AN EXAMINATION OF PSYCHOLOGICAL CHARACTERISTICS AND ENVIRONMENTAL INFLUENCES OF FEMALE COLLEGE STUDENTS WHO CHOOSE TRADITIONAL VERSUS NONTRADITIONAL ACADEMIC MAJORS

Abstract

In the last twenty years, the women’s movement has resulted in a greater representation of women in once male-dominated venues, such as the job force and higher education. Women currently represent nearly 43% of those in the United States labor market, and it is expected that four in every five women ages 25–54 will be employed by the year 2000 (Hoyt, 1988; U.S. Department of Labor, 1995). Despite women’s increasing participation in the world of work, they continue to choose occupations that represent the stereotypically feminine range of occupations, meaning less pay and less status (Betz & Fitzgerald, 1987). For example, women are still underrepresented in engineering, architecture, and the physical sciences (Eccles, 1994; U.S. Department of Labor Women’s Bureau, 1995). These gender-based occupational patterns are also evidenced in college enrollment; women continue to comprise the majority in academic majors that are considered traditionally feminine, such as early childhood, elementary, and secondary education, library science, nursing, and home economics, whereas men are the predominant majors in physics, chemistry, architecture, and engineering (Bartholomew & Schnorr, 1994; National Science Foundation, 1990).

Citation

Burgard, B.N. (2003), "AN EXAMINATION OF PSYCHOLOGICAL CHARACTERISTICS AND ENVIRONMENTAL INFLUENCES OF FEMALE COLLEGE STUDENTS WHO CHOOSE TRADITIONAL VERSUS NONTRADITIONAL ACADEMIC MAJORS", Advances in Library Administration and Organization (Advances in Library Administration and Organization, Vol. 20), Emerald Group Publishing Limited, Leeds, pp. 165-202. https://doi.org/10.1016/S0732-0671(02)20008-5