In the twenty-first century, more students have demonstrated an interest science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM). Female students outnumber male students in various STEM fields, including biology, medicine, Physics, and chemistry (Wieman, 2013). Many gender differences in subject and job choice, according to study, are related to social prejudices rather than intelligence differences between men and women (Cheryan et al., 2017). Girls and boys undergo different socialization processes, (Bian et al., 2017) such as the gender stereotypes they face in their contexts, and television programs may constitute gender stereotyping endorsement among children’s (Wille et al., 2018). According to stereotype threat research, the stereotype that females perform worse in STEM than males can harm girls’ STEM performance and motivation, but the stereotype that males perform better in STEM can help boys’ STEM performance (Spencer et al., 2016). According to HESA’s most recent data (2017–2018), 35% of women enrolled in STEM subjects in higher education in the United Kingdom, yet they continue to be underrepresented in comparison to men (Stem Statistic, 2021). Women enrolled in only 17% of Engineering and Technology programs and 19% of Computer Science programs in 2016–17, but 75% of Medicine, Dentistry, and Veterinary Science subjects (Scottish Funding Council, 2018). In Scotland, the gender disparity in essential STEM jobs held by women is narrowing slightly, growing from 39% in 2010 to 42% in 2016. As with other subjects in education, the amount varies significantly amongst STEM fields. Numerous professions continue to be dominated by men; only 19% of engineers in Scotland and only 3% of licensed civil engineers are female (Close the Gap, 2018). Similarly numerous economic and social decisions are influenced by our attitudes toward ourselves and others. Von Hippel et al., 2011 men and women’s abilities are frequently found to be distorted by such stereotypes. Women are less confident in their mathematical and scientific ability than men, which contribute to economically important disparities in financial decision-making, academic accomplishment, and career choices (Buser et al., 2014). A significant change is school children were found after the gender stereotype related knowledge and endorsement in United Kingdom. Gender stereotyping is ubiquitous, with male and female categorization emphasized to children in particular as a dominant societal framework, despite growing public support for equal opportunities for boys and girls (Ellemers, 2018).

Career choice is a crucial decision that will impact the remainder of an individual’s life. Career exploration is the process of examining and weighing various work opportunities. According to El-Hassan and Ghalayini (2019) says that investigating job opportunities before to making a commitment boosts future professional achievement and contentment. Parental attachment is related to job exploration. They discovered a link between parental attachment and vocational exploration. Similarly, Lee et al. (2012) observed a positive relationship between parental attachment and professional maturity, which is defined as an adolescent’s readiness to make career decisions. Professional exploration is an important stage in the career development process.

Kirdök and Korkmaz (2018) parenting teenagers is generally portrayed as a difficult task. Before becoming adults, teenagers go through a number of developmental changes, including biological, cognitive, emotional, and social changes. Effective teen parenting necessitates a thorough understanding of these natural developmental shifts. Knowing that their parenting style is a basis for many favorable adolescent developmental outcomes might be beneficial to parents. Understanding the various parenting styles and how they affect the parent-teen relationship can assist parents and their adolescent children in navigating adolescence (El-Hassan and Ghalayini, 2019).

The pandemic of Coronavirus Disease in 2019 (COVID-19) has put educational systems and students under unprecedented strain (Mushtaque et al., 2021). Furthermore, the epidemic had an impact on students’ plans for their future careers. One-fifth students reported that COVID-19 cause inclination to choose to be a doctor, on the other side COVID-19 pandemic improved students’ willingness and determination to specialize in respiratory medicine and infectious diseases. Females were more influenced by the epidemic in terms of key decisions, such as being frightened of change and taking chances. Following the college admissions exam, the majors chosen by medical students are determined by their parents, social orientation, and professional income. Female college students’ customary role expectations run counter to modern egalitarian culture, which places a premium on self-realization. They are easily able to transfer majors when confronted with enormous challenges such as the COVID-19 pandemic (Deng et al., 2021; Gong et al., 2021). Throughout the first lockdown, fathers assumed the major caretaker role in many United Kingdom households, inverting conventional gender roles. However, in certain houses, traditional gender roles were more established, with mothers being obliged to stay at home during the second lockdown while men were permitted to work (Hupkau and Petrongolo, 2020).

Prior study indicates a causal relationship between gender stereotyping behavior and occupational choices. Knowledge endorsement has a significant favorable effect on the modification of career stereotypes. However, new phenomena such as COVID-19 induced stress, necessitating a thorough understanding of the mechanisms activated by stereotypes under stressful settings. Stereotypes play a unique role in influencing our judgment of good and wrong. It establishes gender roles and has a significant impact on socialization. In the current study we examined the Pakistani population to examine the variable. The purpose of the study was to explore the influence of parental and social media richness on adolescent gender stereotype beliefs and their career choices in Pakistan. Specifically, the study sought to know about the available knowledge of career information among secondary school students and sought to identify different sources of career information for students. The impact of parental influence and media richness on students’ gender stereotype perception was also examined. The choice of career among students was investigated with parental influence, media richness, and their perception of gender stereotypes.

