Gendered Career Expectations of Students

This paper provides a comprehensive overview of adolescent career plans reported in PISA 2006. Itsmain focus is on the differences in the status and area of employment expected by girls and boys in highschool. In almost all countries, girls lead boys in their interest in non-manual, high status professionaloccupations. This can be seen as a vertical dimension of gender segregation in occupational preferences.Students also differ by gender in selecting particular fields of employment within status categories. Thesedifferences make up the horizontal segregation of students' expectations and, in PISA 2006, are prominentin the gendered choices of specific subfields of science. Both the vertical and the horizontal dimensionsmust be considered to appreciate the cultural and institutional factors which promote and reinforcesystematic divides in career choices of adolescent boys and girls.