Exploring gender stereotype threat effects on the decision-making of career development for senior-high-school girls

• Main Authors: CHEN, AN-CHI, 陳安琪
• Other Authors: 謝臥龍
• Format: Others
• Language: zh-TW
• Published: 2016
• Online Access: http://ndltd.ncl.edu.tw/handle/02388710550637649516

博士 === 國立高雄師範大學 === 性別教育博士學位學程 === 104 === For Taiwanese senior high school students, career decision-makings are very important during their career development process. They have to choose their major subject area and college majors, and then begin the first exploration about future vocational world. Therefore, career development decision-making becomes not only the focus of the work of school counselling, but also the vital factor of self-cognition and self-integration for adolescents. Senior high school girls’ career development process is affected by gender stereotype threat through social culture, parents’ upbringing, and school education, thus shapes their career development decisions. In this study, the perspective of gender stereotype threat is adopted to investigate what and how the gender stereotype threat factors influence senior high school girls’ career decision-making in three dimensions: social culture, parents’ upbringing, and school education. This study selects five public/private coeducational senior high schools in south Taiwan, adopts purposive sampling, and assigns the third grade senior high school female students who major in science and engineering to five focus groups of gender stereotype threatened career development experience, and five focus groups for girls who major in humanities, 5 to 8 students for each group. Finally, there are 70 participants of the research that includes 32 students who major in humanities and 38 in science and engineering. Then, 12 girls who major in science and engineering and 6 in humanities therein are selected to participate in deep interview for collecting data about their agenetic experience of overcome career obstacles and gender stereotype threat. All data are analyzed, interpreted and discussed. Findings of this research are as follows: 1. The distal factors of gender stereotype threat in social culture which influences senior high school girls’ career decision-making include people’s embodiment of gender role belief, a deep gender segregation between boys good at science and girls good at literature in the school learning atmosphere, gender adaptation of vocational field, and gender limit of marriage and raising cultural norm. As to the proximal factors of gender stereotype threat in social culture, media as a career information provider and a vocational interest promoter, social-direction decision-making of a better job prior to interest, social and cultural expectations based on biological essentialism, and coexisting modern and traditional women’s career achievement motivation are included. 2. There are three distal factors of gender stereotype threat in parents’ raising process which affect girls’ career development decision-making: the reproduction of sexual division of household labor, parents’ gendered upbringing and guidance, and their career expectation on girls. In addition, suggestion and experience from relatives, and negotiation between parents and children about their career development choice are also the proximal factors of gender stereotype threat in family. 3. For gender stereotype threat of schooling on girls’ career decision-making, educational system of gender segregation, cram school culture of performance-oriented and customer-oriented, teachers as the helmsman of gender segregation, and the gender threat relationship of teacher and students, and gender hierarchical performativity by classmates’ interaction are the five distal factors of gender stereotype threat in schooling which influence senior high school girls’ career development decision-making. Besides, the proximal factors are the system of subject major of senior high school, college entrance channel, and teacher’s roles and functions. 4. The elements of senior high school girls’ agency include two parts: contextual support and personal inner drive. The former are more gender friendlier social atmosphere, support from social network, and gender role models. The latter are attitude of gender equity, instrumental traits, higher self-efficacy, and strong interest of subjects and vocations. Findings of this study may serve as reference for educational policy makers, educators and career counselors who promote relevant policies of career education and career counseling, compile teaching materials of gender equality, and construct gender-friendly learning scenarios.