Gendered educational and occupational choices: Applying the Eccles et al. model of achievement-related choices

I summarize a theoretical model of the social, cultural, and psychological influences on achievement-related choices and outline how this model can help us understand gendered educational and occupational choices. I argue that both gender differences and individual differences within each gender in educational and occupational choices are linked to differences in individuals’ expectations for success and subjective task value. With regard to the gender difference in the occupations linked to math and physical science in particular, females are less likely to enter these fields than males both because they have less confidence in their math and physical science abilities and because they place less subjective value on these fields than they place on other possible occupational niches. Furthermore, gendered socialization practices at home, in the schools, and among peers play a major role in shaping these individual differences in self-perceptions and subjective task values. I relate these theoretical and empirical conclusions to the other four papers in this special section.