The problem with women?

Challenges posed by gender for career development practice

IAEVG Conference, Mannheim, Germany October, 2012

Chair: Professor Nancy Arthur Presenters: Professor Jenny Bimrose, Dr. Mary McMahon and Professor Mark Watson Discussant: Dr. Simone Haasler

Aim of Symposium

To argue that a more subtly nuanced and differentiated approach is required for more effective support of womens career progression.

Jenny Bimrose
University of Warwick, England

Mary McMahon
The University of Queensland, Australia

Mark Watson
Nelson Mandela Metropolitan University, South Africa

Massimo Tomassini
Universit Roma 3, Italy

Simone R. Haasler
Universitt Bremen, Germany

Pamela Suzanne
Universidad, San Andrs, Argentina

Womens Career Research

Responding to issues

changing practice contexts sexism, ageism & racism: intersectionality

inadequate theoretical accounts accommodating disadvantaged groups move towards a global focus diversify research base (i.e., qualitative research)

Womens Labour Market Participation

Of all people employed in the world, 40 % are women. This has not changed over the last 10 years 48.4 % of the productive potential of the female population remains unutilized (compared with 22.3 % for men) Women of working age (15 years and over in most countries) who are employed was 48.0 % in 2009 compared with 72.8% of men Overall, the gender gap in labour force participation rates has narrowed slightly from 32% to 26%. [From 1980 to 2008, the rate of female labour participation rate increased from 50.2 to 51.7% while the male rate decreased slightly from 82.0 to 77.7 % ]
Reference: International Labour Office. (2010). Women in labour markets: Measuring progress and identifying challenges. Geneva: ILO

Womens Labour Market Participation

Access to paid work Opportunities for full and productive employment remain particularly slim for women. Wide gaps remain in womens access to paid work in at least half of all regions. Following significant job losses in 2008-2009, the growth in employment during the economic recovery in 2010, especially in the developing world, was lower for women than for men.

Reference: United Nations. (2011). The Millennium Development Goals Report 2011. Retrieved from: http://www.un.org/milleniumgoals/11-MDG%20Report_EN.pdf

Objectivity & Subjectivity

Objectivity
Quantitative, statistical; facts and figures; scientific method,

predictability; rationality; linear; generalisable

Subjectivity
Qualitative, personal experience, affective and emotional

experiences; life as lived; uncertainty; events as they occur; context specific

Objectivity & Subjectivity (Careers)

OBJECTIVITY: Labour Market Information (LMI) Career Theory

SUBJECTIVITY:
Stories Context specific

Method

Research Approach
Research Aim

To undertake an international, comparative qualitative investigation of the career trajectories of older women (aged 45 to 65)
Exploratory questions
What can we learn from the career stories of older

women that may inform career guidance theory, policy and practice? How can older women be effectively supported by career guidance?

Research Design

Qualitative paradigm
Grounded theory method

Cross country case study comparison

The Participants Introducing the storytellers

Women aged 45 65
45

the benchmark used to describe mature age workers, and an age after which it has become very difficult for people to re-enter the workforce once they have left it 65 the age at which retirement was

common at the time of data collection

12

Australian; 12 English; 12 South African; 12 Italian; 12 German; 13 Argentinian

Purposive sample

Participant Data (N=73)

Aged 45 65:

45 50 (28); 51 55 (23); 56 60 (9); 61 65 (13) Marital status: Married (39); Single (22); Divorced (9); Widowed (3) Educational level: Sub-degree (17); Degree (27); PG Diploma (1); Masters (17); Doctorate (7); Honours (1); Primary (1); Secondary (2) Employment status: Full time (41); Part time (11); Self-employed (8); Unemployed (4); Retired (3); Vocation (1); Student (3); Voluntary (2)

Method
Procedure
Semi-structured interviews of approximately one

hour duration England telephone interviews (digital recordings) Australia, South Africa, Italy & Germany face to face interviews time and location suitable for participants (digital recordings) Argentina face-to-face and telephone (digital recordings) Interviews recorded and transcribed

Method
Areas for Investigation
Interview protocol 5 sections
Background information (age, income, marital status,

employment status, highest qualification, dependents) Present, past and future work and learning experiences Previous work and learning transitions Nature of previous work and learning transitions Learning from previous transitions and moving forward

Method
Data Analysis
Based on grounded theory method
Two stage, nine phase thematic analysis across three

initial countries: Australia, England and South Africa

Stage 1: Five phases of code category development resulting in 9 master code categories Stage 2: Four phases of subsequent refinement of master codes

