OECD Education Working Papers

ISSN :
1993-9019 (online)
DOI :
10.1787/19939019
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This series is designed to make available to a wider readership selected studies drawing on the work of the OECD Directorate for Education. Authorship is usually collective, but principal writers are named. The papers are generally available only in their original language (English or French) with a short summary available in the other.
 

Gendered Career Expectations of Students

Perspectives from PISA 2006 You or your institution have access to this content

Authors:
Joanna Sikora1, Artur Pokropek2
Author Affiliations
  • 1: Australian National University, Australia

  • 2: Polish Academy of Science, Poland

Publication Date
17 Feb 2011
Bibliographic information
No.:
57
Pages
82
DOI
10.1787/5kghw6891gms-en

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This paper provides a comprehensive overview of adolescent career plans reported in PISA 2006. Its main focus is on the differences in the status and area of employment expected by girls and boys in high school. In almost all countries, girls lead boys in their interest in non-manual, high status professional occupations. This can be seen as a vertical dimension of gender segregation in occupational preferences. Students also differ by gender in selecting particular fields of employment within status categories. These differences make up the horizontal segregation of students' expectations and, in PISA 2006, are prominent in the gendered choices of specific subfields of science. Both the vertical and the horizontal dimensions must be considered to appreciate the cultural and institutional factors which promote and reinforce systematic divides in career choices of adolescent boys and girls.