The results indicate that for both sexes, math has the strongest masculinity attribution, followed by physics as second, and, finally, chemistry with the lowest masculinity attribution. By means of a standardized survey, data on students' perception of masculinity of science school subjects were collected using semantic differentials. The data originated from a cross-sectional study among 1'364 Swiss secondary school students who were close to obtaining their matriculation diploma. This paper investigates the impact of the masculinity image of three school subjects-chemistry, mathematics, and physics-on secondary students' career aspirations in STEM fields. However, the impact of the gender image of school science subjects on young people's career choice has not yet been analyzed. Studies have repeatedly reported that math and science are perceived as male domains, and scientists as predominantly male.

3Institute of Educational Science, University of Bern, Bern, Switzerland.2Swiss Federal Institute for Vocational Education and Training SFIVET, Bern, Switzerland.

1Institute for Educational Sciences, University of Basel, Basel, Switzerland.

Elena Makarova 1 *, Belinda Aeschlimann 2 and Walter Herzog 3

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