Stage 3: Application of similar process to coding

subsequent countries

Method Trustworthiness of Findings

confidence in their 'truth' Transferability: applicability in other contexts Dependability: consistency and replication Confirmability: neutrality (findings shaped by respondents, not researchers)
Credibility:

(Lincoln & Guba, 1985)

Results
Master Codes
Learning across the lifespan
Transitions and responses Intrapersonal influences Work influences Financial influences

Social influences
Relocation Advice to others

Future planning

Learning across the Lifespan

Learning across the Lifespan

Sub codes:
Formal learning Informal learning Response to/reflection on learning

Learning across the Lifespan

Traditional Learning Pathways
in those days you had to get a, you know, your score had to be okay for you had to get a scholarship to teachers college and that committed you then to I think it was two years to work for the government and when I got that I just happy as a bird.
(Sophia, 63)

Forty million courses and seminars and some of them were really, really valuable and very good, and some of them were just rubbish
(Sophia, 63)

Learning across the Lifespan

Non-Traditional Learning Pathways
Im not sure I ever made decisions. I think Ive fallen into them all, seriously. I didnt mean to come up here that was a friend, I was just coming along for the ride. I got carried away. Same with getting my Senior Certificate, I got carried away. I never intended to do that.
(Megan, 54)

I think I wouldve been quite good as a plumber I think Im too old to do it now Like, at the moment Im seriously exploring how you become a ferry driver. Id love to do that part time. You know, something a bit different than head work .
(Kay, 62)

Transitions and response

Transitions and responses

Sub codes:
Unexpected/unanticipated chance events Responses to circumstances/events Adaptability

Transitions and Responses

I pretty much knew what I wanted to do .... I wanted to learn a manual trade and I simply didnt get an apprenticeship because I was a woman. I bridged this gap by doing au-pair work, writing massive amounts of applications, and then finally did an apprenticeship as a carpenter.... The problem is that no one is really informed. I had to go to the employment office...which was absolutely disastrous....the employees are terribly uninformed ... the whole thing has taken an insane amount of time ... I had to walk through I dont know how many doors until I finally found someone who said yes, thats possible
(B1, Architect, 47 yrs)

Transitions and Responses

I started working as an applications programmer, without any experience, and that was very difficult for me. I had done my studies in a similar field, but I did not have any programming experience and its not so easy to find your way in the business world when you also have a child. Im going to have to work full time I am old enough to retire....in our company, you can only take on leadership tasks endless unpaid overtime and lots of travelling....I dont feel up to it anymore...
(B4, Computer Engineer, 52 yrs)

Intrapersonal Influences

Intrapersonal Influences
Sub codes:
Self
Values

Personality traits
Age-related Role satisfaction (past & present)

Intrapersonal Influences

I dont go into low-level experiences. I am not conditioned by others. Im always able to decide what is good for me and to avoid what is not good. Even working as a domestic worker in the hospital was good for me. I would have left the day after being hired if it hadnt been interesting for me. In fact, I did leave when I was transferred to a department for elderly people, where I couldnt stand the sadness of the situation.
(Carmen, 55)

Intrapersonal Influences
I wanted to earn my money and to show to my family that I was able to live autonomously, even doing the only thing that was possible for an unskilled person like me: working in cleaning. Now I understand that my search for autonomy was illusory: what I really wanted was simply to live with a man and building up a family. And so I did. I got married very young and kept going on with the work in cleaning in order to support my household even after the birth of my daughter.
(Rosa, 47)

Work Influences

Work Influences
Sub codes:
Employment description (past & present)

Workplace dynamic (past & present)

Unpaid activities outside the home Work-life balance/tensions between roles

Work Influences
I was a bit frustrated by what I would say was a bit of glass ceiling in the organisation, frankly. I was getting less and less comfortable with being in the military part of [company..... I thought the civil division was more about taking people on holiday than it was about dropping bombs on people..... But as it turned out..... the testosterone-fuelled environment that was the civil business, was quite objectionable to me.....I wanted to move out completely.
(Sam, 45)

Work Influences
Id only recently moved up there with a new job, which I was asked to leave, since, anyway, it was not very pleasant... it was obviously before days of law, but I could have made a big, big fuss, and I, and .. well youre in a very weak position . you dont realise that you should have - should and could have made a fuss - until its too late, and then you go with the flow.
(Debbie, 60)

Financial Influences

Financial Influences
Sub codes:
Current financial situation
Future financial situation Past financial situation

