May 23, 2005

Employment is Destiny?

By Ian

Those of you toiling in a more "masculine" profession and are expecting, it looks like you might be more likely to be saying "Atta boy!"

Blokey jobs encourage baby boys, study says

The conclusion comes from a survey of 3,000 people from various professions by the London School of Economics and printed in the Journal of Theoretical Biology.

In the population as a whole in Britain, roughly 105 boys are currently born for every 100 girls, according to the study, The Sunday Times newspaper said.

But according to calculations by chief researcher Satoshi Kanazawa, for engineers and other "systemisers" [a description given to a form of cognition considered more "male"] the ratio is 140 boys per 100 girls.

Nurses and the like produce around 135 girls for every 100 boys, the study found.

Interestingly, the sciences are included in those professions termed "systematic", thus making the description of "masculine" mean more than simply requiring more brawn. If this conclusion is true, and the effect does exist, might it not have something interesting to say about the representation (or under-) of women in the upper tiers of scientific study? The women who do choose the life of an academic and excel to the top postions might be more likely to have male children, an effect that, coupled with the fact that children of highly educated parents are more likely to pursue similar vocations, would make comparisons to the normal distribution of men and women in the general population less and less applicable as generations wore on.

(Via, and with more to be found at, Illuminating Science.)

Posted at May 23, 2005 03:57 PM

Comments

My father in law is a scientist trained at MIT. He has two daughters. So much for that theory. =)

Comment by Lugo at May 24, 2005 10:04 AM | Permalink

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Want to have a boy child? Become an accountant or steelworker. According to a study in the Journal of Theoretical Biology (as cited by Ian in Truck and Barter): [Read More]

Tracked on May 23, 2005 08:47 PM