Gender Biases in Professions

Abstract

Despite improvements in the positions of women at work Gender biases still exit in professions, some are assigned high and some low status. High status profession usually attracts high pay and status. The aim of this research was to study and identify gender biases in professions. The following hypotheses were formulated; 1- The professions that assigned high status are associated with men as compared to women. 2-The professions that are assigned low status are associated more with women as compared to men. 3-Men are more biased against women than men. 4-Women are more biased against men than men. A sample of 100 men and 100 women professionals and non-professional participants with ages 20-35 years were randomly selected from various institutions of Karachi. In addition to the demographic information collected from the participants, a gender bias Questionnaire was developed by the author to measure the perceived association of gender with different professions. To rate the professions as high or low status alist of 10 professions i.e., physician, lawyer, engineer, architect, psychotherapist, receptionist, secretary, sales person, teacher and librarian was used. This list was prepared from a pool of 35 professions after doing a pilot study to select high and low status professions. The status and gender associated with each profession is rated on a 7 point rating scale. The results showed a strong positive correlation between male gender and high status profession, which provides an evidence for biases, exists for women at work place. The t-test analyses further highlighted that women were biased more against women as compared to men. The study concludes that even though women are entering into various high status professions, the gender discrimination still exists.