Análise da influência dos estereótipos sexistas em adolescentes mulheres na escolha da carreira ou profissão em Ciência e Tecnologia

Abstract

Women advanced with study and relevant positions. However, in Brazil, some careers remain with more men and others with more women, with less than 25% of them among researchers in the "hard" sciences. In addition, domestic and care activities mostly as their responsibility and the failure of men to advance in careers considered “female” denounce the persistent difference. If there are multiple factors to choose a career, how much does sexism influence this stage? The objective, therefore, was to point out how sexist stereotypes influence women's career choices, considering Science and Technology. The descriptive and cross-sectional research had a questionnaire with a scale that measures sexism at work (Scale G). Along with this scale, two others were applied: The one from the Ideology of Technological Rationality (Scale I) and the one from Fascism (Scale F) adapted. 696 adolescents from the age of 16 from public and private schools participated. The results showed that sexism does not influence career choice. On the other hand, scale I showed statistical significance, demonstrating that rationality, or instrumental reason, can be associated with career choice in the area of science and technology. More details on the results of the I and F scales are presented in the paper. In contrast to the result on sexism, the rejection of women by the Science and Technology area persists. In addition, sexism is relevant among them in the G-scale averages, especially in the belief that they are more emotional, bring beauty and grace to the environments and responsibility for caring for the home and family, indicating that they do not master the traps of sexist prejudice at work. Together, their willingness to give up a career for the family points to little awareness of this stereotype. Participants whose parents have higher education had the lowest averages on the G scale, suggesting the importance of formal schooling to minimize gender differences. However, participants with uneducated mothers had low averages compared to others with educated fathers, showing openness to future research. The result of the sample profile with 51% whites requires expansion of this research in more Brazilian regions for intersectional analysis of race and culture.