The Effect of Gender Role Socialization on Girl’s Career Orientation in Buea
Department: Gender Studies
No of Pages: 57
Project Code: GS4
References: Yes
Cost: 5,000XAF Cameroonian
: $15 for International students
ABSTRACT
Girls
have been found typically to explore careers from a narrower set of career
options than do boys. This study examined the effect of gender role
socialization on girl’s career orientation in Buea.
Specifically,
the study seeks to described the concepts of gender role socialization and
girls’ career orientation, to examined the effects of gender role socialization
on girls’ career orientation and to describe the role of parents and teachers
of gender socialization play in the career aspirations of girls in Buea.
In
order to achieved these objectives, 50 female undergraduates first year
university students were randomly sampled using a structured questionnaire.
Data was analysed using Statistical Package for Social Science (SPSS, 21.0)
where descriptive statistics of variables was obtained.
Findings
revealed that male and female are treated same in most major homes, majority
have been made know that some careers suitable for men and others suitable for
women. Gender role have an effect on career orientation of the girls as many
were trained to believe that Women’s role is homemaker and men’s role is
breadwinner.
Parental
values and beliefs influence children on career choice along with financial
status and connection of the parents determined the career choice of girls.
Teachers and school environment plays a contributing role in gender
socialization towards career orientation of the girl child.
It
was recommended that special community programmes, initiated by the schools,
should be organised to help parents guide their children towards a better
career choice.
CHAPTER ONE
INTRODUCTION
1.1 Background of the Study
Career
is considered as those actions taken by an individual in his or her lifetime in
the path of his or her occupation. It can be defined as an individual’s general
course of actions through a phase of life, as in some profession. Barley (1989)
defined career as a structural property of an occupation which could be
identified as a sequence of positions held by an ideal practitioner.
Career
also refers to the pattern of work-related experiences in the course of an
individual’s life (Greenhaus, 2000). Choosing a career is considered as a
significant decision that influenced the entire future of an individual.
Every
individual carries the unique environment, personality and opportunity through
the realization of which they make career choices. A person’s career aspiration
represents his or her orientation towards a particular occupation.
There
can be several factors affecting the career aspirations of an individual. It
can be influenced by gender, socio-economic status and family support (Domenico
and Jones, 2007). Gender influences a wide range of career-related attitudes,
behaviours, and outcomes.
This
includes career choice, career experiences, occupational health, work attitudes,
other people’s perceptions, and career outcomes. Therefore, to understand
individuals’ careers, it is important to consider gender.
Men
and women differ considerably in their career choices, and many factors
contribute to these differences. Socialization experiences, which refer to the
lifelong social learning experiences that people have when interacting with
others, play a major role here.
Parents,
siblings, teachers, school guidance counsellors, other adult role models,
peers, the media, and many other sources greatly influence how individuals view
themselves based on their gender. The concept of gender is considered as a set
of social practices which influenced the lives of both male and female in
society.
With
the growth of age, children develop a sense about themselves and their expected
roles in society through the process of socialization. Children learn to
associate themselves with their gender roles through this process of
socialization. This process of socialization is known as gender socialization.
Because
of this gender socialization process, girls use to perform such activities
which reflect the social sex-role expectations (Looft, 1971). During the
process of their development from childhood to adolescence, individuals are
exposed to various types of sex-differentiated activities through which they
learn gender socialization.
It
is the family, which plays the most significant role in gender socialization of
children. And, in the family, it is the parents from whom the child first
learns the meaning of being a male or female (Thorne, 1993). This gender
socialization, at the very early stage of the girls’ lives, has compelled them
to prefer those careers that conform to the cultural stereotypes of female
occupations.
According
to Adya and Kaiser (2005), parents play an influential role in the career
choice of children. Berk and Witt have mentioned that children of
non-stereotypical parents have higher self-esteem, higher levels of identity
achievement.
They
have also mentioned that girls, whose mothers are career-oriented, have higher
educational aspirations and hold non-traditional vocational goals. These girls
are found to be more engaged in typically masculine activities.
1.2 Statement of Problem
The
Social Learning Theory indicates the possible influences the parents have on
the career development of the individual. In the family, it is the parents who
play an important role in influencing upon the career choice of individuals.
The parents can be considered as ‘value socializers’ in shaping their
children’s perceptions of occupation or career-related decisions (Astin, 1984).
In
many respects, peers are the most important influences on children’s
gender-typed play. First, same-gender peers are models that children use to
infer gender-normative behaviour. Children are more likely to play with a
gender-neutral toy-or even a cross-gender-typed toy-after observing a
same-gender (vs. cross-gender) model (e.g., Bussey and Perry, 1982).
At the school level, gender socialization takes place through various aspects, for instance, through interaction with teachers, schoolmates, the curriculum and engagement in co-curricular activities.
Subjects such as home-science,
languages and nursing generally socialize female learners towards professions
considered feminine because they have their roots in care-giving roles (Chege
and Sifuna, 2006).
On
the other hand, because masculinity is associated with physical and mental
toughness, subjects such as mathematics, sciences and technical subjects that
demand either precision or ‘application of mind’, or physical strength and
power, are associated with masculinity (Chege and Sifuna, 2006; Jha and
Kelleher, 2006).
To
the researcher’s understanding, there is little or no study has been conducted
in Cameroon and in Buea in particular to examined the effect of gender
socialization on the career orientation of girls in tertiary institutions.
In
line with the above literature, this study seeks to find out whether parental
influence, peer influences, and teachers influence affects career orientation
of girls from tertiary institution in the Buea Municipality.
1.3 Objectives of the
Study
1.3.1. Main Objective
- The main objective of this study is to examine the effect of gender role socialization on girl’s career orientation in Buea.
1.3.2 Specific Objectives
The
specific objective includes;
- To described the concepts of gender role socialization and girls’ career orientation
- To examined the effects of gender role socialization on girls’ career orientation
- To describe the role of parents and teachers of gender socialization play in the career aspirations of girls in Buea
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