Sex Differences in the Choice of a Male or Female Career Line

Abstract

Using data from the National Longitudinal Study of the High School Class of 1972, this article identifies similarities and differences in social background characteristics, academic ability, and work values among men and women in sex-typical and sex-atypical curriculums. The research was designed to examine two implicit assumptions in the literature about the choice of a sex-atypical major: (1) that women in traditionally male areas manifest characteristics more closely associated with men in these same areas than with women in traditionally female areas; and (2) that men in traditionally female curriculums are more like women in these areas than they are like men in traditionally male areas. Results show that men and women in sex-atypical majors are more like their sex peers than like their curriculum mates. The implications of these findings for maintaining gender inequalities in the labor market are discussed.