Steve Stewart-Williams reports on a new study confirming what many of us intuit:
One of the most robust findings in psychology is that men and women have somewhat different career-related interests: On average, men are more interested in working with things, whereas women are more interested in working with people. A fascinating analysis of the apprenticeship system in Switzerland shows how these preferences help shape young people’s real-world occupational choices.
The study examined 130 apprentice occupations, dividing these into jobs involving machines, materials, and tools sat at one end; jobs involving care, communication, and social interaction sat at the other.
The results are shown in the graph below. As you can see, the more people-oriented a profession is, the more female-dominated it tends to be, and the more things-oriented it is, the more male-dominated. The effect is extremely strong, making the things-people dimension one of the most powerful known predictors of occupational sex differences.
I highly recommend Steve’s “The Nature-Nurture-Nietzsche Newsletter.” He is always responsibly reporting on scientifically-grounded topics that are highly relevant to issues of the day.
