Career Choice and Gender

[Page 277]In the United States, gender disparity in the workforce has slowly diminished as women’s participation in the labor market has increased. While women accounted for only one third of the workforce in the 1960s, by the 2010s, women accounted for at least one half of the workforce. Despite this rapid growth, gender-segregated employment patterns persist. Gaining a better understanding of how gender influences career choices is an important step toward creating and sustaining a gender-balanced and economically equal labor market. While the issue of biological differences in abilities and preferences for the selection of occupation is relevant, it is not the focus of this entry. Rather, this entry examines gender as a social construction, provides an overview of current theories on career decision making, ...