The Influence of Gender Role Stereotyping in the Family on the Career Choices of Children

Abstract

Abundant data on gender studies and the more mundane experiences of people - male and female alike, all attest to the assumption that leadership inequality is ever prevalent in our society today. In the quest for the roots of this undesirable reality, the researcher examines the role of the family in the perpetuation of stereotypes that consistently reinforce such inequality. The main problem, How does gender role stereotyping in the family influence the career choices of children?, aims to discern the reasons behind the decision-making of children with regard to their courses since these choices determine their eventual career paths in the future. Furthermore, by establishing whether gender role stereotyping in the family is manifested in the five participant families, the researcher is able to validate the assumption that such stereotyping has a bearing on crucial issues like career choices, which in the greater context, result in the leadership delegation of both men and women. Library research and interview schedules, as constituents of a qualitative study, are conducted by the researcher in order to ascertain how parents provide a venue for children to develop their own stereotypes, and how the children eventually manifest these stereotypes in deciding for their career paths. After tabulating the data and accomplishing the subsequent analysis, the researcher discovers some significant findings: 1) that gender role stereotyping is manifested by all participant families in terms of the behavior parents model, their beliefs and attitudes, and their treatment of children; 2) that gender role stereotyping is evident in the children’s perceptions and chore assignments; and 3) by virtue of the two initial findings, there is somehow an indirect relationship between gender role stereotyping and the career choices of children. This is apparent in the detailed description of the respective courses the children are currently taking up. Majority of the children have somewhat unconsciously chosen courses, which have career paths that are more or less incidentally stereotyped to their respective sexes. In conclusion, the researcher provides several recommendations for the family, for the field of organizational communication, and for gender studies as a whole, in its constant pursuit for equality.