Is Teaching a Women’s Thing? Gender Stereotypes in Students of Education Degrees

Abstract

Teaching is one of the scenarios in which gender segregation is most visible, finding a higher number of women in this profession. Thus, the choice of the future university degree seems to be closely related to gender stereotypes. Therefore, the aim of this study is to know whether students of Early Childhood and Primary Education have gender stereotypes related to their future profession. The total sample of the study is constituted by 433 students (323 women and 110 men). Gender-stereotype adjectives were presented to them, and they were asked to rate the importance they granted the adjectives in relation to their future career. Adjectives such as “compassionate”, “delicate”, and “artístic” were rated as much more important in females and in those who studied Early Childhood. Therefore, our results suggest that our sample perpetuates both the gender stereotypes and the representations that underlie teaching career.