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Over the past 50 years more and more women have entered the work force. And they’re increasingly taking on jobs that have traditionally gone to men.
Now new research shows that the women’s fathers may be having an influence on what those jobs are.
Researchers from North Carolina State University and the University of Maryland examined three large surveys conducted from 1973 to 2002. More than forty thousand women had taken part. They included women born from1909 to 1977—three generations over three quarters of a century.
This broad examination of women’s roles clearly showed a rise in what had been male-dominated fields. But the surveys also contained information on what jobs the fathers held. And it turned out as time progressed, there was a distinct change. Women born in the 1970s were three times more likely to follow in their dads’ footsteps.
Researchers can’t say exactly what this means about father-daughter relationships. Maybe dads are investing more time in educating their daughters. Maybe they’re talking more about their own jobs. But dads and daughters appear to be taking career paths that bridge both the generation and gender gaps.
—Cynthia Graber
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Add CommentAs a female who was born in the mid 1950's, it has pleased me so much to see my daughter follow in her father's career footsteps. When I attended school, girls weren't even allowed to wear slacks! The local university didn't even have track teams for women. My cousin loved to run, but because there was no women's team here, she had to train with the guys. (Nonetheless, she became an intercollegiate track star.)
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisI think fathers no longer see their daughters as simply silly frilly things that are poor substitutes for boys.
Discrimination went both ways, however. In the 1950's at the university, a young man took home economics courses because of his interest in food preparation. The university declined to award him a degree because Home Economics was considered appropriate only for females. 2 decades later, after he had become a successful restaurateur, the university held a ceremony to give him his diploma at long last. And a decade later yet, the name of the Home Ec dept was changed to "Human Ecology."
It seems fairly obvious to me that for women born prior to the 1970s -- those making career choices prior to the mid 1980's and entering the workforce prior to the 1990's -- simply didn't have the option to follow their fathers into a great many careers.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisAs they say, "Speaking Chinese runs in families -- but it isn't genetic." -- kids are exposed to what we as parents do in our lives. They're going to be predisposed to expertise in the same areas as a result. If the opportunities exist and the father's career is seen as one with good potential, a daughter or son is likely to at least consider it.
The fact that we say "I don't want to do what my father did" -- even as a rejection of that role -- shows you how predisposed we are to considering it as a path. It is as if it were the default path that we'd have to reject first to choose something else.
There is no reason -- if the opportunity were equal -- why our daughters would have a different take on this then our sons.
inspite i was born in the 1980s,but i can understand the relationships between a father and her daughter.Girls always pay more honor and worship than boys to their father.And as a father is use to adopting different attitude to their kids of different sex.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisWomen were not considered suitably to enter the work force on acount of they were weaker than men.However,over the past 50 years,the population of women who entered the work force has grow.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisAccording to the research result proposed by North Carolina State University and the University of Maryland , more and more women take part in male-dominated fields,and it also shows that women born in the 1970s were three time more likely to follow in their dads' footstep.
the means about father-daughter relatianship are not explicit.Researcher guess maybe fathers are spending more time on educating their daughters.No matter what the reason exactly is,we conclude that dads have a strong influence over their daughters.
I think this is really interesting because I am like this. I will be very personal in this comment, please, no judging, I am trying to provide applicable information to see if anyone other than myself will take it into account and analyze it as well.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisI've been following my dad's footsteps all of my life (I HATE my mother, because I think she's a complete failure who doesn't try hard enough or even care about success in life! But my father is amazing and successful!), and yet my ambition has grown to a point where I am desirous of surpassing my father's path, and am constantly making higher, higher, higher goals.
My father values education very much, but this was not something I learned from him but rather something I figured out on my own; nor does he talk about his career either (he just occasionally comments on how incredibly stressful it is), although I am always curious to see what it is actually like to work in what he does. His job is finances, whereas I will excel as a (hopefully grand) entrepreneur and a (hopefully prolific) science researcher.
Might I also add that the loving relationship in which I find myself in may be having an influence in the ever-growing ambitions that I mentioned previouslysmy boyfriend very closely resembles my father figure in many ways, and I look up to him with just as much respect as I look up to my dad. I end up mimicking everything he does because he, like my father, is like a teacher to me. His rabid-dog achievement drive is contagious to me to the point that I am even competitive with him, just like I have become competitive against my entire family. I want to shine, and couldn't care less that I am a girl.
Might want to do more research in this, huh? There is so much left to understand!