Take a moment to think back to a simple time in life when we were all bright-eyed little girls playing with our Barbies at home. Sure, Barbie was pretty, smart and could have virtually any career imaginable but being a successful career woman was rarely the topic of our playtime. It was mainly focused on what type of fun Barbie was going to have with her friends. What would she wear? Who would be invited? Would Ken be there? Should she take the convertible? Yes, this was the kind of social interaction amongst mere dolls that would occupy hours of any young girls’ day.
Meanwhile, on the other side of the room you were very likely to nd a young boy playing with his action hero of choice. It was usually something akin to a GI Joe. Yes, these were brave men that spent each day operating machinery and carrying out tasks to meet certain objectives but there was little need for conversation. There was usually just one mission and directives that needed to be carried out to complete it. Once it was over, there was not a long discussion about the outcome, instead just a quick celebratory shout and then it was time to move on to the next assignment.
Most would say that these are fond memories of days gone by, but years later, these boys and girls seem to still engage in the same type of “play”. Women continue to choose professions that are “people focused”, while men opt for more “object focused” professions. It’s the reason why when I speak of an Engineer, most would assume that I am speaking of a man. When we walk into a doctor’s o ce do we expect a male nurse to greet us? Not usually. While it is true that there are female engineers and male nurses, they are not in the majority. Why? One explanation is that we are gently conditioned by society to see that certain careers are more suitable for one gender than the other, but can it be more than that? Scientific research shows that there is more at work here: Hormones.
Yes ladies, once again these mysterious and powerful forces of nature ex yet another muscle we were not aware of.
A new study done by a team of psychologists at Pennsylvania State University discovered that females exposed to high rates of the male hormone, androgen, in their mother’s uterus are more likely than other females to later be interested in jobs usually preferred by males. Although females with this genetic condition, known as CAH, are exposed to androgen while developing, they are genetically female and reared as females. is particular study included 46 females with CAH; 21 una ected females; 27 males with CAH; and 31 unafected males. They were asked to rank 64 jobs based on their like, dislike or indierence to. The females with CAH were less interested in “people focused” jobs such as a social worker and teacher than other females and more interested in “object focused” jobs like a pilot and scientist.
It’s important to note that the more androgen they were exposed to in the womb, based on their type of CAH, the stronger their interest in “object focused” jobs. Male participants with CAH did not answer di erently from una ected male participants. Based on these ndings, researchers can better comprehend how these preferences begin and could help psychologists develop ways to encourage women without CAH to test jobs in the science, technology and engineering fields. Presenting these types of fields as those that will ultimately have a great impact on people may motivate more women to seek careers that they otherwise would overlook. We would experience a more diversi fied workplace across the board. is exciting nd is still a small part of the bigger picture of how we women work, but one thing is certain…It has once again been proven that we are extremely complex creatures and hardwired to nd purpose in all that we do.
By Patty Mendoza