JOURNAL OF VOCATIONAL BEHAVIOR 12, 297-304 (1978) Students’ Ratings of Occupational Dimensions of Traditionally Male and Traditionally Female Occupations SHIRLEY L. O'BRYANT The Ohio State University MARY ELLEN DURRETT The University of Texas at Austin AND JAMES W. PENNEBAKER University of Virginia The purpose of the present study was to investigate four traditionally male occupations and four traditionally female occupations on a number of dimensions which people use to judge the prestige or importance of a job. Workers were pictured on one form in their traditional roles and on a second form in nontradi- tional roles. Results indicated a tendency for subjects to give lower ratings to workers in nontraditional jobs. More importantly, for the two “objective” dimen- sions, money and education, boys and girls agreed on job ratings; however, on the two more “subjective” dimensions, respect and importance to the community, boys gave higher ratings to the male jobs, while girls gave higher ratings to the female jobs. In order to induce children to utilize their talents and acquire the necessary education or’ training for their own ultimate occupational functioning, they must first have the knowledge of what occupations offer the various rewards they are personally seeking. Yet, the development of young people’s knowledge about occupational roles is one of the least studied aspects of the entire socialization process (Borow, 1966). Requests for reprints should be sent to Shirley L. O’Bryant, Assistant Professor, Depart- ment of Family Relations and Human Development, The Ohio State University, 1787Neil Avenue, Columbus, OH 43210. 297 OOOI-8791/78/0123-0297$02.CKVO Copyright @ 1978 by Academic Ress, Inc. All rights of reproduction in any form reserved.