Gender stereotypes and career choices among new students enrolling in Computer Science and Law at the Rafaela Academic Department of the Catholic University of Santiago del Estero between 2021 and 2023.

Abstract

This article aims to analyze whether there are social representations that reflect the stereotype of men choosing careers as breadwinners versus women being tied to domestic roles among new students enrolling in computer engineering and law programs between 2021 and 2023 at the Catholic University of Santiago del Estero, Rafaela Academic Department. The specific objectives were to characterize the students according to their self-perceived gender and the prevalence or absence of immediate family members with higher education, and to gather the students' ideas about the profession that motivated their choice. Techniques and instruments associated with quantitative and qualitative approaches (self-administered questionnaire and focus group) were used. The results obtained showed a predominance of males over females in the Computer Engineering program, in contrast to the Law program. In both degree programs and for both genders, the importance of balancing family and work life, leisure, and interpersonal contacts emerges, which blurs the stereotype of the independent man outside the home. Stereotypes are not rigid; there is some variation in women's choice of these degree programs, although the differences in engineering are still notable between genders.