Gender and Perception of Profession

Abstract

There are negative impacts of gender stereotypes particularly on the education of girls and women. The purpose of this study is to examine pre-service teachers’ profession perceptions within the context of gender using word association test technique and to identify the definition of the concept of “profession” depending on sex. This study is designed as a qualitative research and involves 250 pre-service teachers. In analysing the data, descriptive analysis method is used. Findings are presented in frequency tables and concept networks. The results show that the first profession pre-service teachers mention in their sentences about the concepts of “women and profession” is “teacher”, whereas it is “worker” for the concept of “men and profession”. In the light of the findings, suggestions are made to overcome gender stereotypes and to help individuals to become aware of the acts and talks that reproduce gender inequality.