Gender as a Determinant of Work Values Among University Students in Israel

Abstract

Gender differences in work values, measured by the 25-item Manhardt scale (1972), were examined among 820 (391 male and 429 female) undergraduate students at Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, Israel. Male and female students differed on 9 items. The single students' scores were similar to the scores of the total sample; among married students, there were gender differences on only 3 items. In the Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences, male and female students differed on 13 items; in the Faculty of Engineering, they differed on 8 items; and in the Faculty of Medicine, they differed on 2 items. There was no consistent pattern of gender-based differences in work values. These findings show the need to control for background variables and field of study/occupation in examinations of gender-based differences in work values; they also indicate the need to revise and augment traditional explanations of gender differences in work values.