The Relationship of Sex to Occupational Prestige in an African Country

This study set out to find the answers to two questions in relation to the developing African nation of Zambia. Did the sex of the respondent affect the prestige gradings of occupations? Did the sex of the incumbent affect the prestige gradings of selected occupations? The study was part of a much larger one designed, for one reason, to assess the differential affects of sex, living area, and education on occupational prestige, and to investigate factors involved in prestige. To answer the two questions a specially designed questionnaire was administered to over 1,100 secondary school pupils across Zambia. It seems that the sex of the respondent has little effect on the prestige positioning of occupations; but significant downward movements in prestige grading for particular occupations were found when females were incumbents. In this latter case, a significant difference among respondents was also found: Girls rated female incumbents significantly higher than did boys.