Are Girls More Ambitious Than Boys? Vocational Interests Partly Explain Gender Differences in Occupational Aspirations

Alexandra Wicht,Ai Miyamoto,Clemens M Lechner

doi:10.1177/0894845321991665

Abstract

Previous research suggests that girls have higher occupational aspirations than boys before entering the labor market. We investigate whether this gender gap in occupational aspirations generalizes to secondary school students in Germany and illuminate the possible mechanisms behind these purported gender differences. For this purpose, we used a large and representative sample of ninth graders ( N = 10,743) from the German National Educational Panel Study. Adolescents’ occupational aspirations were coded on the International Socio-Economic Index of Occupational Status (ISEI) according to the socioeconomic status of the aspired occupation. Results showed that girls’ occupational aspirations were 6.5 ISEI points higher than boys’ (Cohen’s d = .36). Mediation analyses further revealed that gender differences in vocational interest could explain one-half of the gender gap in occupational aspirations. This suggests that girls’ higher occupational aspirations reflect their specific vocational interests rather than a general striving for higher status and prestige compared to boys.

Highlights

Previous research suggests that girls have higher occupational aspirations than boys before entering the labor market
Even when taking into account parental socioeconomic status (SES), cultural capital, and immigration background, the type of school track, and school grades, the adjusted gender gap in occupational aspirations remained considerable in size; with girls having 5.46 raw scale points (SE 1⁄4 .37, p < .001) higher on the International Socio-Economic Index of Occupational Status (ISEI) Scale of occupational aspirations than boys while the observed values of ISEI ranged between 12 and 89
Our study contributes to the literature on gender differences in occupational aspirations in several ways

Summary

Introduction

Previous research suggests that girls have higher occupational aspirations than boys before entering the labor market We investigate whether this gender gap in occupational aspirations generalizes to secondary school students in Germany and illuminate the possible mechanisms behind these purported gender differences. In search of an answer to these questions, our present study pursued two aims: first, to reveal whether and to what extent gender differences in the SES of occupational aspirations exist in a large and representative sample of ninth-grade students from the German National Educational Panel Study (NEPS) and, second, to illuminate the possible mechanisms behind the putative differences in the SES of boys’ and girls’ aspired occupations, namely, gender differences in vocational interests. Watson et al (2002) found no gender differences in the SES of occupational aspirations when controlling for adolescents’ achievement levels, grade levels, and school environments using data from American students between 11 and 18 years of age

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