Female engineer versus male teacher: Work values of university graduates

In the Erlangen longitudinal study on comparative career development N = 15 00 female and male university graduates with various majors were asked abou t their work values and retrospectively about some reasons for choosing the ir university major. Gender differences in work values should be mediated b y gender- and interest-specific university-major selections, but should be reduced by university-major specific socialization processes. The result of this double process should be differences in work values between the major s, but no gender differences in work values within them. The results support these considerations: A significant influence of a pers on's favorite school subject on his/her university major was found. Within the university majors the reasons for choosing it and the relevance of occu pational orientations within the course of studies do not differ between me n and women. Work values differed between the majors, but there were no gen der differences within them. It is concluded that in accord with our assump tions (a) work values are more influenced by a person's major than by his/h er gender; and (b) that work values at the time of a person's university gr aduation cannot be a reason for gender different occupational career develo pment.