Women are more attracted than men to prestigious jobs, which focus on social interaction or ideas

Career guidance and choice of profession can be different for each person, depending on many factors. Under the influence of these various factors, one can often notice gender inequality, in which men choose more (or are chosen more) than women for this or that profession. However, measuring these trends at the global level is complex, given the large differences in culture and per capita income. But a new international study reveals that women tend to prefer jobs that focus on social interaction, ideas and status more than men. However, this data is still very limited in that it only covers 42 countries, with participants generally from well-off backgrounds.

Many countries in the world are still governed by social norms and laws with a strong patriarchal tendency, always placing women below men in many areas. Despite efforts to reduce these inequalities, differences in consideration are sometimes so deeply rooted in mentalities that women’s emancipation is only developing very slowly throughout the world.

However, studies have shown that when it comes to numbers, women will have better academic results than men, and it makes sense that they would develop towards better career orientations as they get older. However, this is still far from the case, because only 43% of CEO positions are higher intellectual professions occupied by women in 2020 (in Europe). Although this number has doubled since the 1980s, it is still considered to this day that it is an achievement for a woman to reach a prestigious position. Moreover, women’s earnings are on average 22% less than men’s, and their pension is lower despite the fact that they retire more often than men.

The new study published in the journal Springer Link, showing that women are more likely than men to have a socially oriented job, while men are more likely to choose jobs in which machines or objects are used. This tendency is likely related to finding a job that “helps” or supports a particular idea or cause. On the other hand, women also prefer high positions, perhaps with the aim of liberation.

A study dating back to the 1990s showed in particular that vocational orientations can be classified according to three categories (“spherical model”): the first compares the reality of working with people (eg teaching, helping, caring, etc.) machines” and “tools”. The second is about working with ideas (creative professions) and with data (accounting, web development, etc.). The third focuses on prestige (the CEO’s status is high).

This model has made it possible to conduct many studies on gender parity in various occupational fields. Paradoxically, the most important differences (in terms of choosing a profession between men and women) concern the most economically developed countries and in which gender inequality is less significant.

However, most previous studies included only one country at a time, high-income countries per capita and individual communities. The new study, which was led by a team from Arizona State University (USA), can this time provide more clues about the factors that influence these differences in career choices between women and people around the world.

Differences are influenced by culture

As part of the new study, the researchers analyzed data from online surveys. 84,393 people from 193 different countries responded to the survey, but only countries with more than 30 male and female participants were retained by the researchers, i.e. 42 countries including 75,908 responses. The participants’ professional interest scores were assessed using the spherical model. Indicators of gender inequality for each country were also taken into account, according to cultural differences.

As mentioned earlier, women showed more interest in jobs with a social dimension, but the magnitude of this difference was not the same from one country to another, being greater in Venezuela than, for example, in Georgia. Women also preferred moving into idea-driven careers, with the exception of two countries: the Philippines and Poland. They were also most interested in prestige, with the exception of eight countries: Canada, Chile, France, Greece, Malaysia, Pakistan, South Korea, and Singapore.

These results show that in countries where gender inequality is higher, women choose more jobs in the social sphere. However, this difference tends to be affected more by the difference in culture. More specifically, the difference in occupational interest versus social orientation appears to be greater in countries where ‘uncertainty avoidance’ is higher.

Cultures with a high index of uncertainty avoidance are actually less tolerant of change, and tend to avoid anxiety-provoking situations by establishing strict social norms and laws. These societies tend to have more gender differences in mind, and you will give it a go More important for ambition than building human relationships. Moreover, the difference in idea- or data-oriented career choices is greater in countries where uncertainty avoidance is lower.

However, it must be borne in mind that this study is still relatively limited in the international context, insofar as only a few people participated in the survey in certain countries. In addition, the participants were generally from affluent backgrounds and had access to better education than most people in their countries.

source : Springer Link