engleski

Differences in Children's Occupational Choices

Gender stereotyping can occur in many forms and at many stages of development. The purpose of this paper is to examine the occupational gender role stereotypes in early grades elementary school children. Children’s personal vocational preferences have been analyzed in the context of gender-related occupational stereotypes with other potential influences taken into consideration. Children from different Croatian schools at the age from 8 to 10 were asked to indicate their desirable future occupation and to explain their choice. The results of content analysis were confirmed by the analysis of language in children’s essays. A wide spectrum of various occupations has been found and a lot of them predominantly represent stereotypes about careers and gender appropriateness. In this context this paper confirms the results of previously conducted research which established the fact that child’s gender is the key factor in their occupational preferences but also shows the importance of teachers’ influence which is why the occupational gender stereotyping is an important topic for those working in educational field. Due to this, one of the most essential actions educators could take is to begin talking to pupils about careers as early on as possible.

Occupation, Gender, Stereotypes, Education.

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