Sex Ratios and Occupational Prestige: Three Failures to Replicate a Sexist Bias

Abstract

An experiment reported by John Touhey (1974) suggests that as people come to expect increases in the proportion of women in a high status profession, their ratings of the prestige and desirability of that profession decreases. The present study reports three failures to replicate this finding. These failures to replicate should caution researchers regarding the generalizability of the original finding and the extent to which it can be cited as an explanation for fluctuations in occupational prestige.