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Honors Theses

Changing the script: an investigation of how gender roles and stereotypes influence women’s career choice in marketing.

Skylar Laine Read , University of Mississippi Follow

Date of Award

Spring 5-2021

Document Type

Undergraduate Thesis

Business Administration

First Advisor

Victoria Bush

Second Advisor

Melissa Cinelli

Third Advisor

Laurie Babin

Relational Format

Dissertation/Thesis

The purpose of this thesis is to investigate how the portrayal of gender roles and stereotypes have influenced young women growing up and how this representation has affected women’s career choices—specifically in sales. This thesis will explore the evolution of the Disney Princess, how the gender roles of these characters have influenced young girls’ perception of their role models, career choices, and perceptions of themselves in the workplace. This exploration is done through three different studies. The first is a case study of three Disney Princesses and the portrayal of women in their respective eras. The second study consists of in-depth interviews with women in the workplace in order to obtain a better understanding of the gender biases and stereotypes affecting women in the workforce today. Finally, the third study conducts a survey of undergraduate college women at the University of Mississippi to measure their attitude towards leadership, gender equity in the workplace, and social media’s impact on their perceptions of sales as a career. After studying the evolution of the Disney Princess, it is evident that young girls’ perceptions of themselves and their image in society has progressively evolved and will continue to improve once there is more representation of female leaders in media. Primary research indicated that the women interviewed were not directly influenced by the princesses; instead, these heroines did inspire these women to be who they are along with assisting in forming their self-identity and identifying who they perceive to be their role model and the influence these role models had on women in the workplace. Primary research also suggested that although women have had a development of leadership skills and are more likely to be placed into leadership positions in the workplace, the depiction of women in leadership roles are underrepresented in the media and there is still need for an increase of women as leaders. More representation of female leaders in media, specifically film, will provide young girls growing up a better and more essential role model.

Recommended Citation

Read, Skylar Laine, "Changing the Script: An Investigation of How Gender Roles and Stereotypes Influence Women’s Career Choice in Marketing" (2021). Honors Theses . 1691. https://egrove.olemiss.edu/hon_thesis/1691

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Gender Stereotypes: What Are They and How Do They Relate to Social Inequality?

• First Online: 26 April 2022

Cite this chapter

• Loes Meeussen 3 , 4 , 5 ,
• Aster Van Rossum 3 ,
• Colette Van Laar 3 &
• Belle Derks 6  

1545 Accesses

3 Citations

Gender stereotypes tell us that women are seen to have more warmth while men are seen to have more competence. This chapter outlines where these stereotypes come from and how they are socially reinforced. We explain why these stereotypes matter for social equality: Ideas of what men and women are like often translate into ideas of what men and women should or should not be like, socialising people into gendered roles, rewarding those who fit in, and punishing those who deviate. Hence, gender stereotypes have consequences for the ways men and women are treated and they restrict people’s choices. We discuss how stereotypes translate into labour market inequalities and in care roles: women may face devaluation and discrimination in paid work, and they need to live up to overly high expectations in care tasks. Conversely, men may face lower opportunities to engage in care tasks and they are expected to prioritise work and be the primary breadwinner. Lastly, we discuss how gender equality can be promoted through training and supporting people to cope with stereotypes, and even more crucially, through societal and organisational changes that reduce (the impact of) gender stereotypes.

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Loes Meeussen, Aster Van Rossum & Colette Van Laar

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Meeussen, L., Van Rossum, A., Van Laar, C., Derks, B. (2022). Gender Stereotypes: What Are They and How Do They Relate to Social Inequality?. In: Yerkes, M.A., Bal, M. (eds) Solidarity and Social Justice in Contemporary Societies. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-93795-9_7

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DOI : https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-93795-9_7

Published : 26 April 2022

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Gender stereotypes change outcomes: a systematic literature review

Journal of Humanities and Applied Social Sciences

ISSN : 2632-279X

Article publication date: 15 December 2021

Issue publication date: 19 October 2023

Even though researchers have discussed gender stereotype change, only a few studies have specifically projected outcomes or consequences. Hence, the main purpose of this study is to examine the impact of gender stereotype change concerning the different outcomes.

Design/methodology/approach

In achieving the purpose, the authors searched and reviewed current empirical knowledge on the outcomes of gender stereotype change in the Scopus and EBSCOhost databases from 1970 to 2020. The entire process was conducted through a systematic literature review methodology. The article selection criteria were executed using the PRISMA article selection flowchart steps, and 15 articles were included for the review.

The findings reveal that the outcomes from gender stereotype change research can be categorized mainly under the themes of “family and children,” “marriage” and “equality and women's employment.”

Research limitations/implications

The co-occurrence network visualization map reveals gaps in the existing literature. There may be more possible outcomes relating to the current realities, and more cross-cultural research is needed.

Practical implications

These outcomes provide some implications for policymakers.

Originality/value

Even though researchers have discussed gender stereotype change on its various outcomes or consequences, research is less. Hence, this study provides a synthesis of consequences and addresses the gaps in the area.

• Gender stereotypes change
• Systematic literature review

Priyashantha, K.G. , De Alwis, A.C. and Welmilla, I. (2023), "Gender stereotypes change outcomes: a systematic literature review", Journal of Humanities and Applied Social Sciences , Vol. 5 No. 5, pp. 450-466. https://doi.org/10.1108/JHASS-07-2021-0131

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Copyright © 2021, K.G. Priyashantha, A. Chamaru De Alwis and Indumathi Welmilla

Published in Journal of Humanities and Applied Social Sciences . Published by Emerald Publishing Limited. This article is published under the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY 4.0) licence. Anyone may reproduce, distribute, translate and create derivative works of this article (for both commercial and non-commercial purposes), subject to full attribution to the original publication and authors. The full terms of this licence may be seen at http://creativecommons.org/licences/by/4.0/legalcode

Introduction

A society's beliefs about the appropriate roles for men and women are gender role attitudes, gender ideology ( Davis and Greenstein, 2009 ) or gender stereotypes ( Attanapola, 2004 ; Berridge et al. , 2009 ; Bosak et al. , 2018 ; Charlesworth and Banaji, 2021 ; De Silva and Priyashantha, 2014 ; Eagly et al. , 2020 ; Lopez-Zafra and Garcia-Retamero, 2021 ). Such beliefs are formed from the peoples' observations of the behavior of men and women in different social roles ( Priyashantha et al. , 2021b ). Particularly, when women or men demonstrate certain behavior more typical to different social roles more often than the opposite sex, such behaviors are believed to be the common traits relevant to men or women ( Eagly et al. , 2020 ; Eagly and Karau, 2002 ). Hence, men are believed to be assertive, independent, rational and decisive, while women are believed to be showing concern for others, warmth, helpfulness and nurturance ( Hoyt et al. , 2009 ). These attributes concerning men and women are referred to as agentic (masculine) and communal (feminine), respectively ( Abele, 2003 ). This agency and communion are then perceived as the fundamental motivators in men's and women's behaviors ( Bakan, 1966 ). However, researchers argue that these perceptions have changed in the contemporary world of work, which has been promoted by females' income-generating activities ( Eagly et al. , 2020 ). Social and economic developments took place, and United Nations initiatives (e.g. human rights, gender equality, nondiscrimination against women, women in development programs) ( Benería et al. , 2015 ) have backed this females' income generation in the mid-20th century in most countries ( Attanapola, 2004 ; Boehnke, 2011 ; Zosuls et al. , 2011 ). These female income generation activities have, in turn, resulted in changes in social role distribution where both men and women are now in multiple roles as parents, employees, employers, volunteers, friends, spouses, siblings, etc. ( Najeema, 2010 ; Perrigino et al. , 2021 ). Thus, peoples' various roles include women's work in men's roles and vice versa ( Blau and Kahn, 2006 ; Mergaert, 2012 ) while playing their traditional roles ( Eagly et al. , 2020 ). This trend has evolved the traditional gender role stereotypes into changing gender stereotypes during the last 50 years ( Blau and Kahn, 2006 ; Mergaert, 2012 ; Priyashantha et al. , 2021b ).

Even though it has been almost 50 years for research into changing gender stereotypes, there are scholarly arguments for the prevalence of traditional gender stereotypes ( Haines et al. , 2016 ; Rudman et al. , 2012 ; Rudman and Glick, 2001 ). Some theoretical bases and the prevalence of some cultures that value gender stereotyping further support these scholarly arguments. Meanwhile, there is an opinion that gender stereotyping violates human rights ( Tabassum and Nayak, 2021 ). Such an opinion is justified by the fact that gender stereotyping limits the capacity of women and men to develop their attributes or professional skills and make decisions about their lives and plans ( Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights, 2014 ). Therefore, researchers have been highly interested in finding whether gender stereotypes have changed or not in societies ( Bosak et al. , 2018 ; Eagly et al. , 2020 ; Haines et al. , 2016 ; Lopez-Zafra and Garcia-Retamero, 2012 , 2021 ; Twenge, 1997a , b ; Ugwu, 2021 ). Instead, it is reported that there are more gender gaps in employment participation in some countries. If the gender stereotypes have changed, theoretically, there should be no such gender gap. Researching this question, the researchers have also been interested in how gender stereotypes change cross-culturally ( Boehnke, 2011 ; Constantin and Voicu, 2015 ; Diekman et al. , 2005 ; Diekman and Eagly, 2000 ; Lopez-Zafra and Garcia-Retamero, 2011 ). Accordingly, they have found that gender stereotypes have changed in Europe ( Berkery et al. , 2013 ; Boehnke, 2011 ; Garcia-Retamero et al. , 2011 ; Lopez-Zafra and Garcia-Retamero, 2012 ) and America ( Alfieri et al. , 1996 ; Beere et al. , 1984 ; Bem, 1974 ; Broverman et al. , 1970 ; Deaux and Lewis, 1984 ; Gill et al. , 1987 ; Lueptow et al. , 1995 ; Parelius, 1975 ; Spence and Hahn, 2016 ; Twenge, 1997a ; Twenge et al. , 2012 ; Zosuls et al. , 2011 ). In addition to that, researchers have found that the gender stereotype change has taken place in East Asia ( Boehnke, 2011 ), Africa ( Bosak et al. , 2018 ) and the Arab World ( Sikdar and Mitra, 2012 ) as well. Some global level studies also confirm that gender stereotype change has occurred in most countries with minor exceptions ( Brown, 1991 ; Charlesworth and Banaji, 2021 ; Constantin and Voicu, 2015 ; Williams and Best, 1990 ). We know that if something happened, this could have various outcomes related to the incident. Accordingly, as the gender stereotype change has also taken place, there could be multiple outcomes associated with it. However, to the best of our knowledge, there is minimal research on this subject matter ( Priyashantha et al. , 2021c ).

Therefore, with the expectation of finding the outcomes of gender stereotype change, we positioned the central question of the current study as, what is the impact of gender stereotype change? Thus, the present study systematically and quantitatively analyzes selected literature in the last 50 years to identify the outcomes of gender stereotypes and gaps in the prevailing knowledge.

Methodology

This article is positioned as Systematic Literature Review (SLR). The SLRs require a prior protocol to be developed to document the inclusion and exclusion of studies and analysis methods ( Pahlevan-Sharif et al. , 2019 ). We did a comprehensive literature search for this study, and a protocol was designed before the article search. There is a standard way of reporting the SLR known as Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA- Liberati et al. , 2009 ), which is highly recommended in Medicine. However, as there is no such framework in social sciences, authors who intend to conduct the SLR tend to use the narrative and arbitrary guidelines ( Pahlevan-Sharif et al. , 2019 ; Petticrew and Roberts, 2006 ). Instead, in this study, for the article selection process to be objective and systematic, we followed the PRISMA article selection flow chart steps to select the articles.

The PRISMA article selection flow diagram has four steps: identification, screening, eligibility and included, and we followed them in the article selection. The identifications stage includes database, search terms and search criteria. The databases were Scopus and Ebscohost for searching the articles. The search terms were “gender stereotype change” and “outcomes.” The search criteria or algorithm was developed by combining the terms with AND operative, and each search term was given similar words combined with OR operative. Accordingly, we retrieved 56 articles from Scopus and 68 Articles from EBSCOhost databases. Subsequently, the retrieved list containing the title, abstract, keywords, authors' names and affiliations, journal name, cited numbers and year, etc., was exported to a Microsoft Excel sheet. The duplicates were then searched and removed.

