Your sexual orientation appears to have an intriguing impact on how bound you feel by traditional career expectations

A recent psychological study suggests that lesbian, gay, and bisexual individuals form career interests that are less influenced by traditional gender roles than their heterosexual peers. These findings provide evidence that sexual orientation plays an important role in how people navigate social expectations in the professional world. The research was recently published in the European Journal of Social Psychology.

Societal norms about gender shape many aspects of daily life. From a young age, children observe how different jobs are divided between men and women. They see men overrepresented in fields like science and engineering, while women are highly represented in healthcare and education. This observation tends to teach people that certain careers are naturally better suited for specific genders.

Social role theory provides a framework for understanding how these patterns are sustained. The theory suggests that people form beliefs about what others should do simply by observing the world around them. When society consistently funnels men and women into different occupations, occupational segregation begins to look like a natural reflection of personal preferences. This system reinforces traditional expectations, making it difficult for people to imagine crossing the boundary into a field dominated by another gender.

From an early age, children are taught which behaviors and values are appropriate for their gender. They learn about professional expectations by observing their parents and by absorbing messages from television, books, and peers. By the time they enter elementary school, most children demonstrate a solid understanding of societal stereotypes. These deeply ingrained ideas shape the possibilities they imagine for their own futures.

These socially agreed upon standards are known as injunctive norms. Injunctive norms are unwritten rules about what people should do based on the groups they belong to. Once learned, these expectations guide the career choices people consider. They also signal whether a person will fit in or face social penalties for pursuing a particular path.

Most previous research on how gender norms affect career choices has focused on heterosexual individuals in Western countries. This focus leaves a gap in understanding how people from different sexual orientations interact with professional expectations. Being part of a sexual minority often involves questioning mainstream ideas about relationships and gender. Rejecting standard relationship models might also make it easier for people to reject other societal pressures, such as expectations about what jobs are appropriate for them.

A massive international team of more than 100 scholars worked together to test these ideas. Katharina Block, an assistant professor of psychology at the University of Amsterdam, led the research team.

“Career choices often feel deeply personal. From a lot of past work we know that they are also shaped by what women and men are ‘supposed’ to do,” Block explained. “Most of this past work really focused on heterosexual men and women.”

“We wanted to understand whether these gendered expectations shape everyone’s interests in the same way,” Block continued. “Because lesbian, gay, and bisexual people often have to question traditional expectations about gender and relationships, we thought that they may also relate differently to gender norms about work. That possibility felt both theoretically important and socially meaningful.”

To gather this data, the research team recruited 18,351 university students from 119 universities across 46 countries. The final sample included 15,033 heterosexual participants and 3,318 participants who identified as lesbian, gay, or bisexual. Participants completed a detailed self-report survey about their gender, sexual orientation, and career preferences. The surveys were translated into the primary language of instruction at each participating university.

In the survey, the researchers measured participants’ personal beliefs about gender and work. They asked participants what percentage of men and women should work in specific science, technology, electrical engineering, and math fields. They asked the exact same questions regarding healthcare, early education, and social work careers. Participants also reported how they thought the rest of society viewed these careers.

When participants rated their personal beliefs, they used a scale ranging from zero to one hundred. A score of zero indicated a belief that only men should be in those specific careers, while a score of one hundred indicated a belief that only women should be in those careers. The research team calculated average scores for both science and healthcare fields.

Participants also rated their own personal interest in these different occupational fields. They answered questions about whether they could imagine the jobs being interesting and whether the careers matched their personal values. The researchers then used statistical models to see how societal expectations predicted these personal career interests.

The authors found that lesbian, gay, and bisexual individuals reported significantly less stereotypical career interests than heterosexual individuals. Gay and bisexual men expressed stronger interest in healthcare and education careers and less interest in science and technology fields than heterosexual men did. Lesbian and bisexual women reported much higher interest in science and technology careers than heterosexual women did.

The study also provides evidence that sexual minority individuals hold less traditional personal beliefs about gender roles. Compared to heterosexual participants, lesbian, gay, and bisexual participants believed that more men should work in healthcare and education. They also believed that more women should work in science and technology.

