Impact of Parental Occupation on Career Aspirations Fatimah Shah

Abstract

This paper seeks to identify the relationship between parental occupations and gender-specific career aspirations of undergraduate students. To do this, we conducted surveys with fourth-year undergraduate students in eight universities of Lahore, Pakistan. These surveys have collected data on demographic characteristics, parental occupations, and career aspirations. The results show that a high mother’s skill level is associated with higher career aspirations for children especially females. Father’s higher skill level has a negative impact on a child’s career aspiration and this does not differ across genders. Furthermore, as career aspirations are determinant of one’s career choices and attitude, therefore, the obtained results are beneficial in understanding and analyzing the prevailing gender gap in labor market.