The Accuracy of Gender Stereotypes Regarding Occupations.

Given the salience of biological sex, it is not surprising that gender stereotypes are pervasive. To explore the prevalence of such stereotypes, the accuracy of gender stereotyping regarding occupations is presented in this paper. The paper opens with an overview of gender stereotype measures that use self-perceptions as benchmarks of accuracy, followed by a discussion of more objective criteria as benchmarks of accuracy. For this study, male (N=68) and female (N=96) college students at a small university in the Midwest estimated the percentage of female and male workers and their salaries in 40 occupations that were either female-dominated, neutral, or male-dominated. These estimates were then compared to Census information. The average size of the wage gap for the feminine occupations was $4,410, for neutral occupations it was $6,760, and for masculine occupations it was $6,439. Results indicate that the participants were unaware of the extent of occupational segregation by gender and they underestimated the size of the wage gaps. It is suggested that the erroneous perception of the absence of gender differences in occupational settings may serve to maintain inequality by creating the belief that discrimination is a thing of the past. Contains 42 references and 2 tables.