TALENT IGNORED, TALENT DIVERTED - THE CULTURAL-CONTEXT UNDERLYING GIFTEDNESS IN FEMALES

This article presents the results of a study of 67 gifted females enro lled in graduate programs in education at a large state university. Th ese women completed a questionnaire about various aspects of their liv es including their education and family life; parental encouragement; career, personal, and professional achievements; and the effects of ma rriage and children on their lives. Follow-up interviews were conducte d with 25 of the women. results indicate that the majority of these gi fted females believe that their parents encouraged them to go to colle ge but not to pursue a specific career, and many were unsure about whe ther they had selected the right career. Almost half of the women indi cated that barriers existed to their own talent development because of their marriage and personal lives. Many of the women in this study we re unsure about whether they were satisfied with their lives because o f their continuing attempts to pursue their own talents while maintain ing their personal lives. The majority of the women in this study had extremely limited time to pursue their own talents. The study summariz es some of the continuing dilemmas facing gifted females, and in parti cular, explores some of the issues confronting gifted females who purs ue careers, even those generally considered traditional for women.