More Dads Influence Daughters’ Career Paths

By Tara Parker-Pope
INSERT DESCRIPTION(Lonnie Schlein/The New York Times) Watching a father work may shape a girl’s job choice.

Fathers appear to be playing a bigger role in their daughters’ career choices compared to men of previous generations.

Researchers from the University of Maryland used various data sets to study the career paths of 63,000 women born between 1909 and 1977. Given that more women today are entering predominantly male occupations in higher numbers compared to women of previous generations, the researchers said it has been difficult to distinguish between general societal changes and family factors that may be influencing a woman’s career choices.

The question is whether fathers are passing on what the researchers called “job specific human capital” to their daughters. The notion that fathers pass on job skills and work interests to their sons has been long established, but the trend hasn’t been pronounced in girls, in part because women are relatively recent participants in the workforce.

To distinguish between social trends and the additional influence a father might have, the researchers first compared the percentage of women who worked in the same field as their fathers-in-law. A father-in-law provides a useful comparison because he represents male generational influences of the time, but doesn’t exert any parenting influence over the woman, the researchers said.

Then the researchers evaluated the number of women who went into their fathers’ line of work. In comparing women who worked in the same field as their fathers-in-law with those who followed in their fathers’ footsteps, the researchers found a surprising difference.

About 6 percent of women born in the first decade of the study worked in the same field as their fathers. But about 18 percent of women born in the last decade of the study followed their fathers’ footsteps. Although much of the increase is attributed to social influences, the study showed that about 20 percent of the difference is attributed to a father’s influence.

By comparison, the percentage of men who followed in their fathers’ career paths remained relatively unchanged at about 30 percent during the study period.

The study wasn’t designed to explore the reasons behind the change. However, it may be that today’s fathers are spending more time with their daughters and passing on more skills and values related to their careers, said Judith K. Hellerstein, associate professor of economics at the University of Maryland. Another factor may be that daughters also are paying more attention to the fathers.

Dr. Hellerstein notes that her own father’s job as a math professor influenced her career path.

“I watched my father grade math papers at night,’’ she said. “And my father made it clear to us that women could do math, which was important.’’

The study is under review by an economics journal and is part of a University of Maryland dissertation project by Melinda Sandler Morrill, who is now an assistant economics professor at North Carolina State University. The authors noted that most of the women in the data set were married, since the study compared the effects of fathers-in-law as well as fathers on career choice, but that they don’t believe excluding single women had a major effect on the findings.

Comments are no longer being accepted.

V. Nagarajan February 23, 2009 · 5:53 pm

I didn’t at all get the reasoning behind the design of the control. How about the influence of, say, an uncle or an older brother or male cousin?

uncle vee February 23, 2009 · 6:03 pm

that explains american idol…

Beth February 23, 2009 · 6:15 pm

Geez, shouldn’t “daughter’s” be plural with a possessive apostrophe – for example, “Fathers appear to be playing a bigger role in their daughters’ career choices compared to men of previous generations” – given that “fathers” and “their” are plural? Come on, editors. Multiple dads cannot have a single daughter together.

M February 23, 2009 · 6:17 pm

“The authors noted that because most of the women in the data set were married, they don’t believe excluding single women had a major effect on the findings.”

???? Confusing statement about the methodology.

By this you mean that there is a presumption that single women show even greater % of those influenced by their fathers?

FROM TPP — By using fathers-in-law as a baseline, the study selected out single women> However, most women do get married and most women in this sample were married, so selecting out the single women was unlikely to affect the result.

Erica February 23, 2009 · 6:27 pm

One factor is “You go with what you know”. Human beings tend to do that. Children observe and absorb what they are exposed to by their parents and feel more comfortable pursuing it.
My son works in an emergency room. My daughter is now in medical school. For important reasons, I haven’t worked since they were born so they did not have input from me. Their father is a physician. They were exposed to the medical world for a couple of decades before they chose their current medical pursuits. They knew his office and its staff, his physician friends, male and female. My daughter knows a lot about the life of a doctor and the life of a doctor’s family. Her father never spoke to her about becoming a doctor, but she is.

Charlotte February 23, 2009 · 6:33 pm

My father certainly influenced my choice of profession. He is a small business owner, and told me “I sure as h— don’t want you doing this.” And then he said that once I hit 21, I was on my own, so I’d better had a job that paid well.

