ABSTRACT
Same-sex role models are thought to increase the number of persons willing to make nontraditional occupational choices. However, the rapid increase in the number of women in such fields as law, pharmacy, medicine, veterinary medicine, and business management implies that most of these occupational choices were not influenced by same-sex role models. There were very few women professionals available in these fields when the upsurge began, suggesting that those influencing choice were not female professionals within the field. More broadly, many women (and men) may be responding to new opportunities without concern for the sex of influencer or the sex of people in the field.