The screening stage includes eliminating the articles when their titles and abstracts do not meet the inclusion criteria ( Meline, 2006 ). The inclusion criteria for the current study were the “empirical studies” published in “academic journals” in “English” on “gender stereotype change” during the “1970–2020” period. Thus, the reason for selecting 1970 as the entry point was that gender stereotype change started in 1970, and it was extended to 2020 to include more studies for the review. Each author of the current research independently went through each title and abstract and eliminated the studies that did not meet the inclusion criteria. Notably, if there was any disagreement about elimination was resolved through discussion and consensus. Hence, we excluded 73 articles that were based on “review,” “qualitative,” “books,” “book chapters,” “magazines,” “conference papers,” “non-English” and “non-relevance to the current study's scope.” Then, the remaining 50 articles' full-text versions were retrieved for assessing their eligibility, which is the next step of the PRISMA flow diagram.

Since the articles have already been screened out up to this stage, evaluating their methodological reporting for eligibility checking is much better ( Meline, 2006 ). It is justifiable as we had taken an inclusion criterion as “empirical studies.” Thus, the evaluation areas may be the population, methodology, methods, design, context, etc., and can find the reasons for excluding the articles as “ambiguous methods” and “required original information from the author,” etc. ( Meline, 2006 ). Accordingly, we independently evaluated each article on such grounds. We identified some studies based on qualitative reviews, perspectives, ambiguous methods and some sought original information about the methodology from the authors. They all were excluded through our discussion and consensus. In total, we identified 35 papers as irrelevant at this stage, and finally, we selected 15 articles for the review. They are shown in Table 1 , and the process we followed for article selection is shown in Figure 1 .

The Microsoft Excel sheet was then modified, and the data in it were fed into the VOSviewer Software to run the keyword co-occurrence and term co-occurrence network visualization maps. That was to identify the core themes in the selected studies scientifically. Notably, the keyword co-occurrence is to identify the main areas touched from the keywords of the studies as the keywords of a research article denote its primary content on a particular field of investigation. Moreover, the term co-occurrence analysis is to identify more about studies than the keywords co-occurrence as it searches key terms reflected in the titles and abstracts of each article.

Results and analysis

This section is mainly organized to present the results of the SLR and analyze them. It primarily consists of two sections: descriptive analysis and literature classification.

Descriptive analysis

The year-wise article distribution is shown in Figure 2 . Even the 50 years considered for the review, the empirical studies reported on outcomes of gender stereotype change since 1998. Figure 2 shows that at least one empirical study has been conducted for each year during the 1998–2020 period. Moreover, there is a high frequency of studies in 2005, 2017 and 2018 years. Table 2 shows the methodological reporting of the studies. It reveals that studies have been conducted based on large samples drawn on panel surveys. The information ensures the validity of the selected studies for the review, as we had an inclusion criterion for selecting papers as “empirical studies.” Concerning the context under which studies were conducted ( Figure 3 ), the USA takes the led by having seven empirical studies published (1970–2020). Canada is in the second position having two studies during the period. Australia, China, the Netherlands, Norway, Spain and United Kingdom have conducted one study each.

Literature classification

The classification of results is critical in finding out actual work done on the objective set for the research ( Jabeen et al. , 2020 ; Priyashantha et al. , 2021a ). Since the main research objective of the current study was to identify the outcomes of the gender stereotype change, this section mainly classifies the results relating to that. As the keyword co-occurrence network analysis is suitable for identifying the critical areas on a particular investigation, we used it for our study to answer the study's central question. Figure 4 shows the output of it.

The size of the node denotes the number of occurrences in a keyword co-occurrences visualization map. Hence, the higher the number of occurrences, the larger the node's size. Thus, our analysis of the keyword co-occurrences found that “gender,” “employment” and “longitudinal research” denoted in larger nodes in the map ( Figure 4 ). It reveals that they are the keywords that have frequently occurred in studies. We know that “gender” is highly associated with gender stereotypes. It may be a justifiable reason why it happens so often in studies. “Employment” opportunities are also justifiable since it has been proven that employment opportunities have been a significant cause for gender stereotypes changes ( Eagly et al. , 2020 ). Moreover, as almost all the studies in the sample have adopted the “longitudinal research” design, the keyword “longitudinal research” has also fallen to the frequently occurring category. It demonstrates the methods used by the selected articles and their suitability to the current study.

Additionally, Figure 4 shows four main clusters denoted in different colors containing different keywords in each cluster. More specifically, Table 3 shows the number of terms in each cluster, indicating that changing gender stereotype outcomes varied by different areas of investigations. Grouping the keywords into one cluster is regarded as the keywords' likelihood to reflect similar topics. Hence, clusters one and two (as stated in Table 3 ) have the highest number of keywords and suggest that the topics highlighted in those are the centralized fields in gender stereotype change and outcome research. Thus, the central areas highlighted are “attitudes,” “cohabitation,” “fertility,” “life course,” “living arrangements,” “marriage,” “couples,” “employment,” “family economics,” “gender roles,” “longitudinal research” and “marital quality.”

Moreover, the term co-occurrence network visualization map created by the VOSviewer software ( Figure 5 ) is treated as more detailed than the keyword co-occurrence analysis. It provides an analysis that goes beyond the keywords as it further investigates the areas focused on in the title and abstracts of the studies. Hence, creating this type of map further identified the areas frequently investigated on gender stereotypes change outcomes. Accordingly, Figure 5 categorized the terms into three clusters in Blue, Red and Green. In the Blue cluster, there are two terms as “family” and “child.” A common theme can be formed for them as family and child-related outcomes. As we did a detailed search for the outcomes in each article, we could summarize them in Table 4 . Hence, we could extract different family and children-related outcomes from Table 4 . They are; “Family Role Overload and Stress” ( Duxbury et al. , 2018 ), “Subsequent School Enrollment” ( Cunningham et al. , 2005 ), “Fewer Children” ( Barber and Axinn, 1998 ), “Delay in Marital Parenthood” ( Cunningham et al. , 2005 ) and “Children's Convergence of Egalitarian Attitudes” ( Dawson et al. , 2016 ).

Concerning the family and children-related outcomes, Duxbury et al. (2018) have found that the “family role overload” of both husbands and wives was consequent in changing gender stereotype contexts. The sense of family role overload then becomes a strong predictor of couples' “perceived stress” ( Duxbury et al. , 2018 ). The perceived stress can undermine the health and well-being of people. The literature confirms that “psychological strains” and “disorders” ( Hébert et al. , 2017 ), “adverse impacts on the immune system” ( Barry et al. , 2020 ; Cohen et al. , 1999 ), “low quality of life,” “insomnia,” “burnout” ( Ribeiro et al. , 2018 ) and “family distress” ( Aryee et al. , 1999 ) resultant from the stress. When the stress becomes to distress level, there is a high possibility of causing chronic diseases and mortality ( Barry et al. , 2020 ). Therefore, these findings provide more implications for the policymakers to emphasize reducing those negative outcomes.

Apart from this, young adults' biases toward changing gender role attitudes can cause “subsequent school enrolments” ( Ciabattari, 2001 ; Cunningham et al. , 2005 ). It is severe, particularly among women, as they need to acquire knowledge to upgrade their employment status ( Cunningham et al. , 2005 ) and be independent ( Goldscheider and Goldscheider, 1993 ). However, later school enrollment may hinder performing family roles of adults as intensive time is devoted to education ( Marini, 1978 ). Moreover, women with changing attitudes toward gender roles are “less likely to have children” ( Barber and Axinn, 1998 ) and “delay in marital parenthood” ( Cunningham et al. , 2005 ). As a result, the future society could go into a severe crisis regarding population growth ( Barber and Axinn, 1998 ). It could be challenging to find people for growth prospects in economies. Therefore, the policymakers need to consider this seriously and try to overcome that. In the meantime, scholars need to focus on further research on this outcome to confirm this viewpoint further.

The last outcome of the family and children-related category is the “children's convergence of egalitarian attitudes” ( Dawson et al. , 2016 ). It indicates that gender stereotype changes could evolve over the generations and possibly consequent the different outcomes of gender stereotype change. It implies that more research on this area is required to find more associated outcomes.

The cluster in Red ( Figure 5 ) has categorized the terms as; “Role Attitude,” “Attitudes,” “Cohabitation,” “Marriage” and “Consequences.” Out of them, the “role attitudes,” “attitudes” and “consequences” are the general search terms related to the concept of gender stereotype change outcomes, and hence, we ignored them for review. However, the remaining two terms, “marriage” and “cohabitation,” were considered for the review. Since these terms are related to marriage, we themed them as “marriage-related.” Hence, marriage-related outcomes we found were “Increased Cohabitation, Low Marriage Rate” ( Barber and Axinn, 1998 ), “Delay in Marriage” ( Cunningham et al. , 2005 ), “Low Satisfaction,” “Low Relationship Quality,” “Low Stability in Marital Relationships” ( Blom and Hewitt, 2020 ) and “Attitude Convergence in Marriage” ( Kalmijn, 2005 ).

The “increased cohabitation,” “low marriage rate” ( Barber and Axinn, 1998 ) and “delay in marriage” ( Cunningham et al. , 2005 ) can subsequently impact the population growth negatively ( Barber and Axinn, 1998 ). If such outcomes exist over time, it could be a barrier to the progression of societies. However, another finding reveals that gender stereotype change increases childbirth to single parents in recent decades ( Cunningham et al. , 2005 ). Therefore, it is difficult to directly conclude that such outcomes negatively affect population growth or societal progression. More research is needed to find the associated outcomes of these consequences so that reasonable judgments can be made whether such outcomes generate more negative or positive effects on the population, society or any other.

Moreover, in marital relationships, Australian-related research has found that “low satisfaction,” “low relationship quality” and “low stability” ( Blom and Hewitt, 2020 ) were consequent from the gender stereotype changes. All of which resemble negative outcomes by their surface nature. However, another finding reveals that “attitude convergence in marriage” ( Kalmijn, 2005 ) occurred due to gender stereotype changes. It is contrary to the previous finding, which is a positive outcome by its surface nature.

Most importantly, for these types of outcomes, positivity or negativity is dependent on cultural values. The negative outcomes as “low satisfaction,” “low relationship quality” and “low stability” may be very accurate for the cultures which value male breadwinner family structures ( Blom and Hewitt, 2020 ). However, more opposing consequences, like “attitude convergence in marriage” ( Kalmijn, 2005 ), can be found in cultures with more egalitarian values like Nordic countries ( Vitali and Arpino, 2016 ). Hence, in total, the positivity or negativity of outcomes is a matter of societal and cultural values. Therefore, generalizing interpretations about the positivity or negativity of each outcome is suitable with more cross-cultural research. Similarly, further research is needed regarding the associated outcomes of each of these outcomes.

Finally, the Green cluster has the terms as; “Outcomes,” “Gender Differences,” “Gender Egalitarianism,” “Work” and “Women.” As in other clusters, we had a common search term, “outcome,” in this cluster, and we ignored it. Except that, the terms “gender difference” and “gender egalitarianism” seem to represent a common theme of “equality.” The remaining terms “work” and “women” are merged, and a theme can be given as “women's employment.” Thus, this cluster is then characterized by the theme of “equality and women employments.” Specifically, under this cluster, we found the outcomes of “Reduction of Gender Role Stereotyping” ( Dawson et al. , 2016 ), “Egalitarian Essentialism” ( Cotter et al. , 2011 ), “Non-Difference in Men or Women for Work-Life” ( Lyness and Judiesch, 2014 ) and “Gender Differences in Personality Cross-Culturally” ( Schmitt et al. , 2017 ), and they can be related to the equality. Similarly, the “Women's Full-Time Employment,” “Women's Independent Living” ( Cunningham et al. , 2005 ), “More Working Hours” and “More Income for Women” ( Corrigall and Konrad, 2007 ) and “Increased Entrepreneurial Intention of Women” ( Perez-Quintana et al. , 2017 ) were found, and they can be categorized under the theme of women's employment. Moreover, the outcomes of the “Reduction of the Women's Disadvantage in Entering Male-Dominated Occupations” ( He and Zhou, 2018 ) and “Economic Rationality of Females” ( Onozaka and Hafzi, 2019 ) are also categorized to the theme of “women's employment.”

Thus, the “equality” related outcomes in the “equality and women's employment,” the “reduction of traditional gender role stereotyping” ( Dawson et al. , 2016 ), “egalitarian essentialism” ( Cotter et al. , 2011 ) and “non-difference in men or women for work-life” ( Lyness and Judiesch, 2014 ) may change in different cultural contexts. As we have various cultural contexts that value either traditional gender norms or gender stereotype change, more cross-cultural research is needed to interpret such outcomes. Moreover, one cross-cultural study found that a “gender difference in personality” is consequenced even though people's gender stereotype attitudes have already changed ( Schmitt et al. , 2017 ). Therefore, this finding confirms the overall behavioral diversity of people, including diversity in gender role behaviors, although the equality of gender roles is emphasized.

