EXPLORING THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN GENDER DISCRIMINATION AND CAREER ATTITUDES IN THE GLOBAL SCIENCE COMMUNITY

Gender discrimination in the workplace is a prevalent issue due to its incidence and detrimental outcomes to both organizations and individuals. Gender discrimination is particularly relevant in STEM fields that have struggled to increase female representation. While past research has examined the relationship between gender discrimination and negative job attitudes, the potential impact for gender discrimination on career attitudes remains unexplored. Building on previous literature and using affective events theory (AET), stressor strain theory, and relative deprivation theory (RDT) I propose that direct or indirect exposure to gender discrimination in the workplace produces negative job attitudes which lead to a decrease in career optimism. I also suggest that gender will moderate the relationship between observing or experiencing gender discrimination and career optimism. Results support a relationship between experiencing and observing gender discrimination with career optimism. Gender was not found to moderate this relationship. Methodological limitations are discussed as well as applications to future research.