ERIC Number: ED530648
Record Type: Non-Journal
Publication Date: 2012-Mar
Pages: 4
Abstractor: ERIC
ISBN: N/A
ISSN: N/A
EISSN: N/A
What Kinds of Careers Do Boys and Girls Expect for Themselves? PISA in Focus. No. 14
OECD Publishing (NJ1)
When you think of someone who is an engineer, do you imagine a man or a woman wearing a hardhat? How about when you imagine a teacher standing in front of a class of schoolchildren? If you answer "a man" to the first question, and "a woman" to the second, there's probably a reason. And the reason is simply that more men than women pursue careers in fields such as science, technology, engineering and mathematics, while women are over-represented in the humanities and medical sciences. This type of gender segregation in the labour market is still prevalent in many countries. But will it continue? Girls now do as well as, and often better than, boys in most core school subjects; and proficiency in a subject influences 15-year-olds' thinking about the kind of career they want to pursue. Or does it? This report shows that on average, girls are 11 percentage points more likely than boys to expect to work as legislators, senior officials, managers and professionals. Only 5% of girls in OECD countries, on average, expect a career in engineering and computing, while 18% of boys expect a career in these fields. In every OECD country, more girls than boys expect a career in health and medicine.
Descriptors: Careers, Females, Labor Market, Engineering, Foreign Countries, Gender Differences, Humanities, Males, Career Planning, Occupational Aspiration, Cross Cultural Studies, Cultural Differences, Expectation, Computer Science, Medicine, Allied Health Occupations
OECD Publishing. 2, rue Andre Pascal, F-75775 Paris Cedex 16, France. Tel: +33-145-24-8200; Fax: +33-145-24-8500; Web site: http://www.oecd.org
Publication Type: Numerical/Quantitative Data; Reports - Evaluative
Education Level: N/A
Audience: Practitioners; Policymakers
Language: English
Sponsor: N/A
Authoring Institution: Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development
Identifiers - Assessments and Surveys: Program for International Student Assessment
Grant or Contract Numbers: N/A