Abstract
Career choices of most pupils at the end of grammar school conform to gender norms. Only a few of them continue to study in a field traditionally considered appropriate for the opposite sex.
Qualitative study presented here maps reasons for such choices based on a sample of 25 female students and 31 male students who study gender-atypical high-school program for one to three years. Data were collected using a questionnaire with open-ended items and analysed using qualitative thematic analysis.
Results revealed that reasons for school choices of boys and girls differ to certain extend. Their situation also differs with respect to support they receive from their close ones and acceptance by their classmates.
Parents of girls disapproved of their choices more often than parents of boys. Girls were also ridiculed more frequently by their peer groups.