Concerning women's employment-related outcomes, such as increases in “women's full-time employment opportunities” ( Cunningham et al. , 2005 ), “reduction of women's disadvantage in entering male-dominated occupations” ( He and Zhou, 2018 ), “more working hours and more income for women” ( Corrigall and Konrad, 2007 ) and “their increased entrepreneurial intention” ( Perez-Quintana et al. , 2017 ), women's “economic rationality” ( Onozaka and Hafzi, 2019 ) reveals the women's improved economic status. Moreover, the findings like increased “women's independent living” ( Cunningham et al. , 2005 ) represent their independent decision-making. The positive side of these is that they reduce the gender gap in employment participation and the ultimate contribution to economic growth. However, since we have different cultures worldwide, more cross-cultural research is needed to generalize this. As discussed under “family and children” related outcomes, the negative side of women's employment-related outcomes is the missing family responsibilities or adverse health effects and low reproductivity. Therefore, this provides an implication for policymakers to avoid those harmful effects. In the meantime, as the socialization forces are diverse over time ( Brown and Stone, 2016 ), researchers can further test whether these types of outcomes exist over time.

In the network visualization map in Figure 5 , the circles' size denotes the number of occurrences. It suggests that the higher the number of occurrences, the larger the circle's size. Accordingly, the term “women” is then considered to be the frequently used term. It implies that the women-related outcomes should have been investigated repeatedly. However, even the term “women” has been found to be co-occurred many times in this study, our detailed analysis of each article found that the different women-related outcomes have been investigated only once. Instead, the other outcomes related to terms represented by the nodes in Figure 5 have not been co-occurred or tested frequently in the studies. Hence, overall, more research is needed to be a well-established knowledge on each outcome of stereotype change found in this study.

Gender stereotype change has been given scholarly attention since the 1970s. Traditional gender stereotypes have evolved into gender stereotype change or egalitarian gender stereotypes with females' participation in employment ( Brandth et al. , 2017 ; Mergaert et al. , 2013 ). This gender stereotype change has created various outcomes in various areas. This SLR studied the outcomes of gender stereotype change in the literature during the 1970–2020 period. The literature search was conducted using the Scopus and EBSCOhost databases. Empirical studies were mainly focused on selecting the articles. Initially, we extracted 124 articles for screening. After assessing their eligibility, we finally selected 15 articles for the review. They were subjected to the keyword and term co-occurrence analysis for finding the themes of gender stereotypes change outcomes.

The findings reveal that outcomes of gender stereotypes change are under the main themes of “family and children,” “marriage” and “equality and women's employment.” There are very few studies found relating to the “family and children” related outcomes. They are “Family Role Overload and Stress” ( Duxbury et al. , 2018 ), “Fewer Children” ( Barber and Axinn, 1998 ), “Later School Enrollment” ( Cunningham et al. , 2005 ) and “Children's Convergence of Egalitarian Attitudes” ( Dawson et al. , 2016 ). Of these results, it was found that all other results, except for the convergence of children's egalitarian attitudes ( Dawson et al. , 2016 ), had some adverse effects, such as neglect of family responsibilities and negative effects on health and female fertility. They provide implications to policymakers to ovoid those harmful effects. Moreover, more research is needed to test whether these outcomes exist over time since the socialization forces are diverse ( Brown and Stone, 2016 ).

Compared to the “family and children” related outcomes, more outcomes have found “marriage” associated outcomes. They are “Increase Cohabitation,” “Low Marriage Rate” ( Barber and Axinn, 1998 ), “Delay in Marriage” ( Cunningham et al. , 2005 ), “Attitude Convergence in Marriage” ( Kalmijn, 2005 ), “Low Satisfaction,” “Lower Relationship Quality” and “Low Stability in Marital Relationships” ( Blom and Hewitt, 2020 ). “The Increase in Cohabitation,” “Low Marriage Rate” ( Barber and Axinn, 1998 ) and “Delay in Marriage” ( Cunningham et al. , 2005 ) can further negatively impact the population growth ( Barber and Axinn, 1998 ). However, more research is needed regarding these outcomes and their associated outcomes to generalize whether they generate more positive or negative consequences. Moreover, concerning all the marriage-related outcomes, their positivity or negativity cannot be determined from their surface interpretation. More research is needed to be done on the associated outcomes of each of these outcomes. Moreover, as the marriage-related outcomes are subjected to cultural perspectives on gender roles, we cannot determine the positivity or negativity of such outcomes without doing more cross-cultural studies. Therefore, more cross-cultural research is needed.

Compared to the family and children and marriage-related outcomes, more outcomes were found relating to equality and women's employment-related category. For the analysis purposes, we further categorized them into two sub-themes as equality and women's employment-related. The “equality”-related outcomes found were; “Reduction of Traditional Gender Role Stereotyping” ( Dawson et al. , 2016 ), “Egalitarian Essentialism” ( Cotter et al. , 2011 ), “Non-Difference in Men or Women for Work-Life” ( Lyness and Judiesch, 2014 ), “Gender Difference in Personality” ( Schmitt et al. , 2017 ). We believe that these outcomes may change in different cultural contexts. Hence, more cross-cultural research is needed to make generalizations. Similarly, the women's employment-related outcomes found were: increases in “Women's Full-Time Employment Opportunities” ( Cunningham et al. , 2005 ), “Reduction of Women's Disadvantage in Entering Male-Dominated Occupations” ( He and Zhou, 2018 ), “More Working Hours and More Income for Women” ( Corrigall and Konrad, 2007 ), “Women's Increased Entrepreneurial Intention” ( Perez-Quintana et al. , 2017 ), “Women's Independent Living” ( Cunningham et al. , 2005 ) and their “Economic Rationality” ( Onozaka and Hafzi, 2019 ). These outcomes reveal the improved economic status and independent living of females. These can help reduce the employment gender gap that ultimately contributes to economic growth. For this also, more cross-cultural research is needed to make more generalizations. It is proven in this study that family responsibilities are missed and have adverse effects on health and reproductivity when females are involved in employment opportunities. Therefore, the outcomes provide an implication for the policymakers to ovoid those harmful effects. Moreover, more research is needed to test whether these outcomes exist over time since the socialization forces are diverse ( Brown and Stone, 2016 ).

Practicality and research implications

There are implications for future researchers from the findings of the current research. Although the 50 years considered for reviewing the literature on gender stereotype outcomes, we were able to find very few outcomes from only 15 studies conducted on an empirical basis. Therefore, more research is needed on this area. More specifically, gender stereotyping is coupled with cultural values on gender norms. Mainly, we have cultures on gender role stereotyping and gender role egalitarianism. Therefore, future researches need to focus more research on a cross-cultural basis. Moreover, since the socialization forces are diverse, complex and continuously evolving, more research is essential to have a well-established knowledge of gender stereotype change outcomes.

Additionally, the outcome of “Family Role Overload and Stress” ( Duxbury et al. , 2018 ) has a high possibility to create more health risks to the employees whose gender role attitude changed. Moreover, “Fewer Children” ( Barber and Axinn, 1998 ), “Later School Enrollment” ( Cunningham et al. , 2005 ), “Increase in Cohabitation,” “Low Marriage Rate” ( Barber and Axinn, 1998 ) and “Delay in Marriage” ( Cunningham et al. , 2005 ), and all the outcomes of women employment-related category can negatively impact on population growth. Therefore, they provide implications to policymakers to ovoid those harmful effects.

PRISMA article selection flow diagram

Year-wise research article distribution

Country-wise article publication

Keywords co-occurrence network visualization map

Term co-occurrence network visualization map

Included articles for the review

Source(s): Authors created (2021)

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Acknowledgements

Funding : No funding was available for this research

Authors Contributions : All authors contributed to the study conception, design, material preparation, data collection and analysis. All versions of drafts of the manuscript were written by Author 1, and other authors commented and revised. All authors read and approved the final manuscript.

Availability: Data collected during the current study are not publicly available. However, they can be available from the corresponding author upon reasonable request.

Conflicts of Interest : On behalf of all authors, the corresponding author states that there is no conflict of interest.

Corresponding author

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Breaking Gender Stereotype

In a world where ideas of what it means to be a man or a woman are often still narrowly defined by stereotypes and media messages, HGSE has long been at the vanguard of change, with faculty members, students, and alumni working to help young people develop confidence in their identities, tackling toxic masculinity and supporting girls’ confidence, and breaking down gender binaries.

HGSE has led the conversation about gender roles, gender identity, and gender stereotypes — helping young people become who they are.

Building on the foundations laid by developmental psychologist and former faculty member Carol Gilligan and the Harvard Center on Gender and Education, HGSE graduates have generated innovative research and developed strategies and practices to help educators address gender in their schools and communities.

"I became interested in how men and women unconsciously collude with societies and cultures that have ruled out women's voices. That's when I began to look at how people over the millennia have found their way to change, and I realized that education is the nonviolent revolution," Gilligan told HGSE News.

Lyn Mikel Brown , Ed.D.'89, worked with Gilligan on the influential book, Meeting at the Crossroads: Women’s Psychology and Girls’ Development , identifying the uncertainties girls face as they enter adolescence. Brown has gone on to research and write books about female friendships, sexualization of teenage girls, and female empowerment. An activist, Brown has also co-founded organizations like SPARK Movement and Hardy Girls Healthy Women, which work to build supportive, feminist, anti-racist coalitions.

Yet boys too face their own gender-based developmental challenges, as noted in Packaging Boyhood: Saving Our Sons from Superheroes, Slackers, and Other Media Stereotypes? , written by Brown with Sharon Lamb , Ed.M.'80, Ed.D.'88, and Mark Tappan , Ed.D.'87, and in Deep Secrets: Boys' Friendship and the Crisis of Connections , by psychologist Niobe Way , Ed.M.’94.

"One of our messages in the end is there are still really important conversations parents and teachers can have with boys about the narrow stereotypes that are not benign but could have an effect on their propensity for violence or their performance in school or how they treat girls," Tappan told Harvard Ed. magazine. "…It's easy to take a 'boys will be boys' attitude, but I think there could be more conversations with boys growing up about those kinds of messages."

Forming healthy relationships is central to Making Caring Common ’s (MCC) recent report that looks at the intersection of hookup culture, sexual harassment, and misogyny. To promote the essential conversations between teens and the adults that lead to the growth of healthy attitudes and relationships, MCC developed resources to help parents and teachers lead the discussion.

Jeff Perrotti , C.A.S.’85, has also recognized that schools and adults have a vital role to play in sending messages about gender and identity. As director of the Massachusetts Safe Schools Program for LGBTQ students, Perrotti provides training for teachers and support for transgender students. Since he started offering trainings for staff and faculty in the 90s, requests for assistance have grown. During the 2015–16 school year, the Safe Schools Program conducted 315 trainings and technical assistance sessions. In 2016–17, as of May, the number was already at 432.

“It’s exciting, the different collaborations we’ve had, everything from afterschool programs to adult education. There are a lot of opportunities…. There’s a whole other wave [of interest], sometimes prompted by a student transitioning. It’s a great opportunity to talk about gender identity," Perrotti said .

Following in Perrotti’s footsteps, a new group of HGSE students, including educators Kimm Topping and Jared Fox, are centering their work around supporting the gender and identity development of all students. Much like Gilligan, they advocate for listening to the stories and voices of those who were not previously included in the conversation.

“Yes, we need policies and laws,"  said Topping, Ed.M.'20, "but we also need to have empathy and to understand why we’re breaking down the gender binary. It’s about getting people to connect and being patient.” – Emily Boudreau

Learn More and Connect

Listen to episodes of the Harvard EdCast with Lyn Mikel Brown , Mark Tappan , Niobe Way , and Jeff Perrotti .

Learn more about Making Caring Common and its report, The Talk .

Read Harvard Ed. magazine features on supporting boys , girls , and transgender youth through adolescence.

124 Gender Stereotypes Essay Topic Ideas & Examples

Whether you are writing an argumentative paper or an essay about your personal experience, you’ll find something useful on this page. Check out this list of 120 gender stereotypes research titles put together by our experts .

💭 Top 10 Gender Bias Essay Topics

🏆 best gender stereotypes essay topics, 🎓 simple & easy gender stereotypes research titles, 📌 most interesting ideas for a gender stereotypes essay, ❓ research questions about gender stereotypes.

