Download Chapter Summary Women`s Educational Values, Attainments, and

Chapter Summary
Women’s Educational Values, Attainments, and Campus Experiences
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Across ethnicities, adolescent girls endorse higher educational and occupational goals than do boys.
Women obtain the majority of associate’s, bachelor’s, master’s, and doctoral degrees, and half of all professional degrees.
The campus climate can be problematic for some women. They may experience sexism in the classroom, and many perceive the
academic environment as hostile and demeaning.
Women of color, poor women, and women with disabilities experience additional problems on campus.
Women’s Work-Related Goals
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College women generally aspire to less prestigious careers than college men. Few women decide to enter the physical sciences or
engineering.
Career counselors can do several things to support and expand women’s career aspirations.
Most college women envision their futures as involving employment, marriage, and motherhood. Many plan to interrupt their
employment for childrearing.
Women have lower salary expectations than men. Possible explanations are women’s knowledge that females earn less than
males, their willingness to accommodate their jobs to their family lives, and their belief that they deserve less.
Influences on Women’s Achievement Level and Career Decisions
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There is no evidence that women have less motivation to achieve than men do or that women stay away from high-achieving
situations because they fear success.
Gender differences in attributions for performance are very small and are more likely to occur when making attributions in genderstereotypic domains.
Women display less self-confidence than men, especially in relation to male-linked tasks and when estimates of one’s performance
are made publicly.
Women with nontraditional gender-related traits or attitudes are more likely to aspire toward male-dominated careers.
Women’s feelings of self-efficacy for particular occupational fields are related to their aspirations for those fields.
Career decisions of sexual minority individuals are sometimes influenced by their perceptions of the job climate for lesbians and
gay men.
Family support and family and cultural values can influence women’s career development.
Job-related characteristics valued more highly by males include a good salary, promotions, and opportunity for advancement.
Characteristics valued more strongly by females are interpersonal relationships and helping others. However, women in maledominated occupations highly value masculine-typed job qualities.