Relationship between Job Messages Sent to High School Students and Gender Stereotypes about Occupations : A Case Study of Text Information on an Employment Website for High School Students

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マツモト, リサ

Matsumoto, Risa

Department of Education, Graduate School of Human Sciences, Osaka University

This study analyzes job-offer messages sent to high school students through employment websites provided by private job placement agencies from a gender perspective. Textual information on job offers for male-dominated (construction) and female-dominated (nursing and medical care) occupations obtained from a representative site was used to identify the characteristics of messages and the use of gendered wording. The results revealed that although skills and smiling were necessary in both occupations, the value of acquiring skills was emphasized in male occupations, whereas the value of smiling was emphasized in female occupations. Additionally, job advertisements for male-dominated occupations tend to have more masculine wording than those for female-dominated occupations, while job advertisements for femaledominated occupations tend to have more feminine wording than those for male-dominated occupations. Furthermore, job advertisements for male-dominated occupations using masculine wording contained more photos and illustrations that reinforced gender stereotypes of occupations than those for female-dominated occupations using feminine wording. These findings suggest that high school graduate employment websites reproduce gender stereotypes about occupations and send messages that make it difficult for girls to include male-dominated occupations as options. Supporting high school students is important to ensure that they can make career choices without being constrained by gender, and from this perspective, reviewing the verbiage of job messages is necessary.