• Gender roles and how they influence the society.
• The gender pay gap in white collar occupations.
• The harms of gender stereotyping in school.
• Inequality between men and women in politics.
• Differences in gender stereotypes in the East and West.
• Gender representation in children’s media.
• Breaking gender stereotypes through education.
• Sexism and gender bias.
• Traditional gender roles in Western society.
• Gender discrimination in healthcare.
• Gender Stereotypes in the “Frozen” and “Shrek” Movies The motivations of female characters in Disney movies are directly tied to the development of goals and ambitions because it is the source of these notions.
• “The Blue Castle” by Lucy Maud Montgomery: Social Construction and Gender Stereotypes In the past decades, a female child in society had to be prepared for the roles of a mother and a wife to help her take care of the family when she gets married in […]
• Little Red Riding Hood: Breaking Gender Stereotypes On refusing marriage to the Roman prefect of the province, she was fed to Satan who came in the form of a dragon. By the time the wolf arrives, he cannot of course convince the […]
• Gender Stereotypes Found in Media The chosen image represents one of the most common gender biases women are obliged to do the chores because it is not men’s responsibility.
• Gender Stereotypes in Advertisement In addition, I think that this example has a negative contribution and can become harmful for limiting gender stereotypes due to the downplaying of the importance of women.
• Gender Stereotypes and Sexual Discrimination In this Ted Talk, Sandberg also raises a question regarding the changes that are needed to alter the current disbalance in the number of men and women that achieve professional excellence.
• Gender Stereotypes About Women Still Exist Given the fact that this is a whole intellectual sphere, the capabilities of males and females are equilibrated to the greatest extent.
• Media and Gender Stereotypes Against Females in Professional Roles Within the Criminal Justice The first and a half of the second episode were chosen as the pilot episode often reflects the essence of the entire show.
• Disney Princesses as Factors of Gender Stereotypes This research focused on determining the impact of Disney Princesses on of preschool age girls in the context of the transmission of gender stereotypes.
• Gender Stereotypes in Modern Society However, in this case, the problem is that because of such advertisements, men tend to achieve the shown kind of appearance and way of thinking.
• Femininity and Masculinity: Gender Stereotypes In conclusion, it is necessary to admit that femininity and masculinity are two sides of the same medal, and neither should be neglected.
• Sex and Gender Stereotypes: Similar and Different Points To conclude, the works by Devor and Rudacille touch upon the controversial topic of gender identification in the modern society. Nevertheless, both works are similar in their focus on the issues of sex, gender, sexuality, […]
• Problem of Gender Stereotypes in Weightlifting The Change paper is a combination of all the recommendations that can be useful in dealing with the problem of gender stereotypes in weightlifting.
• How Gender Stereotypes Affect Performance in Female Weightlifting One can therefore see that this decision reflected common perceptions among several stakeholders in the weightlifting industry and that the same is likely to occur in the future.
• “Bimbos and Rambos: The Cognitive Basis of Gender Stereotypes” by Matlin W.M. According to this theory, there exists a relationship between the cognitive processes of the brain and the beliefs that the individual leans and takes up according to his or her upbringing. The media tends to […]
• Gender Stereotypes and Human Emotions One of the easiest ways to check the connection between gender and emotions is to ask a person who prefers to demonstrate their emotions in public, a man or a woman.
• Gender Stereotypes and Influence on People’s Lives However, the overall development in human thought enhances the advancement in the framework of people’s understanding of the world around them.
• Gender Stereotyping Rates in the USA I do not feel that gender stereotypes in America are still strong because many women make more money than their husbands do nowadays, whereas men like to do housework and cook for their families.
• Gender Stereotypes: Interview with Dalal Al Rabah Women need a passion to succeed, to be of influence, and to make a difference in the daily living of their loved ones.
• Toxic Relationships and Gender Stereotypes According to the patient, they believe that a woman is responsible for the psychological climate and the psychological well-being of her husband.
• Confronting Gender Stereotypes It is imperative to confront the careless use of male and female stereotypes in order to preserve decency, community, and the lives of children and teenagers.
• Gender Stereotypes in Disney Princesses The evolvement of the princess image in the films of the studio represents the developing position of strong independent women in the society, but the princess stereotypes can harm the mentality of children.
• Gender Stereotypes in the Classroom Matthews notes that the teacher provides the opportunity for his students to control the situation by shaping the two groups. To reinforce the existing gender stereotypes in the given classroom, Mr.
• Gender Stereotypes in “Million Dollar Baby” Movie In order to enter the world of boxing, Maggie, the main heroine of Million Dollars Baby, had to overcome the adversities connected with gender stereotypes.
• Dr. Stacy Smith’ View on Women Gender Stereotypes Stacy Smith, the author is unfortunate that despite the fact that population of men and women is equal, the womenfolk, the society is not really to accept this equality in assigning roles, even when a […]
• Influence of activating implicit gender stereotypes in females The results revealed that the participants who were subjected to the gender based prime performed relatively poorly compared to their counterparts on the nature prime.
• Towards Evaluating the Relationship Between Gender Stereotypes & Culture It is therefore the object of this paper to examine the relationship between gender stereotypes and culture with a view to elucidating how gender stereotypes, reinforced by our diverse cultural beliefs, continue to allocate roles […]
• The Smurfette Principle: Gender Stereotypes and Pop-Culture After watching “The Little Mermaid”, and reading “The Cat in the Hat”, Sophie is left disgusted by the peripheral role that female characters play in the media.
• How contemporary toys enforce gender stereotypes in the UK Children defined some of the physical attributes of the toys.”Baby Annabell Function Doll” is a likeness of a baby in that it that it has the size and physical features of a baby.
• Gender Studies: Gender Stereotypes From what is portrayed in the media, it is possible for people to dismiss others on the basis of whether they have masculinity or are feminine.
• Gender stereotypes of superheroes The analysis is based on the number of male versus female characters, the physical characteristic of each individual character, the ability to solve a problem individually as either male or female and both males and […]
• Gender Stereotypes on Television Gender stereotyping in television commercials is a topic that has generated a huge debate and it is an important topic to explore to find out how gender roles in voice-overs TV commercials and the type […]
• How Gender Stereotypes Are Portrayed On The Television Series
• Hollywood is a Vessel for Enforcing Gender Stereotypes
• Gender Stereotypes Of Early Childhood Education
• Gender Stereotypes Among Children’s Toys
• Color and Female Gender Stereotypes: What They Are, How They Came About and What They Mean
• An Analysis of Gender Stereotypes in Boys Don’t Cry, a Film by Kimberly Peirce
• The Role Media Plays In Relation To Gender Stereotypes
• Gender Stereotypes Of Media And Its Effect On Society
• English Postcolonial Animal Tales and Gender Stereotypes
• Gender Stereotypes : The Ugly Truth
• Gender Stereotypes and Discrimination in Sports and the Lack of Women in Leadership Position in Professional Sports
• Female Development and the Impact of Gender Stereotypes
• The Hidden Gender Stereotypes in the Animations the Little Mermaid and Tangled
• Gender Stereotypes In The Ordeal Of Gilbert Pinfold
• Gender Stereotypes And The Gender Of A Baby
• Gender Stereotypes in Advertising and the Media
• An Overview of Gender Stereotypes in the United States
• An Overview of Gender Stereotypes During Childhood
• The Issue of Gender Stereotypes and Its Contribution to Gender Inequality in the Second Presidential Debate
• The Impact of Gender Stereotypes in Commercial Advertisements on Family Dynamics
• How Does Gender Stereotypes Affect Today ‘s Society
• Gender Stereotypes on Television, Advertisements and Childrens Television Programs
• Gender Stereotypes in Non-Traditional Sports
• The Importance Of Gender Stereotypes
• How Do Gender Stereotypes Affect The Decisions Our Youth
• Gender Stereotypes in Movies and Their Influence on Gender Nonconforming Movies
• Stereotypes And Stereotypes Of Gender Stereotypes
• The Effects of Advertising in Reinforcing Gender Stereotypes
• Gender Differences and Gender Stereotypes from a Psychological Perspective
• An Analysis of Gender Differences and Gender Stereotypes
• Female Discourse and Gender Stereotypes in Eliot’s Novel
• As You Like It and Gender Stereotypes Based On Rosalind
• Gender Stereotypes Of Harry Potter And The Sorcerer ‘s Stone
• Gender Stereotypes in Achebe’s Dead Men’s Path
• Gender Stereotypes And Stereotypes Of A Child ‘s Play Sets
• Advertising and Gender Stereotypes: How Culture is Made
• Gender Stereotypes Are Challenged By Children And Adolescence
• Gender Stereotypes Of Advertising And Marketing Campaigns
• Does Mainstream Media Have a Duty to Challenge Gender Stereotypes
• A Social Constructivist Approach on the Heterosexual Matrix and Gender Stereotypes
• Gender Stereotypes of Women in Society, Sports, and Workforce
• The Factors That Influence Gender Roles, Gender Identity and Gender Stereotypes
• Gender Stereotypes And Its Effect On Society
• Are Gender Stereotypes Perpetuated In Children’s Magazines
• Gender Stereotypes And Gender Discrimination
• An Explanation of Gender Stereotypes from a Scene in the Movie, Tootsie
• An Analysis of Gender Stereotypes in Today’s Society
• Gender Stereotypes And The Credibility Of Newspaper Articles Associated
• Gender Stereotypes And Behaviors Of Men And Women
• Gender Stereotypes In Boys And Girls By Alice Munro
• Media Affects How We View Gender Stereotypes
• Media and Its Effects on Gender Stereotypes
• How Does Advertising Reinforce Gender Stereotypes?
• Are Gender Stereotypes Perpetuated in Children’s Magazines?
• How Do Contemporary Toys Enforce Gender Stereotypes in the UK?
• Can Gender Quotas Break Down Negative Stereotypes?
• How Do Gender Stereotypes Affect Today’s Society?
• Are Sexist Attitudes and Gender Stereotypes Linked?
• How Does Ridley Scott Create and Destroy Gender Stereotypes in Thelma and Louise?
• Does Mainstream Media Have a Duty to Challenge Gender Stereotypes?
• How Does the Proliferation of Gender Stereotypes Affect Modern Society?
• Why Do Children Learn Gender Stereotypes?
• How Do Gender Roles and Stereotypes Affect Children?
• Do Men and Women Differ in Their Gender Stereotypes?
• How Are Gender Stereotypes Depicted in “A Farewell to Arms” by Hemingway?
• What Are the Problems of Gender Stereotyping?
• How Have Gender Stereotypes Always Been a Part of Society?
• What Are the Factors That Determine Gender Stereotypes?
• How Do Gender Stereotypes Warp Our View of Depression?
• What Influences Gender Roles in Today’s Society?
• How Do Jane Eyre and the Works of Robert Browning Subvert Gender Stereotypes?
• What Is the Difference Between Gender Roles and Gender Stereotypes?
• How Do Magazines Create Gender Stereotypes?
• Where Did Gender Stereotypes Originate?
• How Does the Society Shape and Stereotypes Gender Roles?
• Why Do Gender Roles Change Over Time?
• How Do Gender Stereotypes Affect Students?
• What Is the Role of Family in Gender Stereotyping?
• How Can Gender Stereotypes Be Overcome?
• Can Stereotypes Be Changed?
• How Does Culture Influence Gender Stereotypes?
• How Can We Prevent Gender Stereotypes in Schools?
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STEM-Gender Stereotypes: Associations With School Empowerment and School Engagement Among Italian and Nigerian Adolescents

Pasquale musso.

1 Department of Educational Sciences, Psychology, Communication, University of Studies of Bari Aldo Moro, Bari, Italy

Maria Beatrice Ligorio

2 Department of Science Education, University of Nigeria, Nsukka, Nigeria

Susanna Annese

Cristina semeraro, rosalinda cassibba, associated data.

The raw data supporting the conclusions of this article will be made available upon reasonable request by the authors, without undue reservation.

While many sociocultural, contextual, biological, behavioral, and psychological variables may contribute to the widespread under-representation of girls and women in the science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) field, this study focused on STEM-gender stereotypes, school experiences, and adolescence as critical factors in driving students' interest and motivation in STEM. Based on this, the study (a) investigated differences by gender and national context (Italy vs. Nigeria) in adolescents' STEM-gender stereotypes, school empowerment, and school engagement in a preliminary step, and (b) simultaneously examined how adolescents' STEM-gender stereotypes were related to school empowerment and school engagement as well as to socioeconomic status (SES). These latter relations were considered within the context of the potential moderating role of gender and national context. Participants included 213 Italian adolescents (M age = 13.91; 52.1% girls) and 214 Nigerian adolescents (M age = 13.92; 60.3% girls), who completed measures of school empowerment and engagement, STEM-gender stereotypes, and SES. A multivariate analysis of covariance showed that Nigerian girls and boys reported significantly higher levels of school empowerment, school engagement, and STEM-gender stereotypes than their Italian peers. Moreover, regardless of the national context, boys scored significantly higher on school empowerment and STEM-gender stereotypes than girls. Furthermore, a multiple-group path analysis revealed how higher school empowerment was related to lower STEM-gender stereotypes in both Italian and Nigerian girls' groups, while higher school engagement was associated with lower STEM-gender stereotypes only in the Nigerian groups. Regardless of gender and nationality, higher SES was linked to lower STEM-gender stereotypes. These findings particularly suggest that school empowerment and school engagement can be relevant dimensions to be studied and to develop strategies to counteract STEM-gender stereotypes in adolescence. Nonetheless, gender and national context are key factors to be considered. Limitations, strengths, future research, and educational implications are discussed.

