GENDER DIFFERENCES IN CAREER DECISION-MAKING - THE CONTENT AND STRUCTURE OF PREFERENCES

To identify possible sources of the observed differences in the career choices of women and men, three facets of career preferences were exa mined: the relative importance attributed to career-related aspects, t he within-aspect preferences (i.e., desirable characteristics of occup ations), and the structure of aspects derived from these within-aspect preferences. The career-related preferences of 2,000 young adults who were in the process of making their career decisions were analyzed. T hese career-related preferences were elicited during their dialogues w ith a computer-assisted career guidance system. The analyses revealed (a) only small gender differences in the relative importance of the as pects, (b) considerable gender differences in the within-aspect prefer ences, and (c) certain gender differences in the structure of aspects. The findings and their possible theoretical and practical implication s are discussed.