Estereótipos e segregação de gênero na opção por C&T: pesquisa com estudantes do ensino médio do Colégio Pedro II

Abstract

The dissertation has as its theme gender, cultural and psychosocial context and option for careers in science and technology (S&T). The work is inserted in the Project "Gender differences in the option for science and technology: permanence and changes in basic school" of IBICT. Some of the questions: Is gender related to cultural habits, stereotypes and selfesteem? Is gender related to feelings and behaviors towards humanities and exact subjects? Is gender related to career choices? The general objective of the dissertation is to analyze the influences of gender and the cultural environment on the professional choices of high school youngsters. It is based on two theoretical currents, the first: gender and cultural capital, to understand to what extent gender is linked to cultural habits and other sociocultural aspects of individuals; the second: gender and self-esteem, to understand how psychosocial aspects are related to gender and impact on self-esteem in relation to the disciplines of humanities and exact areas. The empirical field of this research is the high school of the Centro campus of Colégio Pedro II, which has 12 classes. The surveyed population was 285 respondents, comprising 73.3% of the target population. It adopts a quantitative approach for data collection and analysis, using the questionnaire technique and SPSS statistical software as a tool for data analyses. The results of the analyses focusing on gender and culture point out that the female gender tends to frequent more cultural environments considered erudite, such as theater, bookstores and museums, than the male gender. The data on gender and self-esteem suggest that there is a strong relationship between gender and self-assessment of ability in exact areas: females tend to feel less capable in these disciplines. The results on gender and careers reveal a lack of interest by young people in S&T fields in general, but if segmented by gender, the lack of interest is greater among females. It can be concluded from the data analyzed, the strong transmission and internalization of gender stereotypes by the high school girl which influencing the non-choice of S&T careers, contributing to the maintenance of mechanisms of horizontal segregation in this school phase.