Father's Attitude Towards Women Shapes Daughter's Career Ambitions

Like mothers, fathers also play an important role in shaping their daughter's personality. Emphasizing this point, according to a new study, a father's attitudes toward gender and sexism predicts whether his daughter will grow up with strong workplace ambitions or not.

The findings, presented at the annual meeting of the society for Personality and Social Psychology last week, found that fathers who have open-minded concepts toward women and do not mind in sharing household chores with their partner, are more likely to have daughters with high career ambitions, Live Science reported.

Interestingly, researchers found a father's liberal attitudes also influencing the type of games and toys his daughters would choose.

"Dads who are more balanced have girls who are just as likely to play with Transformers as Barbie dolls," Live Science quoted study researcher Toni Schmader, a psychologist at the University of British Columbia, as saying.

The study involved 196 boys and 167 girls studying in elementary school, and their parents. The participants filled questionnaires related to gender stereotypes, gender behavior and division of household labor.

Researchers found mothers also influencing in shaping their children's concepts about duties of both men and women or gender stereotypes. However, fathers were found having more influence than mothers in inspiring their daughters to have strong career-based ambitions and liberal attitudes toward gender.

According to the researchers, a girl who grows up with a less sexist father is more likely to wish the same qualities in her future partner.

"Not role models for who they can be, but role models for who they could be with," Schmader said, according to Live Science.

Previous studies have shown a father's values and parental involvement helping his children to achieve ultimate success in life.  A study published in the Journal of Early Adolescence in June found children learning lessons of persistence better from fathers than mothers.  Another study from the University of Connecticut found fathers influencing the personality of a child rather than a mother. In November last year, a team of researchers from the University of Bath found a father's active involvement in a child's life and education crucial for his/her success in life.