Eliminating Gender Bias and Stereotypes in Career Choices

When you are counseling children about their career choices, you will
be faced with the problem of gender bias and stereotypes. Certain jobs
are commonly believed to be for men only while others are supposed
to be suited only for women. 

For example: It is often thought that a woman’s place is in the home doing domestic chores. Men, on the other hand, are supposed to be engineers, pilots, builders, and so on. They are not expected to take an active role in domestic chores. One of your roles as a caregiver is to educate both boys and girls that
one can do any job for which one meets the requirements. They must
understand that gender should not be a major determinant in career
and vocation selection.

Gender is the social dimension of being male and female. There are two
ways of looking at this definition:

• Gender identity is the sense of being male or female, which
most children acquire by the time they are three years old.

• Gender roles refer to a set of expectations regarding how
females or males should think, act, or feel.

Gender bias begins early in life when parents start dressing children
differently depending on whether they are male or female, giving them
different toys, treating them differently, and having different expectations
for them. The differences are reinforced as children watch and
imitate their parents fulfilling these traditional roles. Culture, the
schools, peers, and the media reinforce what children have learned
from their parents.

Gender stereotypes are the beliefs and impressions that people have
about males and females. Males are believed to be dominant, aggressive,
independent, and enduring go-getters. Females are widely
believed to be soft, caring, more helpful, weak, and emotional. It is
assumed that females are not ambitious, are unable to do certain jobs,
and want to stay at home and nurture children.