CHAPTER ONE
INTRODUCTION
1.1 Background to the Study
In our society today, students face a complex and rapidly changing society. It has
been reported that regardless of great effort put forth by families, government
agencies and non-government agencies, many young people encounter difficulties
in the transition from the world of school to that of work (Pilot & Regis, 2012).
Investigating and better understanding the myriad factors that contribute to career
choice is a topic of recurring interest in our schools today. To guide students in
their career decision making, gender difference plays a central role in this lifelong
process.
Gender of secondary school students seems to determine their choice of career.
Many still believe that boys are better at math, mechanics, and logical thinking and
expect boys to be engineers, doctors, and architects. Girls are expected to be better
at verbal skills, intuition and nurturing, so they are expected to be nurses, social
workers, or teachers. While all career choices should be equally respected and
valued, the fact is, traditional career choices for girls tend to cluster them in lower-
paying jobs (Parker, 2009).
Page 1
,Gender according to Oxford advanced learners dictionary 6th edition (2001) is the
fact of being male or female. The family is a social group to which a child is born
into and brought up with all necessary things including his native languages.
Traditionally, men were considered the breadwinners whilst women were the
homemakers. The man would go out to earn a living and provide all things material
for his family while the woman stayed at home looking after the children and
doing household chores. Today, the woman still maintains the primary
responsibility of homemaking. However, women are now pursuing professional
career paths and making it to the top of the corporate ladder. Browne (2007) said
that in America, the wide availability of contraception led to an increasing number
of women being available for employment. Additionally, equal opportunities that
have enabled women to have successful careers and still keep happy families.
Male and female career choices are normally different because of the difference in
their self-concepts. Researchers like Bem (1981) and Betz (1994) cited in
(AlMiskry, Bakar & Mohamed 2009) have identified the factors relevant to the
development of gender differences in vocational interest. They suggested that the
development of gender difference in vocational interests as well as vocational
choices is a result of multitudes of factors, some which are internally related, and
some environmentally related. These factors include culture, occupational
segregation, self-concepts, self-efficacy, and personality (AlMiskry et al. 2009).
Page 2
,On the supply-side, one explanation is the recognition that culture in which
individuals are embedded limits what these individuals deem possible or
appropriate, thereby shaping their preferences or choices of various careers. Correll
(2004) adds that cultural beliefs about gender accord men higher status in society
than women. These status beliefs can evoke gender differentiated standards for
attributing performance to ability, which provides a differentiated bias of self-
assessments that men and women make of their own competence at career-relevant
tasks. This situation occurs especially when there are widely held beliefs in culture
attaching greater social value and competence with one category of the attribute.
For example men being matched with doctor whereas women with nurse.
Personality of a student may also determine his/her career choice. For instance,
according to Judge (2009), conscientiousness personality trait highly influences the
career success in any organization. Conscientiousness trait holders tend to be very
careful about their future planning; they are cautious about their surroundings,
compact and fully scheduled (Cattell & Mead, 2008). They tend to be managed,
prefer to be predictable and try to be risk free. They have propensity to work in
such a way that have no flaw, where everything gets done rightly and chaos can
give them mental stress. They try to be neat, clean and would like everything to be
placed in the right place (Sucier & Goldberg, 1998). People ranking low on this
trait will be careless about their work. They are less likely to work in a manner
Page 3
, which could be leading to stressful chaos. These people are not inclined to work in
a concise way that can assure their work would be free of faults (Goldberg, 1992).
This means that students who are highly conscientious are more likely to bog or
jobs that meet their characteristics so as to achieve job satisfaction.
Career choice is one of the most controversial issues in education and also it is an
dispensable aspect of life. An area of interest that closely involves many parents
and teachers who feel that school values should be redesigned taking into
consideration.
1.2 Statement of the Problem
In our society today, students face a complex and rapidly changing society. It has
been reported that regardless of great effort put forth by families, government
agencies and non-government agencies, many young people encounter difficulties
in the transition from the world of school to that of work.
Gender has often been found to have a negative effect on career progression, with
women less likely to be promoted than men. Additionally, gender has often
misunderstood as being the promotion of women only. However, gender issues
focus on the relationship between men and women, their roles, access to and
control over resources, division of labour, interests and needs. Careers are pursued
by both men and women, and gender differences could orientate one gender to a
Page 4
INTRODUCTION
1.1 Background to the Study
In our society today, students face a complex and rapidly changing society. It has
been reported that regardless of great effort put forth by families, government
agencies and non-government agencies, many young people encounter difficulties
in the transition from the world of school to that of work (Pilot & Regis, 2012).
