Date of Award

12-1984

Degree Name

Doctor of Education

Department

Counseling and Personnel

First Advisor

Dr. Thelma Urbick

Second Advisor

Dr. Uldis Smidchens

Third Advisor

Dr. Chris Koronakos

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to compare the sex-role attitudes and background characteristics of women in nontraditional careers, traditional careers, and the homemakers in Malaysia.

The population studied was 630 women, out of which there were 210 women in nontraditional careers, 210 women in traditional careers, and 210 homemakers over the age of 18 who worked and resided in the areas of Kuala Lumpur and Selangor.

Spence and Helmreich's Attitudes Toward Women Scale-short form was used to measure the overall sex-role attitudes while the AWS vocational, educational, and intellectual theme was utilized to measure the attitudes toward women's roles in the vocational, educational, and intellectual areas. A questionnaire which covered the biographic data of the three groups of women was used to examine the background characteristics of the women.

The basic premise of this study was that the three groups of women would differ in their sex-role attitudes and background characteristics. It was hypothesized that nontraditional careers women would be the most liberal in both their overall sex-role attitudes and their attitudes toward women's roles in the vocational, educational, and intellectual areas. It was also postulated that there would be differences among the three groups of women in terms of their parents' combined monthly income levels, fathers' and mothers' levels of education, mothers' employment status, perception of parents' values of education, perception of parents' encouragement for them to pursue their careers, and places where they spent most of their childhood and adolescent years.

Results indicated that women in nontraditional careers were the most liberal among the three groups in both their overall sex-role attitudes and their sex-role attitudes in the vocational, educational, and intellectual areas. Findings also revealed differences among the three groups in terms of their background characteristics.

Discussions focused on the implications of sex-role attitudes on career development of women in Malaysia. The relationship between background characteristics and how they could predict the nature of the careers of the three groups of women was discussed.

Recommendations were aimed towards further research pertaining to sex-role attitudes and women in Malaysia.

Access Setting

Dissertation-Open Access

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