The biggest difference emerged when looking at how societal expectations predicted individual choices. For heterosexual participants, perceiving that society viewed a career as appropriate for their gender strongly predicted their personal interest in that field. Heterosexual individuals showed more interest in science and technology if they thought society expected their gender to do that work.

In contrast, this relationship was weak or non-existent for lesbian, gay, and bisexual participants. Societal expectations did not predict their interest in healthcare and education. When it came to science and technology, lesbian, gay, and bisexual participants actually showed less interest in the field the more they perceived that society expected their gender to do that work. This suggests a level of resistance or pushback against traditional gender roles that is atypical among heterosexual populations.

“The main takeaway is hopeful: Societal gender norms matter for career interests, but they do not shape everyone in the same way,” Block told PsyPost. “In our study, heterosexual students’ career interests were more closely tied to what they thought society expected from their gender by society.”

“Lesbian, gay, and bisexual students showed less gender-stereotypical career interests, and their interests were less constrained by those perceived norms,” Block added. “This suggests that people can, and often do, find ways to imagine futures beyond traditional gender roles, even when they are well aware what societal norms are.”

The researchers also tested whether a country’s overall acceptance of sexual minorities changed this dynamic. They suspected that in countries with low acceptance, traditional expectations might still restrict the career choices of sexual minority populations. Interestingly, they found no evidence that country level acceptance altered the relationship between societal norms and career interests.

“We expected that country-level acceptance of LGBTQ+ people might change how strongly gender norms shaped LGB students’ career interests,” Block said. “We thought that LGB people in more traditional countries would still orient themselves towards gender norms in their career interests.”

“Surprisingly, we did not find clear evidence for that,” Block continued. “Across many countries in our sample, LGB students’ interests were generally less tied to perceived gender norms. This does not mean cultural context is unimportant, but it suggests that resistance to traditional gender expectations could be a shared experience across many different settings.”

Despite the large and diverse sample, the study has certain limitations to keep in mind. The survey data did not allow the authors to assess the unique experiences of transgender and non-binary individuals. People whose gender identity differs from the sex they were assigned at birth often face entirely different expectations and workplace challenges.

“Our sample was large and international, but it consisted of university students, who do not represent everyone in their country,” Block stated. “They are younger and more educated than the average person. We also measured career interests, not actual career decisions, which are shaped by many practical barriers and opportunities.”

“In addition, we grouped several sexual-minority identities together as ‘LGB,’ even though lesbian, gay, bisexual, and mostly heterosexual people can have distinct experiences,” Block noted. “Future work should examine these differences more precisely and especially should look at people who do not identify with the gender binary.”

The researchers also had to exclude some participants who identified as asexual from their primary analysis. Asexuality refers to experiencing little to no sexual attraction, but the definition of this term varies widely across different cultures. Without a culturally consistent understanding of asexuality, the researchers could not accurately determine how this group interacted with professional gender expectations.

To ensure high quality data, the researchers excluded a few countries from their final analysis if the reported proportion of sexual minority students seemed highly improbable. In locations where same-sex relationships are criminalized, the reported numbers were incredibly low. These safety concerns highlight the difficulty of conducting accurate psychological research in regions where revealing a minority identity carries severe legal and physical risks.

Moving forward, the research team hopes to address these gaps and expand their focus.

“My long-term goal is to better understand who feels free to pursue different kinds of work, and why,” Block said. “Next steps include studying more specific LGBTQ+ groups, including transgender and nonbinary people, and looking beyond interests to actual educational and career paths.”

“One thing I find really interesting right now is how people from different cultures even conceptualize gender as a construct (is it about hormones? about genes? about your soul?) and how this might shape their ideas,” Block added.

By documenting these group differences, the authors highlight the need for a broader understanding of career development. Recognizing that people navigate the professional world differently based on their sexual orientation could help improve career counseling and support programs.

“One thing I find exciting is that this study challenges a one-size-fits-all view of gender norms,” Block shared. “It shows that occupational gender segregation is not only about ‘men’ and ‘women’ as broad categories; it is also shaped by sexuality, culture, and identity.”