Financial Influences
The salary was significantly less being a headmistress, it was 5 times less, and it was many, many times less than a teachers salary. But, thank God, economically, I didnt need it. Actually, I didnt care about it. I didnt care about it. And life rewards you, I left [company], I started working for the school and we get my husbands companys loan, the loan to build the house. So, well, it was compensated immediately. What I won in [company] well, it came back with rewards in another way.
(Mara, 61)

Financial Influences

Well, since last year Im the only breadwinner, so Im the only one who is bringing in income, because my husband passed away last year, and then my son started working only this year. So far, Im providing almost 80% of the income.
(Nozuko, 45)

Social influences

Social Influences
Sub codes:
Support networks Role models Life roles

Administrative/systemic influences

Social Influences

When I was younger I thought I would have been an interior designer but unfortunately my mum, since she is from the rural areas, she wouldnt allow me to do such stuff I wanted to do something like that but I know people used to say that in our culture it doesnt pay well.
(Noxolo, 45)

Social Influences

It is the sense that African men are supposed to remain as head of the household and that can affect relationships and also their status within the family . That is why I spent thirteen years because I was contemplating doing things and I was checking how it was going to affect our relationship, the status here
(Lungsi, 45)

Relocation So I moved around following my husbands path in that time, thats why it chopped and changed quite quickly. ,
(Debbie, 60)

Advice to others Go for it! I think what is more important in life is to listen to your inner voice.
(Noxolo, 45)

Future planning Im not sure I ever made decisions. I think Ive fallen into them all, seriously.
(Megan, 54)

Discussion
Implications
the value of obtaining both quantitative and

qualitative data and the complementarity of so doing significant transition proved a useful technique
expectation of the participants subjective transition experiences as either negative or positive

inviting participants to tell a story of their most approach interviews without prior judgment or

Discussion

a recursive interplay between the older women and the three levels of
1) a set of circumstances (external) 2) their subjective experiences (internal), and 3) a reflective process (reflexive) (Savickas, 2008)
external Internal

reflexive

Career transitions

Objective & Subjective Experiences of Older Women

How relevant is career theory?
Dominant influence of objectivity reflected in LMI (e.g., occupational segregation; pay gap; employment contracts) research methods (quantitative) career assessment (emphasis on personal traits) career decision-making (embeds rational/linear models)

Objective & Subjective Experiences of Older Women

How relevant is career theory?
Subjectivity: Marginalised/silenced Lived experiences (constructivist, interpretative) Meaning making (focus on context, immersion in data) Relationship with participants (openness, privileges participants voices)

Calls for an acknowledgement of the subjective voice are evident since 1970s (e.g., Collin, 1986, 1993; Schein, 1978)

Objective & Subjective Experiences of Older Women

What are the implications for practice?
Approaches:

narrative, holistic, value subjective experiences Environment: a safe space Intervention: systemic (e.g., familial, organisational, policy levels) Practitioner roles: expanded (e.g., advocacy)

Women and career guidance

The women in the study did not access career

guidance why not? (e.g., access, lack of awareness of it, poor quality/reputation?) Given the evidence indicates that career guidance could provide positive support, then fundamental questions remain:

How do we persuade women to factor career guidance into their career decisions? How should career practitioners and policy makers promote career guidance to women?

Possibilities for career guidance and counselling support

Underpinning philosophies that inform career guidance need to be considered in relation to the cultural context, before considering practice implications. The tension between the need for mass outreach and the need for individualised focus needs resolution in practice. A need to find a resolution between imposed theory and grounded theory. Our research on women in developing and developed countries is definitely framed in a grounded theory approach.

Related to the previous two points, career guidance will also need to address the quantitative /qualitative binary in the developing context.

Possibilities for career guidance and counselling support

Addressing the previous point raises a further critical issue of timeframe expectations for developing career guidance frameworks. The implementation of career guidance will involve considering macro and micro-systemic contextual pressures on it in terms of delivery, theory, research and policy.

Finally, there will be a need to consider role definitions in the provision of career guidance in developing country contexts, specifically the role of activist in relation to career development practitioners, educationalists and policy makers.

Thank you Enkosi Baie dankie Danke Gracias Grazie

jenny.bimrose@warwick.ac.uk marylmcmahon@uq.edu.au mark.watson@nmmu.ac.za max.tomassini@quipo.it s.hassler@zes.uni-bremen.de p.a.suzanne@warwick.ac.uk