Introduction

Science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) education is one of the key factors for preparing students for in-demand careers worldwide (e.g., Marginson et al., 2013 ; Zilberman and Ice, 2021 ; Eurostat, 2022 ). The continually evolving STEM sectors produce increasing opportunities to find entry-level work positions. This trend is proven not only in low- and middle-income countries, like those in Africa, where STEM education is strongly supported as a critical investment for social and economic development (World Bank, 2014 ) but also in high-income industrial countries. For example, in Italy 80% of STEM graduates find work within 1 year after graduation and this percentage becomes 92.1% within 5 years after graduation. These employment rates are significantly higher than those observed for graduates as a whole (AlmaLaurea, 2022 ) and confirm that new jobs are emerging within our economies, which require knowledge and skills in STEM. In addition to youth employment issues, global problems such as climate change, nutrition of a growing population, or growth of the economy itself can be better afforded by a new generation of well-educated young people in STEM. Therefore, STEM education has become a priority issue for both researchers from different fields and policymakers and non-governmental organizations.

However, despite this push toward the multiplication of actions to favor the spread of STEM education and employment, many countries are facing increasing gaps in this field (Kramer et al., 2015 ). As the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) recently pointed out (2020a) in a specific report—much of this gap depends also on the under-representation of girls and women in STEM. The UNICEF report maps gender equity in STEM in 86 countries in different areas of the world and shows remarkable results. First, in more than 60% of the countries, girls at school (both at the upper primary and secondary level) show “minimum levels of proficiency” (MLP) in math and science at least comparable or higher than boys, but substantial differences exist depending on the regional area and socioeconomic status (SES). For example, girls present significantly lower MLP in math in most developing countries in Sub-Saharan Africa and Latin America, while within countries, girls show lower MLP in math than boys in the context of lower (but not higher) SES. Second, considering the “high proficiency levels” (HPL) in STEM, girls are less likely than boys to achieve these levels in most of the countries: 72% for math and 56% for science in upper primary school and 96% and 83%, respectively, at secondary school. Third, in around 60% of the countries, girls have a significant lower level of self-confidence in their STEM abilities than boys starting from the upper primary school; in the other 40% of countries, self-confidence scores also tend to be lower for girls, although in a statistically non-significant way. Fourth, girls' lower self-confidence is linked to a gender gap in STEM engagement, interest, and enjoyment, with correlations ranging from 0.44 to 0.65. Fifth, in 92% of countries, more boys than girls aspire to a STEM career; this gender gap is also evident even in the groups with the highest levels of STEM proficiency, with more than a fifth of boys aspiring to a STEM career in 64% of the countries, while this percentage drops to 17% for girls.

What emerges from this set of findings is that the under-representation of girls and women in the STEM field is generally widespread. This situation has evident negative consequences not only in terms of the development of the individual potential of half of the world's population (i.e., creativity, innovation, problem-solving, or increasing work-related STEM skills), but also from a more general, social, and political point of view. Without equal access and participation in STEM, for example, the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development provided by the United Nations ( 2015 ) will hardly reach its goals. STEM for girls, in fact, can stimulate and accelerate a number of Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), like gender equality (SDG 5), no poverty (SDG 1), good health and wellbeing (SDG 3), and decent work and economic growth (SDG 8). This is because through better knowledge and use of science and technology (for example, related to health or communications) girls and women can potentially improve their lives and work-related opportunities. This acceleration may also concern quality education (SDG 4) or industry, innovation, and infrastructure (SDG 9), because higher STEM abilities empower girls to contribute to developing transferable, technical, and vocational skills for entrepreneurship and to lead innovative solutions in industrial sectors (UNICEF, 2020b ).

In view of such a context and the potential negative future scenarios that arise from it, it is extremely important to understand why girls are under-represented in STEM and what actions can be taken to reverse the trend. While many sociocultural, contextual, biological, behavioral, and psychological factors may contribute to limiting girls' engagement with STEM, Master and Meltzoff ( 2016 ) highlighted the critical contribution of gender stereotypes in driving young students' interest and motivation in STEM. The under-representation of girls and women in the STEM field is deeply rooted in gender social representations that suggest how girls are not appropriate, or at least less than boys, for STEM education and employment (Master et al., 2014 ; Piatek-Jimenez et al., 2018 ; Thébaud and Charles, 2018 ; UNICEF, 2020b ). Data from the above-mentioned report from UNICEF ( 2020a ) support this view by associating gender gap in STEM with a variety of gender norms, biases, and stereotypes (e.g., girls receive less STEM-related praise; parents expect their sons, rather than their daughters, to have a STEM career). Regarding gender stereotypes, in many of the countries included in the report, 70% of individuals considers STEM as adequate for males than for females (e.g., Nosek et al., 2009 ; Campos et al., 2014 ; Cheryan et al., 2015 ; Grunspan et al., 2016 ; UNESCO, 2017 ; Schleicher, 2019 ).

Focusing on gender stereotypes is consistent with the most recent evidence claiming that the most important explanations of gender differences are grounded in preferences and choices rather than in skills and performance (e.g., Riegle-Crumb et al., 2012 ; Dasgupta and Stout, 2014 ). This approach explains why there would be fewer or no reliable gender differences in primary school than at later school levels when girls and boys more actively express preferences and interests and have been exposed to gender stereotypes influence for a longer time. In their work on these issues, Master and Meltzoff ( 2020 ) provide at least two key suggestions. First of all, they distinguish between two dimensions of STEM-gender stereotypes (see also Master and Meltzoff, 2016 ; Wynn and Correll, 2017 ): a “cultural fit” stereotype (i.e., the belief that “STEM = male” and “girls like STEM less than boys”) and an “ability” stereotype (i.e., the belief that “girls have less ability than boys”). Girls and women may worry about not fitting into the image of a STEM person and not having the ability to succeed in STEM and this combination contributes to their STEM under-representation. This broadens the concept of stereotype threat (Steele, 1997 ) and the related research approach, usually focused on how ability stereotypes affect girls' and women's performance in STEM and suggests using appropriate measures to grasp simultaneously “cultural fit” and “ability” stereotypes. Also, they propose a comprehensive STEreotypes, Motivation, and Outcomes (STEMO) developmental model, in which social factors (e.g., stereotypes) are essential in explaining youth's interest and academic outcomes in STEM. Specifically, this model indicates that when individuals encounter stereotypes about social groups (e.g., STEM-gender cultural fit and ability stereotypes) and these stereotypes are relevant to their social identity (e.g., gender), this has an impact on their self-representations (i.e., identification, ability beliefs, and sense of belonging) in STEM and, consequently, compromise their interest and academic achievement (e.g., participation) in STEM.

The STEMO model is a promising avenue for future interventions, given the centrality of STEM-gender stereotypes and their potential malleability in the school settings. From this point of view, one of the possible interventions is to challenge stereotypes about who belongs to STEM (cultural fit stereotypes) and the possession of fixed abilities determined by gender (ability stereotypes). According to the STEMO model, such interventions would have the consequence of changing the way girls would see themselves, increasing aspects such as the sense of identification with the STEM domain (“I am a math person”), the self-efficacy (“I am able to be successful in science and technology”), and the sense of belonging (“I am part of the STEM group”). This would lead to more positive STEM outcomes. Thus, one of the central questions is to evaluate which contextual, individual, social, and cultural factors favor overcoming the “traditional” STEM-gender stereotypes. In this study, we addressed the issue by focusing on (a) school context and adolescence; (b) two individual factors related to school experience, namely school empowerment and school engagement, theoretically associated with STEM-gender stereotypes; (c) one social factor like SES, given its influence on STEM outcomes (see above); and (d) gender and cultural differences, by comparing girls and boys from a high-income industrial country, such as Italy, with girls and boys from a low-middle-income country, such as Nigeria.

We considered that the processes suggested by the STEMO model unfold with the experiences in school (Master and Meltzoff, 2020 ), which represents one of the primary socialization environments for children and youth in terms of STEM subjects and expectations. Teachers and school staff may hold STEM-gender stereotypes influencing their interactions with students (e.g., Gunderson et al., 2012 ) as well as students' STEM-gender stereotypes and self-concepts (e.g., del Río et al., 2019 ). At higher school levels, students organize their tertiary educational and career preferences and choices also based on these experiences. Therefore, school is a privileged context to be considered both in terms of understanding the mechanisms that boost or buffer the transmission of STEM-gender stereotypes and in terms of potential interventions. In addition, adolescence represents a crucial life phase to be considered in relation to STEM-gender stereotypes. In fact, the most recent literature has adequately supported that traditional STEM-gender stereotypes were more prevalent among adolescents compared to younger children (e.g., Passolunghi et al., 2014 ; Miller et al., 2018 ; Starr and Simpkins, 2021 ). This finding was explained through the peculiarities of adolescence, a period when individuals are engaged in identity formation and try to use more systematically the information deriving from social confrontation (Erikson, 1968 ). Stereotypes may contribute to the development of identity because adolescents have the cognitive abilities to relate stereotypes to themselves (e.g., Marcia, 1994 ; Patterson and Bigler, 2018 ). Hence, adolescents represent a crucial group to be studied within the STEM-gender stereotypes research context.

Given the importance of the school context, dimensions such as school empowerment (Tam et al., 2020 ; Ruiz-Cantisani et al., 2021 ) and school engagement (Almeda and Baker, 2020 ) can play a role in the formation of STEM-gender stereotypes and STEM gender gap. Previous research suggested how there are links between STEM-gender stereotypes and self-efficacy: girls or women with higher explicit or implicit gender stereotypes in a STEM domain (e.g., math or science) frequently show lower beliefs to succeed in such a domain (e.g., Deemer et al., 2014 ; Passolunghi et al., 2014 ; Ertl et al., 2017 ). According to Bandura ( 1982 ), self-efficacy is subject-specific, and it should be conceptualized separately in each STEM domain. However, Zimmerman and Warschausky ( 1998 ) highlighted how self-efficacy is only a component of psychological empowerment, which “is not simply the belief that an individual can overcome barriers to independence, but also includes the individual's capacity and willingness to make such an effort (p. 13).” Cattaneo and Chapman ( 2010 ) argued that empowerment focuses on personally meaningful goals and aims to enhance one's social influence to exert power in social interaction. Starting from these conceptualizations, we assumed empowerment as a process that helps people gain control over their own lives (Page and Czuba, 1999 ), including reduced effects of stereotypes held by a society or community. The school community plays a relevant role in providing opportunities to experience psychological empowerment. Thus, higher levels of psychological empowerment experienced in the school context (school empowerment) could be related to lower levels of STEM-gender stereotypes, which usually reduce power in social influence and life choices. Furthermore, considering the STEM gender gap and the contents of STEM-gender stereotypes, it is still possible to assume a (negative) relation between school empowerment and STEM-gender stereotypes in girls, but not in boys.

The research also showed how students' engagement in the school context (school engagement) may be associated with STEM aspirations (Cunningham et al., 2015 ) and with the type of school programs chosen by the students, with those in STEM programs more highly engaged than those in traditional programs (Patel et al., 2013 ; Kogo-Masila, 2017 ). However, the literature examining the association of school engagement with STEM-related dimensions is limited. To the best of our knowledge, no studies have investigated the relation between school engagement and STEM-gender stereotypes. Despite this paucity, there are reasons for this link to be explored. School engagement may be conceptualized as active, goal-directed, constructive interactions with the physical, social, and cultural environments of school (Furrer and Skinner, 2002 ) and, at a more individual level, may be operationalized as energy (i.e., positive approach), dedication (i.e., positive cognitive attitude), and absorption (i.e., concentration abilities) directed to school activities (Salmela-Aro and Upadyaya, 2012 ). Students who feel engaged with school show higher motivation and academic achievement over time (Salmela-Aro and Upadyaya, 2012 ); for girls, this dynamic may trigger greater curiosity and interest in STEM subjects as well as STEM-gender stereotype reactance with increased effort and willingness to demonstrate that the stereotypes are biased. Furthermore, this potential process can be more easily detectable in national contexts where the school still represents a concrete means for social redemption and where therefore school engagement can have more relevant outcomes from this point of view (i.e., more in a low-middle-income country rather than in a high-income country).

