‘Free to be me?’: gender role norms constrain career interests less for lesbian, gay and bisexual people than for heterosexual people

Katharina Block; Jia Yue He; Maria I. T Olsson; Sanne Van Grootel; Sarah E Martiny; Toni Schmader; Colette Van Laar; Carolin Schuster; Loes Meeussen; Tabea Hässler; Alyssa Croft; Sheila X. R Wee; Molly Shuyi Sun; Mare Ainsaar; Lianne Aarntzen; Magdalena Adamus; Ciara Atkinson; Mohamad Avicenna; Przemysław Bąbel; Markus Barth; Tessa M Benson-Greenwald; Edona Maloku; Jacques Berent; Hilary B Bergsieker; Monica Biernat; Andreea G Bîrneanu; Blerta Bodinaku; Janine Bosak; Jennifer Bosson; Marija Branković; Julius Burkauskas; Vladimíra Čavojová; Sapna Cheryan; Eunsoo Choi; Incheol Choi; Carlos C Contreras-Ibáñez; Andrew Coogan; Ivan Danyliuk; Ilan Dar-Nimrod; Nilanjana Dasgupta; Soledad de Lemus; Thierry Devos; Marwan Diab; Amanda B Diekman; Léïla Eisner; Anja Eller; Rasa Erentaitė; Denisa Fedáková; Renata Franc; Leire Gartzia; Alin Gavreliuc; Dana Gavreliuc; Julija Gecaite-Stonciene; Adriana L Germano; Ilaria Giovannelli; Renzo Gismondi Diaz; Lyudmila Gitikhmayeva; Abiy Menkir Gizaw; Biljana Gjoneska; Omar Martínez González; Roberto González; Isaac David Grijalva; Derya Güngör; Marie Gustafsson Sendén; William Hall; Charles Harb; Bushra Hassan; Diala R Hawi; Levke Henningsen; Annedore Hoppe; Keiko Ishii; Ivana Jakšić; Alba Jasini; Jurgita Jurkevičienė; Kaltrina Kelmendi; Teri A Kirby; Yoko Kitakaji; Natasza Kosakowska-Berezecka; Inna Kozytska; Clara Kulich; Eva Kundtová-Klocová; Filiz Kunuroglu; Christina Lapytskaia Aidy; Albert Lee; Anna Eneroth; Wilson López-López; Liany Luzvinda; Fridanna Maricchiolo; Delphine Martinot; Rita Anne McNamara; Alyson Meister; Tizita Lemma Melka; Narseta Mickuvienė; María Isabel Miranda-Orrego; Thadeus Mkamwa; James Morandini; Thomas Morton; David Mrisho; Jana Nikitin; Sabine Otten; Maria Giuseppina Pacilli; Elizabeth Page-Gould; Ana Perandrés-Gómez; Jon Pizarro; Nada Pop-Jordanova; Joanna Pyrkosz-Pacyna; Samir Qouta; TamilSelvan Ramis; Nitya Rani; Sandrine Redersdorff; Isabelle Régner; Emma A Renström; Adrian Rivera-Rodriguez; Tania E Rocha-Sánchez; Rim Saab; Kiriko Sakata; Adil Samekin; Tracy Sánchez-Pachecho; Carolin Scheifele; Marion K Schulmeyer; Sabine Sczesny; David Sirlopú; Vanessa Smith-Castro; Kadri Soo; Federica Spaccatini; Jennifer R Steele; Melanie C Steffens; Ines Sucic; Joseph Vandello; Laura Maria Velásquez-Díaz; Melissa Vink; Eva Vives; Turuwark Zalalam Warkineh; Iris Žeželj; Xiaoxiao Zhang; Xian Zhao; Joel Anderson

