Gender Perception of Professional Occupations

Abstract

Students (181 women and 44 men in a southern university) were asked to indicate their perception of whether each of 105 professional occupations was predominately masculine or feminine. Analysis indicated that a majority of the occupations were perceived as masculine, i.e., those predominately power- or product-oriented, while feminine occupations were predominately caregiving. Results were discussed in terms of the influence of media on the perception of gender-specific roles and the implications of these perceptions for the status of a person holding a given occupation.