The Psychology of Gender 4th Edition

Paid Worker Role and Health 457

relations with coworkers and supervisor, job

benefits, and the opportunity to work with

people more than males. A study of manag-

ers and executives in a variety of industries

showed that both rated the agentic aspects

of work (i.e., strategy, motivation, task fo-

cus) as more important than the communal

aspects of work (communication, interper-

sonal skills), but that men valued the agentic

aspects more than women and women val-

ued the communal aspects more than men

(Frame et al., 2010). In addition, people in

higher-level positions valued agency over

communion. A meta-analysis of vocational

interests revealed that men prefer to work

with things and women prefer to work with

people (Su, Rounds, & Armstrong, 2009). In

the meta-analysis shown in Figure 12.7, the

largest sex difference in the direction of men

is working in solitude. Although these differ-

ences in vocational interests have decreased

over time, they persist and explain why men

are attracted to engineering and science and

women are attracted to creative arts, nursing,

teaching, and social work.

The work environments of men and

women differ, and status plays a role in these

differences. Men seem to receive more instru-

mental support at work, in terms of advice

and collaboration with colleagues, compared

to women (van Emmerik, 2006). Women are

less likely than men to have mentoring rela-

tionships at work, and mentors can lead to

career advancement (Nelson & Burke, 2000).

Women also complain of sexual harassment

and discrimination (Bond et al., 2004), both

of which are reviewed in more detail later in

this chapter. Women are especially likely to

report these latter sources of strain in work

environments that are predominately male

(Gardiner & Tiggemann, 1999). Women

also report greater job monotony than men

(Matthews & Power, 2002). Yet work pro-

vides women with a resource that it does not

2 0.4

Work in Solitude

Earnings

Freedom/Autonomy

Challenge

Power/Influence/Authority

Recognition

Job Benefits

Physical Work Environment

Relations with Coworkers

Relations with Supervisor

Easy Commute

Working with People

Female Preferences Male Preferences

“”

2 0.3 2 0.2 2 0.1 0 0.1 0.2 0.3

FIGURE 12.7 Sex differences in preferences for a number of job characteristics. The

effect sizes (“d” statistic) are shown here.

Source: Adapted from Konrad et al. (2000).

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