Investigating and better understanding the myriad factors that contribute to career
choice is a topic of recurring interest in our schools today. To guide students in
their career decision making, gender difference plays a central role in this lifelong
process.
Gender of secondary school students seems to determine their choice of career.
Many still believe that boys are better at math, mechanics, and logical thinking and
expect boys to be engineers, doctors, and architects. Girls are expected to be better
at verbal skills, intuition and nurturing, so they are expected to be nurses, social
workers, or teachers. While all career choices should be equally respected and
valued, the fact is, traditional career choices for girls tend to cluster them in lower-
paying jobs (Parker, 2009).
Page 1
,Gender according to Oxford advanced learners dictionary 6th edition (2001) is the
fact of being male or female. The family is a social group to which a child is born
into and brought up with all necessary things including his native languages.
Traditionally, men were considered the breadwinners whilst women were the
homemakers. The man would go out to earn a living and provide all things material
for his family while the woman stayed at home looking after the children and
doing household chores. Today, the woman still maintains the primary
responsibility of homemaking. However, women are now pursuing professional
career paths and making it to the top of the corporate ladder. Browne (2007) said
that in America, the wide availability of contraception led to an increasing number
of women being available for employment. Additionally, equal opportunities that
have enabled women to have successful careers and still keep happy families.
Male and female career choices are normally different because of the difference in
their self-concepts. Researchers like Bem (1981) and Betz (1994) cited in
(AlMiskry, Bakar & Mohamed 2009) have identified the factors relevant to the
development of gender differences in vocational interest. They suggested that the
development of gender difference in vocational interests as well as vocational
choices is a result of multitudes of factors, some which are internally related, and
some environmentally related. These factors include culture, occupational
segregation, self-concepts, self-efficacy, and personality (AlMiskry et al. 2009).
Page 2
,On the supply-side, one explanation is the recognition that culture in which
individuals are embedded limits what these individuals deem possible or
appropriate, thereby shaping their preferences or choices of various careers. Correll
(2004) adds that cultural beliefs about gender accord men higher status in society
than women. These status beliefs can evoke gender differentiated standards for
attributing performance to ability, which provides a differentiated bias of self-
assessments that men and women make of their own competence at career-relevant
tasks. This situation occurs especially when there are widely held beliefs in culture
attaching greater social value and competence with one category of the attribute.
For example men being matched with doctor whereas women with nurse.
Personality of a student may also determine his/her career choice. For instance,
according to Judge (2009), conscientiousness personality trait highly influences the
career success in any organization. Conscientiousness trait holders tend to be very
careful about their future planning; they are cautious about their surroundings,
compact and fully scheduled (Cattell & Mead, 2008). They tend to be managed,
prefer to be predictable and try to be risk free. They have propensity to work in
such a way that have no flaw, where everything gets done rightly and chaos can
give them mental stress. They try to be neat, clean and would like everything to be
placed in the right place (Sucier & Goldberg, 1998). People ranking low on this
trait will be careless about their work. They are less likely to work in a manner
Page 3
, which could be leading to stressful chaos. These people are not inclined to work in
a concise way that can assure their work would be free of faults (Goldberg, 1992).
This means that students who are highly conscientious are more likely to bog or
jobs that meet their characteristics so as to achieve job satisfaction.
Career choice is one of the most controversial issues in education and also it is an
dispensable aspect of life. An area of interest that closely involves many parents
and teachers who feel that school values should be redesigned taking into
consideration.
1.2 Statement of the Problem
In our society today, students face a complex and rapidly changing society. It has
been reported that regardless of great effort put forth by families, government
agencies and non-government agencies, many young people encounter difficulties
in the transition from the world of school to that of work.
Gender has often been found to have a negative effect on career progression, with
women less likely to be promoted than men. Additionally, gender has often
misunderstood as being the promotion of women only. However, gender issues
focus on the relationship between men and women, their roles, access to and
control over resources, division of labour, interests and needs. Careers are pursued
by both men and women, and gender differences could orientate one gender to a
Page 4
