Gendered Meanings in College Choice

The meanings and motivations that respondents ascribed to college were gendered. Girls wanted to attend college for all the reasons boys did, but also in order to achieve independence, including avoiding dependence on men. Boys’ assumed autonomy provided reassurance that they would not be dependent on others even if they failed to complete a college degree. Previous literature has put forward the concept of familism to describe the privileging of family priorities over those of the individual. For many Latinos/as, higher education represents a family goal. However, familism is a gendered phenomenon. Gendered familism led families to emphasize the importance of college differently for boys and girls, leading to gendered pathways to and through college.