Karen February 23, 2009 · 6:58 pm

My Dad was a major influence on my career, although I didn’t follow exactly in his footsteps. (I work in the same industry, but in a different field.) My Mom had never worked, and so whenever I had questions about careers and jobs, I had to go to my father. Thankfully we had a good relationship, although of course the workplace had changed dramatically since he had first started working 30+ years earlier. The career path he had taken – starting out of high school and being trained by the company, working at the same place for 40 years – just wasn’t an option any more when I was that age. But he encouraged me to go into a field that was primarily male, and never let anyone consider me as less qualified because I was a woman.

Interestingly, I think this changed his attitudes as well. When I was young, I remember him commenting about “girls” at the office, and that they were only qualified to be secretaries. When I got older and started thinking about careers, his attitude changed – his daughter could do any job, and so maybe women at the office weren’t so bad. In a turn-around from his earlier attitude, he ended up mentoring one of the first women in his department, in part because he thought she would be a good role model for me!

terri February 23, 2009 · 6:58 pm

my parents were unusually (for Chinese parents) quiet in terms of direct influence on my career (or my life), but looking back, it is certain that both my father’s unconditional support of my education and his work experience heavily influenced me, whereas my mother had no influence in my work.

While it would seem that I work in a very different domain than my father, I ended up with the same broad range of interests, entered a career that he had apparently considered, and tried avoiding what didn’t work for him.

carol goldstein February 23, 2009 · 7:09 pm

For whatever it is worth, my ex-father-in-law was an accountant and that’s the career I choose and was lucky to be successful at. My dad did skilled repair at the power plant and my mother was a social work administrator.

I married before I finished college (at age 20) and worked for 3 years before going back and finishing my degree. During those 3 years (1969-1972) I paid attention to what kind of steady work that had a career path a woman with a bachelor’s degree (and wasn’t teaching, nursing or secretarial). Accounting stood out back then. My ex’s dad actually lent me the tuition money to go back to school and get the degree.

I know annecdotal evidence isn’t statistics, but I wonder what would happen if you did a correlation with age of marriage on the data in this study.

Peggy Drake February 23, 2009 · 7:48 pm

Hmm. My father had in his mind the career he wanted for me, but on purpose did not tell me. Dad did finally let on his choice when I was in my 30’s — he wanted me to be an engineer (he is a retired mechanical engineering designer). He wanted me to be free to make my own choice. (My mother wanted me to be a television reporter!) When I ended up in City Planning, and majored in Sociology to prepare for that career at my liberal arts colleg (William and Mary), they were, well, curious, but supportive. Dad could see some of his engineering skills in my work, from which I’ve recently retired.

I wonder if fathers of Boomers were different from men of today in this regard.

Chioggiabeet February 23, 2009 · 7:58 pm

Well, Beth, multiple dads actually can have a single daughter together. Happens all the time. It’s called adoption or surrogacy. But I agree with your copy-editing.

s abhyanker February 23, 2009 · 7:58 pm

My father encouraged me to enter a then male dominated profession (pharmacy in 1986) and I’ve been happy with that choice ever since. Since, then , the field has become female dominated so I do hope mothers will encourage their sons back into it as well (it’s a great career choice for both!) Thanks Dad!

Lisa February 23, 2009 · 7:59 pm

As I recall, daughters tend to have more genetic expression of their father’s genes than their mother’s where sons tend to have more of a random expression of genetic material from both parents. Knowing this, it is uncanny how similar daughters are to their Dads. I think some of the influence dicussed above is genetically based.
Think Miley Cyrus for example. As an aside– father’s who want their legacy–genetic material to live on should wish for more daughters.

tina February 24, 2009 · 12:48 am

My father is in financing and I am in academia, but I think I followed in his footsteps. We are both involved in highly risky ventures that leave us exhilarated when we succeed and dangerously depressed when we fail. I know I am my father’s daughter because I thrive on the impossibility of success, just like him. If I were to leave science, I would be a farmer. I would be seeking the same independence and daredevilry that academia and research has given me.

At first, when I chose my career, I believe my father thought I was picking something completely opposite his lifestyle. Now, when he visits, and we stay up at night talking about tenure, managing our apprentices, and grants, we connect.

Betsy February 24, 2009 · 1:36 am

Lisa (#13): From classical genetics, daughters have an exactly 50/50 split of genetic material from both parents. Sons are slightly less influenced by their fathers because each inherits a Y chromosome from his dad. The Y has very little genetic content, and therefore a son expresses genes from his mother’s X pretty much exclusively, whereas a daughter will express genes from either her mother’s X or her father’s or both.

