Gender Ideologies and Academic Field Choice: Distinguishing Values and Beliefs in Higher Education Students

• In Event: AERA Roundtable Session Sunday 1:45 pm
  In Roundtable Session: Leveraging Intersectional Identity to Name and Resist Dominant Narratives in Formal and Informal Education Spaces

Abstract

Gender segregation in higher education remains a persistent form of inequality, reinforcing occupational and income disparities. This study examines how multidimensional gender ideologies - distinguishing normative values from descriptive beliefs - shape students’ academic field choices. Drawing on survey data from 1,516 students at a large German research university, we use structural equation modeling to explore gender-specific pathways linking family socialization, migration background, and ideology to academic decisions. Findings reveal that traditional values significantly predict gender-typical choices for men but not women, underscoring the constraining role of prescriptive norms under hegemonic masculinity. Women’s choices appear less directly shaped by internalized ideology, suggesting greater flexibility or boundary-crossing. Implications for gender-transformative educational policies are discussed.

Authors

• Irina Gewinner, Leibniz University Hanover

• Andreas Hadjar, University of Fribourg (Switzerland)