Policy & Practice: Soapbox - Blame mothers for slow progress ongender and jobs

Myself and my colleague Sue Bond recently surveyed 2,148 pupils at 15 schools in Edinburgh and West Lothian, with Careers Scotland's support.

Our research echoed these findings and threw out some possible solutions.

We found that while young people used a wide range of sources for careers advice, parents, particularly mothers, were the main source. So improving the advice from careers services such as Connexions may have a limited effect on stereotyping.

While many pupils thought both genders were suited to work in some occupations, such as police officers, solicitors and doctors, for other jobs, including lorry driving, engineering and nursing, their attitudes remained stereotyped along gender lines. However, girls were less inclined to stereotype occupations than boys.