Social factors are also involved in students' STEM-gender stereotypes. Students from higher SES backgrounds may have previously been given more opportunities to learn about STEM and to build their STEM skills. This is especially important for girls, who can maximize their potential for success in STEM and, consequently, construct less biased STEM-gender stereotypes (Master and Meltzoff, 2020 ). On the contrary, girls from lower-SES backgrounds have fewer learning opportunities in STEM and chances to experience STEM skills; therefore, they may be more easily adherent to the culturally transmitted STEM-gender stereotypes.

Both STEM-gender stereotypes and the individual and social factors just described as well as their relations may vary depending on the students' gender and the national context of reference. STEM-gender stereotypes are cultural representations expressed by a particular society in many ways, such as social interactions and language use (Markus and Kitayama, 2010 ; Master and Meltzoff, 2020 ). They transcend beliefs within an individual, but when stereotypes concern issues involving gender, they can favor a gender more than another. Traditional STEM-gender stereotypes favor the boys, who may tend to conform to them less critically and present higher levels of stereotypes than girls, especially during adolescence (see Starr and Simpkins, 2021 ). Also, in low- and middle-income economies with higher levels of gender gap, STEM-gender stereotypes may be more prevalent (UNICEF, 2020b ; World Economic Forum, 2021 ) than in developed countries, where all genders grow up by believing they share the same opportunities. Furthermore, previous studies reported consistent gender differences in school engagement, with girls more engaged with school than boys (e.g., Wang and Eccles, 2012 ; Fernández-Zabala et al., 2016 ). As Wang and Eccles ( 2012 ) reported, this finding may reflect a greater girls' concern for school performance, maybe because of gender socialization processes and differential expectations of parents and teachers (see also Wilkinson and Marrett, 1985 ; Eccles, 2007 ). The research also highlighted gender differences for school empowerment, with females scoring higher than males, and justified such a finding with the relevance of the social dimension for girls compared to boys (Helgeson, 1994 ; Årdal et al., 2018 ); yet these differences are small and further studies on this topic are needed. As for the differences related to the national context, to the best of our knowledge, literature does not report how school engagement and empowerment may change depending on country income levels (low and middle vs. high). However, it is theoretically possible that when school represents a greater opportunity for social mobility (in low- and middle-income countries), school engagement may be higher. Also, in terms of the relations among STEM-gender stereotypes, school empowerment, and school engagement, the research seems to be specifically lacking. Nevertheless, starting from the related literature, we previously suggested that (a) higher school empowerment may be associated with lower STEM-gender stereotypes in girls and (b) higher school engagement may be more associated with lower STEM-gender stereotypes in low-middle-income countries than in high-income countries, especially for girls. Finally, regarding the link between SES and STEM-gender stereotypes, previous research suggested that higher SES is associated with lower levels of STEM-gender stereotypes, and this is particularly evident for girls (Master and Meltzoff, 2020 ).

Aims and Hypotheses

In light of previous arguments, this study addressed the following two aims: (a) to assess gender and cultural differences in adolescents' STEM-gender stereotypes, school empowerment, and school engagement as a preliminary step; and (b) to analyze the associations of adolescents' school empowerment, school engagement, and SES with STEM-gender stereotypes and how these relations may change depending on gender and cultural context. To achieve these goals, as previously mentioned, we referred to two specific national contexts such as Italy and Nigeria, which are interesting to compare due to their socioeconomic and cultural characteristics. Italy is a European westernized country and one of the world's most industrialized economy with high-income levels. The gross domestic product (GDP) in Italy was 1,890 billion US dollars in 2020, according to official data from the World Bank ( 2022a ). However, despite an improvement in the global gender gap index during the last 15 years, Italy is in the 63rd place across the 156 countries covered by the 2021 Global Gender Gap Report (GGGP, World Economic Forum, 2021 ) and presents a ratio of 1:0.46 in terms of STEM attainment in favor of males. Nigeria is a low-middle- income country, located in the western Sub-Saharan Africa. The GDP in Nigeria was 432 billion US dollars in 2020 (World Bank, 2022b ). Nigeria experienced a slight improvement in the global gender gap index during the last 15 years as well, but it ranks 139th among the 156 countries (World Economic Forum, 2021 ). Although the 2021 GGGP does not report any indications about the male-female ratio of STEM attainment, a number of reports have highlighted how Sub-Saharan Africa has one of the largest gender gaps worldwide in STEM, especially in the lower secondary school (e.g., Rubiano-Matulevich et al., 2019 ), and Nigeria presents a very low participation of females in STEM courses as a result of cultural and religious beliefs, traditions, early marriage, and parental educational background (e.g., Salman et al., 2011 ; Abdullahi et al., 2019 ).

Based on all the above information, we predicted that:

• a) STEM-gender stereotypes were higher for boys than girls and for the Nigerian than the Italian adolescents.
• b) School engagement was higher for girls than boys and in the Nigerian than in the Italian adolescents.
• c) Higher school empowerment was significantly associated with lower STEM-gender stereotypes for girls, but not for boys.
• d) Higher school engagement was more significantly associated with lower STEM-gender stereotypes in the Nigerian than in the Italian adolescents, especially for girls.
• e) Higher SES was associated with lower levels of STEM-gender stereotypes, more significantly for girls than boys.

Given the lacking or less consistent literature as well as the exploratory nature of the study, we did not predict any specific gender and cultural differences for mean levels of school empowerment.

Participants

The participants in this study included 213 Italian adolescents ( M age = 13.91, SD = 0.38, range = from 12 to 15 years; 47.9% boys and 52.1% girls) and 214 Nigerian adolescents ( M age = 13.92, SD = 0.97, range = from 12 to 15 years; 39.7% boys and 60.3% girls). Both the Italian and Nigerian participants attended the last year of lower secondary school; therefore, the following year, they would choose the higher education path that would lead them to a more restricted career perspective. This, therefore, represented a pivotal phase in their social identity development and sensitivity to STEM-gender stereotypes (see Introduction section). The Italian adolescents were attending school in southerneastern Italy (Apulia region) and Nigerian adolescents in southeastern Nigeria (Enugu State) in towns with more than 100,000 inhabitants. The average number of students in the classes frequented by the participants was 21.67 ( SD = 3.59) for the Italian group and 38.19 ( SD = 4.68) for the Nigerian group. The SES of the participants' families was prevalently medium. Based on a three-level classification of scores using the Barratt Simplified Measure of Social Status (BSMSS, Barratt, 2012 , see Measures section), 4.2% of Italian and 9.3% of Nigerian adolescents fell into the low stratum, 62.0% of Italian and 58.9% of Nigerian adolescents fell into the medium stratum, and 33.8% of Italian and 31.8% of Nigerian adolescents fell into the high stratum. A comparison of the two national groups showed that they did not differ significantly in terms of gender (0 = boys, 1 = girls), χ 2 (1) = 2.89, p = 0.09, SES (0 = low, 1 = medium, 2 = high), χ 2 (2) = 4.42, p = 0.11, and age, t (425) = −0.17, p = 0.87. Significant differences were found for the average number of students in the classes, t (425) = −40.98, p < 0.001, with the Nigerian school classes more numerous than the Italian ones.

The study was approved on 11 May 2020, by the Ethical Committee at the Department of Education, Psychology, and Communication at the University of Bari (Ethics reference code: ET-20-06), and all procedures were performed following the ethical principles for psychological research of the Italian Association of Psychology ( 2015 ). A convenience sample was initially recruited from three schools in the Italian urban context in Italy. The schools were selected by internal University search databases, where a list of local school institutions was stored, and encouraged to take part in the investigation through a motivation letter introducing the purpose of the research work. Within 1 month, the same procedure was followed in Nigeria by the third author of this work, who also ensured the comparability of the Nigerian schools with the Italian ones through a specific pairing process, by considering the schools' regional location in Nigeria and the urban characteristics in which they were inserted. After receiving permission from the respective school principals, the students' parents from both Italy and Nigeria were informed through a letter describing the purposes of the research, the voluntary nature of participation, and the anonymity of responses. All the parents provided informed consent for their son's or daughter's participation. In addition, participants provided signed assent agreeing to take part in the study. Participants completed a web-based survey in Italy and a web-based or a paper-and-pencil survey in Nigeria (depending on the schools) during the class time and they could withdraw at any time. The data collection took place between April and June 2021. Usually, participants completed the survey in about 30 min.

The measures used in this study were presented in the Italian language for the Italian participants, and in English for the Nigerian participants as it is the official and widely used language in Nigeria. When it was the case, we translated some measures from English into Italian (i.e., school engagement inventory). In the latter case, following the recommendations of the International Test Commission ( 2017 ), an independent English native language teacher, fluent in Italian, did a back-translation. Slight discrepancies were resolved through discussion and consensual agreement.

Socio-Demographics

Respondents were asked to indicate their age and gender. Paternal and/or maternal level of school completed (scores from 3 = less than 7th grade to 21 = graduate degree ) and the parents' occupation (scores from 5 = e.g., day laborer, house cleaner, food preparation worker to 45 = e.g., physician, judge, senior manager ) were assessed using BSMSS (Barratt, 2012 ; total education + total occupation scores from 8 to 66).

School Empowerment

An adapted form of the Psychological Empowerment Scale (PES; Spreitzer, 1995 ; see Pietrantoni and Prati, 2008 , for the Italian version) was used to assess students' perception of school empowerment. The original version of the PES consists of 12 items assessing four different dimensions in the workplace comprising three items each: meaning, competence, self-determination, and impact. However, recently it was adapted among students in different national contexts (e.g., Beauvais et al., 2014 ; Azizi et al., 2020 ; Cayaban et al., 2022 ). Following this line, we culturally adapted the instrument to students and the school environment. In doing so, the first three authors worked together following a specific procedure (see, for example, da Silva Augusto et al., 2017 ). Preliminarily, they discussed conceptual and semantic characteristics of PES, as previously adapted in the academic context, in light of the idiomatic and cultural differences (or equivalences) between the English and Italian versions as well as the Nigerian and Italian contexts. They agreed on the need to assess cross-culturally the PES content validity, which is the degree to which each item was relevant to and representative of school empowerment. Thus, they recruited a committee of six experts (three Italian and three Nigerian) with extensive experience in the school context, who rated each item on a Likert-type scale from 1 ( not important ) to 4 ( very important ). Only the items that obtained the maximum score (i.e., 4) from at least two Italian and two Nigerian experts were considered valid. Five items met this criterion, with at least one item in one of the four initial dimensions of the PES. After excluding (to maintain the item-dimension balance) the item with less agreement among experts, the final scale had four items: “The study I do is very important to me” for meaning, “I am confident about my ability to study” for competence, “I have opportunity for independence and freedom in how I study” for self-determination, and “I have significant influence over what happens in my class” for impact. Items were scored by the participants on a Likert-type scale ranging from 1 ( strongly disagree ) to 5 ( strongly agree ). Prior studies have provided evidence that PES items load on four factors corresponding to the theoretical dimensions and that these factors load on a second-order factor of empowerment (e.g., Spreitzer, 1995 ; Pietrantoni and Prati, 2008 ). Thus, we expected that our four selected items would load on one factor of school empowerment across the two national contexts. We tested this one-factor structure model, as well as measurement invariance (configural, metric, and scalar, see Van de Schoot et al., 2012 ) across contexts, through robust maximum likelihood multi-group confirmatory factor analysis (MG-CFA; see the “Analysis Plan” section for model fit criteria), using the four items as observed indicators. This one-factor and scalar measurement-invariant model was adequately supported, χ 2 (10) = 16.33, p = 0.09, CFI = 0.970, RMSEA = 0.054, SRMR = 0.098. The internal consistency reliability scores calculated by the factor determinacy (Muthén and Muthén, 2012 ) were good for both the Italian (0.84) and Nigerian (0.78) groups. Overall, these results allowed validly comparing scale mean scores across the two national contexts (e.g., van de Vijver and Leung, 1997 ; Boer et al., 2018 ). For both groups, a composite variable was created by computing the average of the items, with higher scores indicating higher levels of school empowerment.

