The Psychology of Gender 4th Edition

208 Chapter 6

The Influence of Parents

A great deal of evidence indicates that parents

influence children’s perceptions of compe-

tence, values, and performance. Parents who

support their children’s studies, monitor their

children’s schoolwork, and spend time with

their children on schoolwork have children

who reach higher levels of achievement,

partly because those are the girls and boys

that expend more effort on academic studies

(Kristjansson & Sigfusdottir, 2009). However,

parents also have stereotypes about the subject

areas in which boys and girls excel, and parents

TAKE HOME POINTS

■ According to the expectancy/value model of achieve-

ment, we pursue areas of achievement in which we

expect to succeed and that we value.

■ Even when abilities seem to be equal, women and men

have different expectancies for success in an area.

■ Women and men attach different values to achieve-

ment-related pursuits. Women are less interested in

STEM careers and more interested in jobs and careers

that involve people compared to men.

SIDEBAR 6.2:The Future of Title IX

Title IX says “No person in the United States shall, on the basis of sex, be excluded from participa-

tion in, be denied the benefits of, or be subjected to discrimination under any education program

or activity requiring Federal assistance.” The law was enacted in 1972 and basically prohibits sex

discrimination in educational programs that receive federal assistance. Title IX has made great ad-

vances in creating more equal educational opportunities for men and women. The athletic arena

is where the greatest strides have been made (U.S. Census Bureau, 2007a). In 1971–1972, less than

300,000 women participated in high school athletics, whereas the figure for 2008–2009 was just

over 3 million (4 million for men; National Federation of State High School Associations, 2010).

Institutions can show compliance with Title IX in one of three ways:

1. Provide athletic opportunities to women and men in proportion to their enrollment.


2. Expand programs for the underrepresented sex (i.e., women).


3. Accommodate the interests and abilities of the underrepresented sex (i.e., women).
   At several points in time, Title IX has come under attack. One way that Title IX can be
   achieved is to eliminate teams; that is, if a school has a men’s soccer team and no women’s soccer
   team, it can eliminate the men’s team rather than add the women’s team. In response to several
   concerns, the secretary of education convened a commission to offer further guidance in regard
   to Title IX. In 2005, the commission made a number of recommendations, one of which was
   to use interest surveys to meet the third compliance measure. If a school can show there is less
   interest in women’s soccer than men’s soccer, the school would not have to provide a women’s
   soccer team. One problem is that the existence of a team is what generates interest. The current
   level of men’s and women’s interest is likely to reflect the opportunities they had in the past. An-
   other problem is that a lack of a survey response (even by email) was considered to reflect lack of
   interest. We know that people fail to respond to surveys for reasons other than lack of interest. In
   2010, the Department of Education repealed this policy. Schools are no longer allowed to rely on
   surveys to demonstrate interest (or lack of) in a program.

M06_HELG0185_04_SE_C06.indd 208 6/21/11 8:10 AM