Gênero e perspectivas de escolha de cursos superiores: análise a partir de uma escola de ensino médio integrado à cursos técnicos na área da computação

Abstract

Gender issues are present in social relations in an invisible and naturalized way. Therefore, choices and actions are conditioned by the dictates of a patriarchal, androcentric, heteronormative society. Considering that the sexual division is the largest social division of the world today, research on gender conditioning in school and especially in secondary school allows visualizing prejudices and stereotypes in order to seek strategies for gender equity. Along this line, based on a quantiqualitative exploratory and descriptive approach, this dissertation aimed to analyze students’ relationships with technology and choices of higher education, seeking to understand whether they are influenced by gender naturalization and/or stereotypes, leading women to choose traditionally female specializations and occupations, and men to pursue socially prestigious careers that are considered masculine. The students attended an integrated technical/high school offering courses in Informatics, sponsored by the Military Police, located in João Pessoa, in the state of Paraíba, Brazil. A questionnaire was answered by 185 students (1st to 3rd year), 101 female and 84 male. Guided by Content Analysis and gender theories, data analyses are presented in tables and graphs, according to sex and school year. They show that students have a strong connection with technology and that there are gender differences in how they relate to it, one being the propensity of girls to seek information and of boys to seek entertainment when they navigate on the Internet. In addition, the naturalization of gender stereotypes in social relations seems to influence the youngsters’ identification with knowledge areas and thus to reflect on their choices of higher education. Such choices were associated with the feminine attributes of care, leading girls to choose Humanities, Social Sciences and Biology, and with traditional masculine attributes, leading boys to careers in Science and Technology. Thus, it was observed that girls, although enrolled in technical courses in the area of Informatics, do not intend to pursue a career in this area; likewise, the percentage of boys intending to continue in this area was low, raising questions for new investigations. It was also observed the influence of military culture in the school, affecting intentions of professional choices, as the Course of Military Officers was pointed out by both sexes.