School Engagement

The Schoolwork Engagement Inventory (SEI; Salmela-Aro and Upadyaya, 2012 ) was used to assess students' perception of school engagement. The SEI consists of nine items assessing three different dimensions comprising three items each: energy, dedication, and absorption. To culturally adapt the instrument, we followed a procedure very similar to that already described for the school empowerment. The final scale had three items: “I feel strong and vigorous when I am studying” for energy, “I am enthusiastic about my studies.” for dedication, and “Time flies when I am studying” for absorption. The items were scored by the participants on a Likert-type scale ranging from 1 (a couple of times a year ) to 5 ( daily ). Prior studies have provided evidence that SEI items load better on one factor among the younger students (e.g., Salmela-Aro and Upadyaya, 2012 ). Following this line, we expected that our three selected items would load on one factor of school engagement across the two national contexts. We tested this one-factor structure model, as well as measurement invariance across contexts, through MG-CFA, using the three items as observed indicators. This one-factor and scalar measurement-invariant model was adequately supported, χ 2 (4) = 7.75, p = 0.10, CFI = 0.975, RMSEA = 0.066, SRMR = 0.085. The factor determinacy scores were good for both the Italian (0.94) and Nigerian (0.78) groups. For both groups, a composite variable was created by computing the average of the items, with higher scores indicating higher levels of school engagement.

STEM-Gender Stereotypes

To assess STEM-gender stereotypes, we used an eight-item questionnaire adapted by Tomasetto et al. ( 2015 ). This questionnaire measures explicit stereotypes concerning both between-gender (i.e., “I believe that generally males are more talented than females at math/science-technology”) and within-gender (i.e., “I believe that generally females have more facility with language than with math/science-technology”) differences in math (four items) and science-technology (four items). As it is possible to understand from the example items, the between-gender stereotypes recall the “ability” stereotypes, while the within-gender stereotypes recall the “cultural fit” stereotypes proposed by the STEMO model (Master and Meltzoff, 2020 ). To culturally adapt the instrument, we followed a procedure similar to that already described for the previous measures. All the items were retained. They were scored on a Likert-type scale ranging from 1 ( strongly disagree ) to 5 ( strongly agree ). Prior studies have provided evidence that math-gender stereotypes items load on one factor (e.g., Tomasetto et al., 2015 ). Following this line, we expected that our eight items would load on two factor of math-gender and science/technology-gender stereotypes across the two national contexts. We tested this two-factor structure model, as well as measurement invariance across contexts, through MG-CFA, using the eight items as observed indicators. This two-factor and scalar measurement-invariant model was sufficiently supported, χ 2 (46) = 107.71, p < 0.001, CFI = 0.946, RMSEA = 0.079, SRMR = 0.094. The factor determinacy scores were good for both the Italian (0.96 and 0.97, respectively, for math-gender and science/technology-gender stereotypes) and Nigerian (0.92 and 0.94, respectively, for math-gender and science/technology-gender stereotypes) groups. However, the correlation between the two factors was very high: 0.95 for the Italian group and 0.78 for the Nigerian group. Based also on subsequent key analyses suggesting no differences in the patterns of results when considering math-gender and science/technology-gender stereotypes separately or as a whole, we used a unique variable of STEM-gender stereotypes henceforth for parsimony. The Cronbach's alpha coefficients for this general variable were: 0.96 for the Italian group and 0.85 for the Nigerian group. For both groups, a composite variable was created by computing the average of the eight items, with higher scores indicating higher levels of STEM-gender stereotypes.

Analytic Plan

The data analysis proceeded in three main steps. First, descriptive statistics for the study variables were initially calculated using version 24 of the Statistical Package for the Social Sciences (SPSS). Specifically, mean scores, standard deviations, normality statistics, and bivariate correlations were computed.

Second, we evaluated differences by gender (0 = boys; 1 = girls) and national context (0 = Italy; 1 = Nigeria) in school empowerment, school engagement, and STEM-gender stereotypes. Particularly, we conducted a multivariate analysis of covariance (MANCOVA) considering gender and national context as independent variables and the other constructs as dependent variables. SES was entered as a covariate.

Third, to explore the differential associations of school empowerment, school engagement, and SES with STEM-gender stereotypes and how these relations varied by gender and national context, a multiple-group path analysis using Mplus 7 (Muthén and Muthén, 2012 ) was performed considering four groups: Italian boys, Italian girls, Nigerian boys, and Nigerian girls. We initially estimated and compared an unconstrained (less restrictive) model, in which the most relevant path coefficients were allowed to vary between the four groups, with a constrained (more restrictive) model, where all key path coefficients were set equal across groups. Significant differences in fit between these models implied the estimation of alternative partially constrained models. We relied on well-known goodness-of-fit indices and their associated cutoffs to evaluate the model fit (e.g., Kline, 2015 ): chi-square (χ 2 ) test with p > 0.05, CFI ≥ 0.90, RMSEA ≤ 0.08, and SRMR ≤ 0.10. To ascertain significant differences between nested models (the more vs. less restrictive model), at least two of these four criteria had to be satisfied (Kline, 2015 ): Δχ 2 significant at p < 0.05, ΔCFI ≤ −0.010, ΔRMSEA ≥ 0.015, and ΔSRMR ≥ 0.010.

Preliminary Analyses

An initial data screening revealed that three participants (two Italians and one Nigerian) did not complete the survey (more than 30% of responses were not completed). These cases were deleted from the dataset. Tables 1 – 3 summarize the descriptive statistics and report bivariate correlations in the total sample and by gender, by national context, and by gender and national context. They show how some observed variables were only slightly not normally distributed with skewness and kurtosis values > ± 1.00 (Kline, 2015 ). This permitted us to perform the MANCOVA with some confidence, while in the structural equation modeling environment, the data were however analyzed using robust maximum likelihood estimation methods.

Means, standard deviations, skewness, and kurtosis for the key study variables for the entire sample, by gender, by national context and by gender and national context.

Pearson's bivariate correlations for the Nigerian sample.

Upper diagonal: correlation matrix for females (n = 129). Lower diagonal: correlation matrix for males (n = 85).

Pearson's bivariate correlations for the Italian sample.

Upper diagonal: correlation matrix for females (n = 111). Lower diagonal: correlation matrix for males (n = 102).

Results from the MANCOVA showed a significant multivariate effect of gender, Wilks' Lambda = 0.95, F (3,420) = 7.94, p < 0.001, η 2 = 0.05, and national context, Wilks' Lambda = 0.57, F (3,420) = 106.99, p < 0.001, η 2 = 0.43. Two-way effects were not statistically significant. Follow-up univariate analyses (see Table 4 ) indicated that school empowerment and STEM-gender stereotypes differed significantly across gender, as well as school empowerment, school engagement, and STEM-gender stereotypes differed significantly across national contexts. Specifically, pairwise comparisons revealed that Nigerian participants reported significantly higher levels of all dependent variables than their Italian peers. Moreover, boys scored significantly higher on school empowerment and STEM-gender stereotypes than their female peers.

Univariate analyses of covariance and pairwise comparisons for gender and national context (Italian vs. Nigerian) on school empowerment, school engagement, and STEM-gender stereotypes.

A mean is significantly different (p < 0.05) from another mean within the same row if they have different superscripts (a or b).

Multiple-Group Path Analysis

The theoretical model to be estimated across gender and national context is illustrated in Figure 1 . The initial unconstrained model was a saturated model, χ 2 (0) = 0.00, p = 0.00, CFI = 1.00, RMSEA = 0.000, SRMR = 0.000. The constrained version of the model had poor fit, χ 2 (18) = 74.62, p < 0.001, CFI = 0.000, RMSEA = 0.172, SRMR = 0.175 and a significantly worse fit compared to the unconstrained model, Δχ 2 (18) = 74.62, p < 0.001, ΔCFI = −1.00, ΔRMSEA = 0.172, ΔSRMR = 0.175. Inspection of modification indices suggested releasing the constraints for (a) paths from school empowerment to STEM-gender stereotypes in the Italian male and Nigerian male groups, (b) paths from school engagement to STEM-gender stereotypes in the Italian groups compared to the Nigerian groups, and (c) covariances between school empowerment and school engagement in the Italian groups compared to the Nigerian groups. The obtained partially constrained model had excellent fit, χ 2 (14) = 6.84, p = 0.94, CFI = 1.00, RMSEA = 0.000, SRMR = 0.036 and did not have a significantly different fit compared to unconstrained model, Δχ 2 (14) = 6.84, p = 0 .9 4, ΔCFI = 0.000, ΔRMSEA = 0.000, ΔSRMR = 0.036. Standardized coefficients of this final model are shown in Figure 2 .

The theoretical model to be estimated across gender and national context (Italian males, Italian females, Nigerian males, and Nigerian females).

Final estimated multiple-group path model. Solid lines represent significant pathways, dashed lines are non-significant. Standardized regression coefficients (betas) are shown. * p < 0.05, ** p < 0.01, *** p < 0.001.

School empowerment was significantly and negatively related to STEM-gender stereotypes in both Italian and Nigerian female groups, while this association was significantly positive in the Italian male group and no significant relation was evidenced for the Nigerian male group. School engagement was significantly and negatively associated with STEM-gender stereotypes only in the Nigerian groups, while no significant relations were present in the Italian groups. SES was significantly and negatively linked to STEM-gender stereotypes in all considered groups. Furthermore, SES and school empowerment were significantly and positively correlated in all groups, while school empowerment and school engagement were significantly and positively associated only in the Italian groups and no significant relations were found in the Nigerian groups. No significant associations were revealed between SES and school engagement in all groups.

The purpose of the study was 2-fold. First, it investigated differences by gender and national context (Italy vs. Nigeria) in adolescents' STEM-gender stereotypes, school empowerment, and school engagement. Second, and more importantly, for the first time, it simultaneously analyzed how adolescents' STEM-gender stereotypes are related to the individual resources of school empowerment and school engagement as well as to the social factor of SES. These relations were considered in the context of the potential moderating role of gender and national context. The main results revealed that boys outscored girls in STEM-gender stereotypes and school empowerment and that Nigerian adolescents outperformed the Italian adolescents in STEM-gender stereotypes, school empowerment, and school engagement. Furthermore, higher school empowerment was significantly associated with lower STEM-gender stereotypes for girls regardless of the national context, while higher school engagement was associated with lower STEM-gender stereotypes in the Nigerian groups. Higher SES was associated with lower levels of STEM-gender stereotypes regardless of gender and national context. These results might suggest that, in addition to SES, school empowerment and school engagement can be relevant to be studied and to develop strategies to counteract STEM-gender stereotypes in adolescence. Nonetheless, it is necessary to consider the role of gender and national context to provide a better and appropriate interpretation of the emerging dynamics.

Gender and Cultural Differences in Adolescents' STEM-Gender Stereotypes, School Empowerment, and School Engagement

We expected higher levels of STEM-gender stereotypes for boys than girls and for the Nigerian than the Italian contexts. Our findings supported this prediction. As previous literature extensively reported (e.g., Moè et al., 2021 ; Starr and Simpkins, 2021 ), in adolescence, boys endorse STEM-gender stereotypes more strongly than girls. One explanation for this is that generally people conform more easily to associations that favor their gender. STEM-gender stereotypes propose associations that favor boys (e.g., “STEM = male”), while disadvantaging girls (“girls have less ability than boys”). This process of “favoritism” could, in turn, increase the perception of congruity between boys' gender role (what choices and behaviors they consider typical for their gender) and the beliefs that members of society usually have about what is most appropriate for them (Eagly and Karau, 2002 ), further fostering their stereotypes. Favoritism and gender role congruence, therefore, may account for the higher levels of STEM-gender stereotypes in boys than girls.

The national context, along with related cultural and social features, is also a principal factor that differentiates the levels of STEM-gender stereotypes. In line with prior research (UNICEF, 2020b ; World Economic Forum, 2021 ), we found much higher levels of STEM-gender stereotypes in Nigeria than in Italy. Nigeria is a low-middle-income country with a high gender gap. It is still facing serious issues regarding gender differences (Salman et al., 2011 ; Abdullahi et al., 2019 ), linked to religious dimensions, cultural traditions (e.g., early marriages for girls), and socio-political issues (e.g., the general education levels of the population). In this context, STEM-gender stereotypes are widespread in the Nigerian population, resulting in a greater inequality of opportunities between boys and girls. Looking at the 2021 GGGP data (World Economic Forum, 2021 ), these sociocultural processes seem less relevant in Italy, where boys and girls can have a more equal view of future life and professional chances. This could explain why Italian boys and girls have lower levels of STEM-gender stereotypes.

