguida nc e counsellorshad favorable attitudesto ward girlsente r i ng science/tech no logycareers. La ck of encou rageme nt from school pe r s onn e l wasperceived asamajo r ba"'ri erto their purs uingcareers in scient ificareas.
Sherma n (1982) conducted research on the atti tUdesof 84 females in senior highschoo l. She fo un d that mostof the stude n tswho had discontinuedthest Udyof mathe mat i c s did so because of a lackof confidencein their abilitiesin
42
tha t sUbjectare a. In a later study. Sh e rman (1983) re-adm l nis teredthe Fennema-Sherman Mathemati c s Att itude s Sca les II to a groupof 87 seniorhi g hgirl swh ohad previously bee n tested in gradenine . Thirty- t woperc ent of thestudentsrepor ted tha t teachers ha dd Lacour-e qed them from studyingadvancedmathemat icscourses. The auth o r concluded fr om the resul tstha t there is anetwo r k of sex- role infl ue nc e s which makes mathematics, andthecar e e r s in which mathematicsis needed, appear incong rue n t wit hthe femalerole.
Mathematics self-efficacyexpectations of coll ege females are consistentlyand significant lyweak erthantho s e of their malepeers. This may con t ri bu te to an exp lanat ion and understand i ng of thecontinued unde r -re presentation of women in science-basedoccupations. The lo w sear-e rrfcacy expectationsand consequentavoidance of ma t h- r e late d cours e wor kprerequisite tomajorsand careersin thescienc esare particu larly chara cte r i st i c offe male s (Betz&Ha ck ett, 198 3 ). BetzandHa c kett (1986) discovered that fema les ' self -ef fic acy expecta ncieswere equal to males' whe n the tasks involvedstereotypically femaleact ivi ties (e g.
calculati ngagro c e r y billin one's head ). Thissup po rts the hy po thes isof sex-role influe-nc e s onself-estima t esof efficacy. Theau t ho rssuggested tha t femal est udents may ha ve be ensocializedto believ ethat mathema t icsis a subject;thatis moreap propriate for males . Womenmay
43 be li e ve that members ofthe i r sex maynot beas capab leas menin th i s area.
The encouragementbymales in particu larmay help fe mal e s overcome barriersto entering nont radi t ional occupations in the mathematicsand science fi elds . Mal e s te nd to be influential in fosteringthe ca reer de vel opment of wo me n inthe fields of engineering, phy s ical science, accounti ng , economics andcompu terscience. In contrast, femaleswho chose a more tradit ionalfield in mat hematics (teachi ng) stated thatwomenweremore infl uent ia l in the developmentof theirinte rest in that eub je cb area (Handley
&Hickson, 197 8 ).
Hill , Pettus and Hedin (1990)suggested tha t attitudes of females towa r d scienceappear to undergoa negative changewhichmay begin before the highschool years.
Dif f ere nc e s in the pursuitof science caree rsbasedon genderwere primaril y based on la c k of inte rest in these careers on thepa rt of gi rls by thetime they rea ch mi ddle schoo l. Hil l , pettusand Hedin thoug ht that sometypeof socialization factorswere at workWhich di s c our a gedgirl s from sc ienceat that stageofthei r lives.
Female stude nts' interest inscience ma y begin to decli ne inelementaryschool (Klein , 1989). Ina review of literat u re pe r t aining to scie nc eeduc a tion fo rfe ma l e s , Klei nco ncl ude d tha t "a f t e r thefourt hgra de , gir l s ar e less li kel ytha n boys to have an interest inscience, to electa