The findings were presented by the use of descriptive and inferential statistics.

Table 5 describes the mean differences in parental influence, media richness, gender stereotypes, and career choice among students concerning their gender (male and female). The comparisons with respect to gender were found to be insignificant (P > 0.05) on the parental influence and media richness scales, while the results were found to be significant with respect to gender stereotypes (t = -2.98, p = 0.003) and career decisions (t = -3.79, p = 0.000) among students at the secondary level. Male has low mean score on the scale of gender stereotype while female has high score on the scale of gender stereotyping behavior. It was found that female students had more gender stereotypes and were surer of them when making career decisions than male students.

The findings of students’ career choices show secondary school students’ preferences for various careers. The majority of students want to be doctors (Gaurav and Sheikh, 2020), with engineering coming in second (Virtič and Šorgo, 2022). Although these two occupations have been famous for decades and are often regarded as the most respected and well-paid, there is no doubt that they are excellent options (Eagly and Wood, 1999). However, there are several developing professions with high prestige and salaries. Even though not every student has the ability to pursue these careers, they are the most popular among students. The teaching profession was not a high-career choice, which is alarming because good and knowledgeable teachers are needed. The most important sources of career information are electronic media and parents (Ulrich et al., 2018). Students are unaware of other career choices available at this time and they have limited sources of career information. There is no proper career counseling facility available for children. While at this stage of life, they need proper occupational counseling that helps to choose the right career/professional according to their abilities and aptitude. Results indicate that some students had no access to journals, newspapers, or the internet, so they relied on teachers and parents (Owen et al., 2020). Social media promotes every type of career choice without providing further details about the input during the career-related degrees (Makela and Hoff, 2019). Furthermore, parents have limited knowledge about various professions and attempt to pursue the child solely by observing a few role models in specific careers. Parental influence (Eisend, 2019) and media richness predict gender stereotypes at a significant level. Students mostly interact with their parents and spend time on social media. The stereotype perception about gender is not innate; it’s learned over time. Parental influence and media richness (Cao et al., 2021) are two factors that are responsible for gender stereotype perception among students. There are gender stereotypes in daily life, in career choices, in social strata, and in every sphere of life. For example, males do not want to be nurses in society, and parents and peers do not think it’s right for males to be nurses. Similarly, females are perceived to have low intelligence in mathematics and science subjects. These gender stereotypical perceptions limit the capabilities of the younger generation. The impact of parental influence, media richness, and gender stereotypes on career choice is massive. These variables predict career choice among students. The students are aware of their assigned gender roles and of their career preferences. It means students know to differentiate their gender roles and pursue some sort of career. Therefore, traditional career choice is predicted by parental influence (Venant et al., 2021), media richness (Kumar and Nanda, 2019), and gender stereotype perception. Gender stereotypes and career decisions were found to be more prevalent in female students than in male students. There is no difference in parenting styles between men and women. Pakistan has a collective culture, and parents try to impose their will on their children. They try to teach their children directly or indirectly at this stage of life, so their influence on children is similar regardless of the child’s gender. In the case of media richness, the availability of content is similar for males and females. Gender stereotypes and career choices reveal significant gender differences. Males have masculine career preferences, whereas females have stereotypically feminine career preferences. Females perceive gender stereotypes more strongly than males. Similarly, at the secondary school level in Pakistan, females have higher career choice preferences than males.

The persistent impact of parental influence, media richness, and gender stereotypes was found on students’ career choices at the secondary level. Students know about different careers and most students want to pursue medical, engineering, and pilot careers as their future career choices. The top three sources of information according to children are electronic media, parents, and friends. Regression analysis shows a significant impact of parental influence and social media influence on gender stereotypes and, in turn, career choice. The study found no gender difference in parental influence. It might be the reason that parents try to treat their children equally and try to influence their children regardless of their gender. Similarly, media richness shows non-significant gender differences, which might be because the media richness is for all individuals regardless of their gender. On the other hand, gender differences in gender stereotype perception and career choice were found to be significant. Based on the findings of the study, parental influence, media richness, and gender stereotypes predict career choices among secondary school students in Pakistan.

The original contributions presented in this study are included in the article/supplementary material, further inquiries can be directed to the corresponding author.

Ethical review and approval was not required for the study on human participants in accordance with the local legislation and institutional requirements. Written informed consent to participate in this study was provided by the participants or their legal guardian/next of kin.

All authors listed have made a substantial, direct, and intellectual contribution to the work, and approved it for publication.

The authors declare that the research was conducted in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest.

All claims expressed in this article are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of their affiliated organizations, or those of the publisher, the editors and the reviewers. Any product that may be evaluated in this article, or claim that may be made by its manufacturer, is not guaranteed or endorsed by the publisher.