“That makes the story more complex, but also more hopeful,” Block concluded. “If norms work differently across groups, then there may be many routes toward making careers feel more open to everyone.”

The study, “‘Free to Be Me?’: Gender Role Norms Constrain Career Interests Less for Lesbian, Gay and Bisexual People Than for Heterosexual People,” was authored by Katharina Block, Jia Yue He, Maria I. T. Olsson, Sanne Van Grootel, Sarah E. Martiny, Toni Schmader, Colette Van Laar, Carolin Schuster, Loes Meeussen, Tabea Hässler, Alyssa Croft, Sheila X. R. Wee, Molly Shuyi Sun, Mare Ainsaar, Lianne Aarntzen, Magdalena Adamus, Ciara Atkinson, Mohamad Avicenna, Przemysław Bąbel, Markus Barth, Tessa M. Benson-Greenwald, Edona Maloku, Jacques Berent, Hilary B. Bergsieker, Monica Biernat, Andreea G. Bîrneanu, Blerta Bodinaku, Janine Bosak, Jennifer Bosson, Marija Branković, Julius Burkauskas, Vladimíra Čavojová, Sapna Cheryan, Eunsoo Choi, Incheol Choi, Carlos C. Contreras-Ibáñez, Andrew Coogan, Ivan Danyliuk, Ilan Dar-Nimrod, Nilanjana Dasgupta, Soledad de Lemus, Thierry Devos, Marwan Diab, Amanda B. Diekman, Léïla Eisner, Anja Eller, Rasa Erentaitė, Denisa Fedáková, Renata Franc, Leire Gartzia, Alin Gavreliuc, Dana Gavreliuc, Julija Gecaite-Stonciene, Adriana L. Germano, Ilaria Giovannelli, Renzo Gismondi Diaz, Lyudmila Gitikhmayeva, Abiy Menkir Gizaw, Biljana Gjoneska, Omar Martínez González, Roberto González, Isaac David Grijalva, Derya Güngör, Marie Gustafsson Sendén, William Hall, Charles Harb, Bushra Hassan, Diala R. Hawi, Levke Henningsen, Annedore Hoppe, Keiko Ishii, Ivana Jakšić, Alba Jasini, Jurgita Jurkevičienė, Kaltrina Kelmendi, Teri A. Kirby, Yoko Kitakaji, Natasza Kosakowska-Berezecka, Inna Kozytska, Clara Kulich, Eva Kundtová-Klocová, Filiz Kunuroglu, Christina Lapytskaia Aidy, Albert Lee, Anna Eneroth, Wilson López-López, Liany Luzvinda, Fridanna Maricchiolo, Delphine Martinot, Rita Anne McNamara, Alyson Meister, Tizita Lemma Melka, Narseta Mickuviene, María Isabel Miranda-Orrego, Thadeus Mkamwa, James Morandini, Thomas Morton, David Mrisho, Jana Nikitin, Sabine Otten, Maria Giuseppina Pacilli, Elizabeth Page-Gould, Ana Perandrés-Gómez, Jon Pizarro, Nada Pop-Jordanova, Joanna Pyrkosz-Pacyna, Samir Qouta, TamilSelvan Ramis, Nitya Rani, Sandrine Redersdorff, Isabelle Régner, Emma A. Renström, Adrian Rivera-Rodriguez, Tania E. Rocha-Sánchez, Rim Saab, Kiriko Sakata, Adil Samekin, Tracy Sánchez-Pachecho, Carolin Scheifele, Marion K. Schulmeyer, Sabine Sczesny, David Sirlopú, Vanessa Smith-Castro, Kadri Soo, Federica Spaccatini, Jennifer R. Steele, Melanie C. Steffens, Ines Sucic, Joseph Vandello, Laura Maria Velásquez-Díaz, Melissa Vink, Eva Vives, Turuwark Zalalam Warkineh, Iris Žeželj, Xiaoxiao Zhang, Xian Zhao, and Joel Anderson.