doi:10.1002/ejsp.70083

Title	‘Free to be me?’: gender role norms constrain career interests less for lesbian, gay and bisexual people than for heterosexual people
Authors	Block, Katharina ; He, Jia Yue ; Olsson, Maria I. T ; Van Grootel, Sanne ; Martiny, Sarah E ; Schmader, Toni ; Van Laar, Colette ; Schuster, Carolin ; Meeussen, Loes ; Hässler, Tabea ; Croft, Alyssa ; Wee, Sheila X. R ; Sun, Molly Shuyi ; Ainsaar, Mare ; Aarntzen, Lianne ; Adamus, Magdalena ; Atkinson, Ciara ; Avicenna, Mohamad ; Bąbel, Przemysław ; Barth, Markus ; Benson-Greenwald, Tessa M ; Maloku, Edona ; Berent, Jacques ; Bergsieker, Hilary B ; Biernat, Monica ; Bîrneanu, Andreea G ; Bodinaku, Blerta ; Bosak, Janine ; Bosson, Jennifer ; Branković, Marija ; Burkauskas, Julius ; Čavojová, Vladimíra ; Cheryan, Sapna ; Choi, Eunsoo ; Choi, Incheol ; Contreras-Ibáñez, Carlos C ; Coogan, Andrew ; Danyliuk, Ivan ; Dar-Nimrod, Ilan ; Dasgupta, Nilanjana ; de Lemus, Soledad ; Devos, Thierry ; Diab, Marwan ; Diekman, Amanda B ; Eisner, Léïla ; Eller, Anja ; Erentaitė, Rasa ; Fedáková, Denisa ; Franc, Renata ; Gartzia, Leire ; Gavreliuc, Alin ; Gavreliuc, Dana ; Gecaite-Stonciene, Julija ; Germano, Adriana L ; Giovannelli, Ilaria ; Gismondi Diaz, Renzo ; Gitikhmayeva, Lyudmila ; Gizaw, Abiy Menkir ; Gjoneska, Biljana ; Martínez González, Omar ; González, Roberto ; Grijalva, Isaac David ; Güngör, Derya ; Gustafsson Sendén, Marie ; Hall, William ; Harb, Charles ; Hassan, Bushra ; Hawi, Diala R ; Henningsen, Levke ; Hoppe, Annedore ; Ishii, Keiko ; Jakšić, Ivana ; Jasini, Alba ; Jurkevičienė, Jurgita ; Kelmendi, Kaltrina ; Kirby, Teri A ; Kitakaji, Yoko ; Kosakowska-Berezecka, Natasza ; Kozytska, Inna ; Kulich, Clara ; Kundtová-Klocová, Eva ; Kunuroglu, Filiz ; Lapytskaia Aidy, Christina ; Lee, Albert ; Eneroth, Anna ; López-López, Wilson ; Luzvinda, Liany ; Maricchiolo, Fridanna ; Martinot, Delphine ; McNamara, Rita Anne ; Meister, Alyson ; Melka, Tizita Lemma ; Mickuvienė, Narseta ; Miranda-Orrego, María Isabel ; Mkamwa, Thadeus ; Morandini, James ; Morton, Thomas ; Mrisho, David ; Nikitin, Jana ; Otten, Sabine ; Pacilli, Maria Giuseppina ; Page-Gould, Elizabeth ; Perandrés-Gómez, Ana ; Pizarro, Jon ; Pop-Jordanova, Nada ; Pyrkosz-Pacyna, Joanna ; Qouta, Samir ; Ramis, TamilSelvan ; Rani, Nitya ; Redersdorff, Sandrine ; Régner, Isabelle ; Renström, Emma A ; Rivera-Rodriguez, Adrian ; Rocha-Sánchez, Tania E ; Saab, Rim ; Sakata, Kiriko ; Samekin, Adil ; Sánchez-Pachecho, Tracy ; Scheifele, Carolin ; Schulmeyer, Marion K ; Sczesny, Sabine ; Sirlopú, David ; Smith-Castro, Vanessa ; Soo, Kadri ; Spaccatini, Federica ; Steele, Jennifer R ; Steffens, Melanie C ; Sucic, Ines ; Vandello, Joseph ; Velásquez-Díaz, Laura Maria ; Vink, Melissa ; Vives, Eva ; Warkineh, Turuwark Zalalam ; Žeželj, Iris ; Zhang, Xiaoxiao ; Zhao, Xian ; Anderson, Joel
DOI	10.1002/ejsp.70083
Full Text
Is Part of	European journal of social psychology.. Hoboken : Wiley. 2026, vol. 56, iss. 5, p. 903-921.. ISSN 0046-2772. eISSN 1099-0992
Keywords [eng]	career interest ; gender differences ; gender norms ; LGBTQ ; queer
Abstract [eng]	Societal gender role norms play a crucial role in shaping men's and women's career aspirations. However, prior research documenting this key role of gendered norms has primarily focused on heterosexual women and men in the global North-West. Previous studies documenting differences in career interests by sexual orientation suggest that gender role norms might affect lesbian, gay and bisexual (LGB) women and men less strongly than heterosexuals. This large-scale, preregistered study sought to document group differences in norm perceptions, career interests and their relationship. To this end, 18,351 university students (n = 3318 LGB, n = 15,033 heterosexual) from 46 countries completed a self-report survey about their gender, sexual orientation, perceptions of societal gender role norms, as well as their personal gender role beliefs and career interests. Analyses revealed that, compared to heterosexual individuals, LGB individuals reported significantly less stereotypical career interests and endorsed less traditional gender role beliefs about careers. As predicted, perceptions of societal gender role norms predicted career interests for heterosexual but not for LGB participants. Moreover, LGB participants showed a weaker relationship between societal gender role norms and own gender role beliefs than straight participants did. Interestingly, we found no evidence that this effect was conditional on the level of LGBT acceptance in different countries sampled. We discuss implications of this new evidence for understanding occupational gender segregation from an intersectional perspective.
Published	Hoboken : Wiley
Type	Journal article
Language	English
Publication date	2026
CC license

„‘Free to be me?’: gender role norms constrain career interests less for lesbian, gay and bisexual people than for heterosexual people“