We also expected higher levels of school engagement for girls than boys as well as for the Nigerian than the Italian adolescents. The findings supported this prediction only partially. First, as hypothesized, our adolescent participants in Nigeria showed higher levels of school engagement. When a context generally offers fewer prospects for personal life and profession, as in Nigeria than in Italy, the school may be perceived as one of the most significant and catalyzing environments providing opportunities for social climbing. This can lead to living in school in a more active and energetic way, building more positive attitudes toward the academic experience, fueling greater concentration in achieving goals, and ensuring more meaningful social relationships (Furrer and Skinner, 2002 ; Salmela-Aro and Upadyaya, 2012 ). Second, our expectation of higher levels of school engagement for girls than boys was not supported, and no differences were found. This is not consistent with previous research, which suggested that personality and motivation factors (e.g., Lam et al., 2012 ) or differential expectations of parents and teachers (Wilkinson and Marrett, 1985 ; Eccles, 2007 ; Wang and Eccles, 2012 ) may promote girls' greater concern on their school connection and performance. Probably, this result should be interpreted in relation to our group of participants and the period of data collection. As mentioned above, all our participants attended the last year of lower secondary school in the last period of the school year, when shortly thereafter they would face the final exams and the choice of the higher education path. This may have favored a general greater engagement by all students toward the final goal, flattening any inter-individual and gender differences. Therefore, further studies with larger samples, at different school grades, and at various times of the school year would be desirable, especially if the design is longitudinal.

We took an exploratory approach in considering gender and cultural differences in mean levels of school empowerment. Boys and Nigerian participants showed higher school empowerment than girls and Italian participants. In terms of gender differences, a previous study showed significantly higher mean scores of girls than boys for school empowerment, but the effect size was small (Årdal et al., 2018 ). However, the school empowerment measure was not strictly comparable to that of our study. Årdal et al. ( 2018 ) used a measure referring to motivation for influencing school, perceived control, and participatory behavior (Ozer and Schotland, 2011 ). Our measure was related to meaning, competence, self-determination, and impact. The main difference can be identified in the inclusion, in our measure, of the competence dimension, for which boys usually score higher than girls (e.g., Conway et al., 2015 ; Gomez-Baya et al., 2019 ). This can at least partially explain our result. Nevertheless, this finding raises the question of whether social norms and cultural stereotypes can have a strong impact on girls, inhibiting those empowerment and assertiveness skills crucial for the promotion of their interests and demands (Hentschel et al., 2019 ). This topic should be addressed in future research. Regarding the higher levels of school empowerment of Nigerian students compared to Italian ones, this again seems to support the idea that in Nigeria, more than in Italy, school seems to be a significant and catalyzing context for the expression of the individual resources of boys and girls, who seem to be better able to experience school as a setting of active responsibility.

Associations of Adolescents' STEM-Gender Stereotypes With School Empowerment, School Engagement, and SES in the Context of the Moderating Role of Gender and National Context

Concerning our primary goal, the findings showed that our expectations were generally supported with some exceptions. As expected, higher school empowerment was associated with lower levels of STEM-gender stereotypes in the two groups of girls regardless of the national context. Higher levels of school empowerment contribute to giving girls more control over their lives (Page and Czuba, 1999 ), by focusing on personal goals and enhancing their power in social interaction (Cattaneo and Chapman, 2010 ). This can make it easier for girls to react to the socially widespread STEM-gender stereotypes, which in contrast reduce their active self-determination and participation. The dynamic characterizing the boys is different. No significant association between school empowerment and STEM-gender stereotypes was evidenced for the Nigerian boys, while the association was positive for the Italian boys. Given that boys belong to the “gender favored by STEM-gender stereotypes,” it is not relevant for them to refer to empowering processes to counteract their social beliefs. On the contrary, the active management of social power might favor increasing levels of STEM-gender stereotypes. In line with this argument, it makes sense to expect this second mechanism to emerge in national contexts with a greater rate of individuality and where personal goals and success take on high relevance, such as in Italy, rather than in more collectivist contexts, such as Nigeria (Hofstede, 2001 ).

As far as the relations between school engagement and STEM-gender stereotypes are concerned, we found significantly negative links in the two groups of Nigerian boys and girls, while no associations were evidenced in the Italian groups. We hypothesized these differences related to the context, but we also expected some differences concerning gender. More specifically, we assumed a negative link between school engagement and STEM-gender stereotypes in the Italian girls, albeit less strong than that of the Nigerian girls. When students feel particularly engaged with the school, they are more inclined to consider it as a source of personal improvement, support, and motivation (Salmela-Aro and Upadyaya, 2012 ). This expands one's enthusiasm and interest also toward fields that social stereotypes would suggest as unsuitable and motivates to oppose these stereotypes. Such a process could therefore explain how school engagement would help reduce STEM-gender stereotypes in the Nigerian girls. However, this process might interact with the national context of reference. The more the school is considered a social value in terms of opportunities for social mobility in low-middle-income contexts, such as Nigeria, the more this process could be relevant and unfold its effects. In contexts where the levels of economic development and social support are higher, such as in Italy, the school could instead be perceived as a less determining factor for future subsistence, and this could dampen the fundamental meaning of the hypothesized process. This could be one reason for the lack of significant relation between school engagement and STEM-gender stereotypes in Italian girls. The two Italian and Nigerian contexts probably differ in another aspect as well. In the Nigerian context, where greater gender gaps and STEM-gender stereotypes are present, greater school engagement may imply greater attention to information counteracting these issues at school, and to girls when they present clear STEM skills. This could explain why school engagement was negatively associated for Nigerian boys in an equally relevant way as for Nigerian girls, while no significant relation was found for Italian boys, living in a context characterized by significantly lower levels of gender gap and STEM-gender stereotypes than in Nigeria (and this may make boys generally less sensitive to information and experiences promoting gender equity at school).

Finally, higher SES is related to lower levels of STEM-gender stereotypes, regardless of gender and national context. We expected this finding to be particularly relevant for girls compared to boys. In fact, we thought that higher levels of SES provided better chances for STEM learning and skills. Such a situation could more easily lead girls to reduce STEM-gender stereotypes than boys. However, our results suggest that SES background is equally relevant for boys as well. Although the literature suggests that STEM-gender stereotypes are more prevalent among adolescents than younger children due to advanced cognitive abilities connecting their identity with social categories (e.g., Passolunghi et al., 2014 ; Miller et al., 2018 ; Starr and Simpkins, 2021 ), however, other changes related to critical and moral skills could be generally associated with lower levels of STEM-gender stereotypes (e.g., Malti et al., 2021 ). A higher SES background could foster such skills for both girls and boys, and this could more easily explain our findings showing a lack of gender differences.

Limitations, Strengths, and Future Research

This study should be considered in light of some weaknesses. First, we used a convenience sampling method to collect our research data, and this casts doubt on the generalizability of our results. Also, because of selection bias, it is possible that the schools that participated in the study were significantly more motivated and/or more satisfied with their education paths and activities than those which did not. Large population-based random samples would be ideal to be considered in future research. Second, the use of self-report measures requires caution when interpreting the findings, even more when diverse cultural contexts are considered. Next investigations should combine mixed methods. For example, the simultaneous use of qualitative and quantitative analysis could help highlight the subjective experience of boys and girls in various national contexts. Third, the cross-sectional nature of the study design precludes us from clearly concluding the direction of the associations among the study variables (for example, from school empowerment to STEM-gender stereotypes or vice versa). Thus, it would be important to conduct future longitudinal studies following the same participants during adolescence in order to draw clearer conclusions about the direction of associations between these variables and about the causality processes involved. Fourth, our study was limited to the investigation of the associations of school empowerment, school engagement, and SES with STEM-gender stereotypes within the context of potential differences by gender and nationality. Actually, other variables may be interesting to consider. For instance, further studies could consider how the family environment and parenting, peer experiences, teacher-student relationships, sense of community, and personal future expectations could directly or indirectly affect STEM-gender stereotypes (e.g., Tandrayen-Ragoobur and Gokulsing, 2021 ). Furthermore, it is noteworthy to point out that we focused on explicit stereotypes only, namely on conscious representations assessed through self-reports, which may produce biased responses due to social desirability. To prevent such concerns, many studies analyzed the role of implicit gender stereotypes in STEM performance (e.g., Hausmann, 2014 ). This suggests that future research should consider assessing both implicit and explicit stereotypes and comparing the results.

Despite these limitations, our study contributed meaningfully to the literature because it extends our understanding of the characteristic of STEM-gender stereotypes in two ways. First, it provided a new clear picture of how STEM-gender stereotypes may differ based on gender and nationality. Second, it revealed how significant and school-based variables (empowerment and engagement) are associated with STEM-gender stereotypes, considering the role of gender and national contexts in these relations. Together, the findings highlighted potential factors to work on to reduce STEM-gender stereotypes from an international perspective. However, interventions should be developed by taking into account gender and national differences.

Educational Implication

Our findings provide implications for practice in the school community. Based on the STEMO model, we considered STEM-gender stereotypes as composed by two dimensions, i.e., cultural fit and ability stereotypes. To reduce the impact of these two types of stereotypes, it is important, on the one hand, to think of interventions that broaden the idea of who can be part of the STEM field and, on the other, to counteract the idea that skills are fixed (Master and Meltzoff, 2020 ). In the first case, for example, one could work by making the school environments dedicated to STEM teaching (for example, the computer room or the chemistry lab) less stereotypically masculine, using expedients such as the presence of plants, furniture with fluid lines, and colors usually matched to the feminine style (for example, powder pink and lilac). In the second case, it would be important for teachers to convey the idea that STEM skills are like a sporting activity: the more you practice and train, the more results will be obtained. Emphasizing the initial mistakes and failures of great scientists, who then achieved success by working hard, can be a good strategy. Moreover, in this line, Law et al. ( 2021 ) reported a good example of a growth mindset activity in a science museum. Both interventions seem particularly crucial to practice in contexts with high levels of stereotypes, such as Nigeria. Furthermore, they should be systematically addressed not only to girls, but also to boys, who are the holders of the highest levels of STEM-gender stereotypes and, therefore, as future fathers or managers, could hinder the STEM interests or careers of girls and women.

Based on our findings, it would also be important to design interventions to boost girls' school empowerment. To achieve this goal, schools and teachers should be committed to providing them with meaningful school environments, feelings of confidence in school work, opportunities for self-determination, and a sense of impact at school. Motivation training, aimed at making girls more confident and perceiving themselves as more able and capable to increase their performance, have proved to be effective interventions and deserve to be replicated (e.g., Moè, 2016 ). Another important strategy could be to provide positive role models in the use of empowerment skills (Master and Meltzoff, 2016 ). Teachers might represent such positive role models (they do not necessarily have to be females, just relatable and similar to the self along certain key dimensions), but also schoolmates who “are like me and manage to be influential and achieve their goals” can fulfill a similar function. Furthermore, simple activities such as assigning responsibility for leading teamwork could prove effective and easily applicable.

Intervention programs should also promote school engagement, being aware that such interventions are likely to be most effective where the value of the school is generally believed to be more socially crucial, such as in Nigeria compared to Italy. One way to achieve this goal is to strengthen the sense of belonging to the school, by proposing activities that reinforce the idea that school is a “meaningful context of life.” In this line, the redefinition of academic programs toward topics close to students' experiences, the offer of extracurricular activities of interest to them (concerning, for example, sports and music), the support of significant peer tutors, and motivational programs could be important.

It should be noted that all the interventions previously outlined involve the school microsystem of girls and boys. However, our study suggests that other factors related to the socioeconomic and cultural development of home nations and families also potentially play a role in the formation of STEM-gender stereotypes. At this level, economic and social policy interventions are desirable in the direction of providing more girls and boys with opportunities for knowledge and experiences in STEM. Such occasions should suggest that the involvement of both genders in the STEM field is a crucial point for the wellbeing and progress of our living communities.

Data Availability Statement

Ethics statement.

The study was approved on 11 May 2020, by the Ethical Committee at the Department of Education, Psychology, and Communication at the University of Bari (Ethics reference code: ET-20-06). Written informed consent to participate in this study was provided by the participants' legal guardian/next of kin.

Author Contributions

PM provided the conception and design of this study, performed and interpreted the data analyses, and wrote the first draft of the manuscript. ML and EI contributed to the conception of this study, collected data, drafted, and revised the article substantially. SA and CS revised the article and proposed important suggestions for modification. RC revised the article critically for important intellectual content. All authors contributed to the article and approved the submitted version.

Conflict of Interest

The authors declare that the research was conducted in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest.

Publisher's Note

All claims expressed in this article are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of their affiliated organizations, or those of the publisher, the editors and the reviewers. Any product that may be evaluated in this article, or claim that may be made by its manufacturer, is not guaranteed or endorsed by the publisher.

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Thesis Station

Thesis: gender stereotyping.

Sample Thesis Paper

The reason why today’s businesses still thinks or measures women leaders differently from men is due to inherent gender based stereotyping. Gender stereotyping has the potential of limiting a woman’s ability or opportunity to advance to higher leadership positions.

These views further hinder and interfere with a woman’s success in business field. For the most part, this view portrays women as lacking the necessary abilities that are often associated with effective leadership. As long as we still uphold people like Jack Welch and Bill Gates rather than Meg Whitman as great business leaders of our times, we still have gender stereotypic ideas[1].

[1] Ibid., 6.

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