The Effect Of Gender Stereotypes On The Attribution Explanations Of Occupational Gender Differences

Occupational gender difference refers to the difference in the proportion of men and women in a specific occupation.Previous studies have found that gender stereotypes influence how people attribute gender differences in masculine occupations such as science,technology,engineering,and mathematics(STEM).When individuals hold stronger gender stereotypes,they are more likely to attribute gender differences in STEM occupations to the inherent characteristics of men and women themselves.And even more,gender differences in STEM occupations can be attributed to discrimination.These findings have important implications for alleviating gender segregation in occupations and improving social inequality.However,previous studies mainly focused on explaining gender differences in masculine occupations,and whether the same pattern of results would occur in feminine occupations has not been specifically explored.Therefore,this study selected three typical feminine occupations,namely nurse,kindergarten teacher and secretary,to explore the relationship between the gender stereotypes held by individuals and the attribution of occupational gender differences.In the first study,367 college students were selected as subjects to investigate the relationship between gender stereotypes and the attribution of gender differences in occupations.The results showed that the dispositional attribution scores of subjects in the high-gender stereotype group were significantly higher than those in the low-gender stereotype group.The discrimination attribution score of the low gender stereotype group was significantly higher than that of the high gender stereotype group.However,the study can only determine the relationship between gender stereotypes and occupational gender difference attribution,and cannot determine the causal relationship between the two.Therefore,the second study randomly selected158 college students as subjects to test the causal relationship between gender stereotype and occupational gender difference attribution.The results showed that the score of discrimination attribution in the low gender stereotype priming group was significantly higher than that in the high gender stereotype priming group.In terms of dispositional attribution scores,there was no significant difference between subjects in the high-gender stereotype priming group and those in the low-gender stereotypepriming group.Based on the two studies,it is found that in feminized occupations,subjects with high gender stereotypes are more inclined to make dispositional attribution explanations for occupational gender differences than those with low gender stereotypes.And fewer attributed the gender difference to discrimination.The results show that gender stereotypes can not only make individuals more convinced that the existence of occupational gender differences is naturally formed and inevitable,but also can minimize the individual's perception of social injustice,so as to make the existing social arrangements seem fair and just.