The X is one of the larger chromosomes, and contains a bunch of “brain genes”. So it’s sort of true that fathers who want their (genetic) patterns of thought to live on should wish for daughters, but even then, they only get a 50/50 shot at it!

(My dad, by the way, is not particularly interested in genetics, and I am fascinated by it).

she-physicist February 24, 2009 · 7:31 am

Now that they determined social trends, they can go back and include single women. It is possible that single women pattern actually differs especially within the boomers generation. American women were under impression that they have to choose career or family. I wonder if there were other countries where this conception was cultivated. I know of those in which it was not..

blacklight February 24, 2009 · 7:36 am

This Asian American remembers when this mid-Western white kid who was interning at my firm told me that he wanted to be like me. I was a hardened engineer then. Scariest moment of my life :) Even as we speak, I can imagine my cousin’s wife telling her daughters: “Learn from him. Be at least as good as he is, but don’t act the way he does!” :)

Deb February 24, 2009 · 7:55 am

Tara – “fathers-in-law” not “father-in-laws.” The noun is “fathers” and therefore must be plural.

FROM TPP — I’m aware of the distinction, but I just looked through the story and don’t see it written incorrectly anywhere. When a plural is needed, it already reads “fathers in law” Update: I found the mistake in one of my comments to a reader. Thanks for pointing it out.

G February 24, 2009 · 9:01 am

Deb – Look at the TPP resposne to comment #4.

M. February 24, 2009 · 9:12 am

Is it the father’s influence, or is it the result of changing societal notions that women are of equal intellectual ability as men? History is peppered with women who, for instance, liked to study, participate in athletics, or take on any number of traditionally male roles instead of learn traditionally female tasks. Perhaps these women aren’t just the singular exception anymore because society encourages more of us to join their ranks, and as society continues to evolve, women in male-dominated trades aren’t seen as “masculinized.” Hence, more women just happen to enter their father’s professions.

I don’t mean to downplay the role of a father (which is quite important), but to say women entering male-dominated professions is because of any single cause strikes me as oversimplifying the matter…

CAC in DC February 24, 2009 · 9:34 am

My father was (and still is) a workaholic. He never took days off, never took vacations (when he traveled for work he would bring his family for a “vacation” while he worked) and swears at 63 he will never retire. Although I did not end up in his field (both of my brothers did), I did end up working for ad agencies for most of my career — typically a 70 – 80 hour workweek and was in the office most weekends. In my late 30’s, I started to reevaluate my career and took an in-house marketing job for a non-profit and started working regular hours. But I still feel guilty if I am not putting in more hours than required, or if I leave work while the sun is still out. My mother was a stay-at-home mom. I definitely “inherited” my father’s work ethic, if not his career.

Janet V February 24, 2009 · 9:36 am

My father, despite his 160 IQ and being a gifted artist, had a menial labor job he loved. My mother was the executive administrator with a high school diploma. He had the abilities, but she was the striver and was always our role model (and still is).

But I firmly believe it was my father’s insistence that girls could do anything, that it was society that held them down and not intrinsic ability, that pushed me to succeed.

Then again, he had a wife and four daughters, so it wasn’t like he had much choice but to think that way.

Veins February 24, 2009 · 11:19 am

Wait, we are to assume that there is no link between a woman’s relationship to her father and whether she is single? I call shenanigans. I know too many single women who also happen to resent their fathers. Interesting study though.

Stephen G February 24, 2009 · 11:25 am

Everything we teach a child, whether they be male or female, influences his or her future. The more time we spend interacting with our children, the more we leave an impression of ourselves on them.
When my daughter was an infant, I used to strap her in a Baby Bjorn with her facing outward, then prepare and cook dinner.

Six years later she still has a fascination with cooking, cooking shows [she has even recorded her own], and is more able in the kitchen than her 9-year-old brother.

Our children take queues from our actions [or those who spend the most time with them]. If fathers spend more time with daughters or sons of course they will have a stronger influence in later career choices.

Jill February 24, 2009 · 11:26 am

One of my most enduring memories of childhood is always seeing my father read or write–his medical journal articles, the Times, the New Yorker, the latest by Updike or Cheever. He was always scrawling on a yellow legal pad. He was a doctor (and now a professor) who always wanted to be a writer, or to teach English. And he always told me to be what I wanted; that I could do anything. So of course I’m a writer and an editor; makes sense.