Women and Careers
Kate, Mansi, Sunny & Rocky

Women & Careers – Overview of
Presentation
 Key terms
 Context of presentation – scope & limitations  Careers in time and space

 Literature review
 Statistical overview
 Changes to the construct & practice of women’s careers in the 20th & early
21st centuries

Women & Careers – key terms
 Career
 “the evolving sequence of a person’s work experience over time” (Arthur, Hall
& Lawrence, 1989, p8)
 A reflection of “the relationships between people and the providers of official position[s], namely, institutions or organizations, and how these relationships fluctuate over time”
(Arthur, Hall & Lawrence, 1989, p8)

Women & Careers – key terms
 ‘Work’
 Paid employment, largely undertaken outside the home

 Generalisations
 Women, Indian Women, New Zealand
Women, Western and Non-western: phrases used that imply homogeneity

Women & Careers – context
 Women’s careers in time and space
 Timeframes – 20th & early 21st centuries
 Space – cultural contexts
 Western women’s experience of ‘career’ using New Zealand as a model
 Non-western women’s experience of
‘career’ using India as a model

Women & Careers – literature review  Career theory
 Multidisciplinary drawing primarily on
Psychology and Sociology, and
Economics

Women & Careers – literature review Sonnenfeld & Kotter (1982) identify four types of career theory
1.
2.
3.
4.

Sociological
Psychological
Sociological and Psychological
Psychological

Women & Careers – literature review 1. Sociological
 Concerned with social class determinants of career outcomes
 Examples:
 Blau & Duncan (1967)
 Chinoy (1955)

Women & Careers – literature review 2. Psychological
 Concerned with static dispositional differences and their occupational implications  Examples:
 Holland (1973)
 Strong (1943)

Women & Careers – literature review 3. More recent combination of psychological and sociological
 Focusing on career stages surrounding occupational choice and development
 Examples:
 Crites (1981)
 Dalton & Thompson (1986)
 Super (1957)

Women & Careers – literature review 4. Psychological
 Principally based in psychology focusing on broader ideas of adult life course and the relationship of the career to other major life activities  Examples:
 Levinson (1978)
 Vaillant (1977)

Women & Careers – Career theory, a feminist critique
 ‘career’ theory based on normative experiences of Men
 ‘success’ equals linear hierarchical promotion to senior positions
 Does career theory incorporate the
‘voice’ of women?

Women & Careers – a critical approach to Career theory
 Group Discussion
 “do you think that a separate body of theory is required to examine and explain the ‘career’ experiences of women?” Women & Careers – Feminist approaches to Career theory
 Kaleidoscope theory
 Social cognitive career theory (Emily et al., 2010)

Women & Careers – New Zealand overview  Census data readily available – conducted every 5 years
 Population of 4 Million
 Females comprise 50% of this population (Statistics New Zealand, 2006)

Women & Careers – Statistical overview  New Zealand – where are the Women?
 Labour market participation

(Department of Labour, 2010)

Women & Careers – Statistical overview  New Zealand – where are the WomenIndustry

(Statistics New Zealand, 2010)

Women & Careers – Statistical overview  New Zealand – where are the Women
- Occupation

(Statistics New Zealand, 2010)

Women & Careers – Statistical overview  Percentage of women in managerial position globally

(Toray, 2010)

Women & Careers – Statistical overview  Percentage of women in managerial position according to country
Saudi Arabia
Japan
Germany
India
Turkey
New Zealand
Britain
France
Sweden
United States
South Africa
China
Russia
Brazil
Philippines
0

5

10

15

20

25

30

35

40

45

50

(Grant Thornton international business report, 2007)

Women & Careers – Statistical overview The pay gap-where are the Women?