Lifelong Processes of Career Aspirations for Women and Career Development - Literature review Example

During certain times throughout history, working women were even viewed as negligent mothers. The society, their colleagues at work and their bosses did not take them seriously. A career to a woman was a challenge given that she had family responsibilities ahead of her. The main duty for a woman was to be a wife, a mother and in addition, fulfilling professional responsibilities after the family. If a woman put her career first, she would even feel guilty or selfish. Because both work and family demands were simultaneous to a woman, such demands had a significant impact on her career. As a result, achieving a professional career became even more difficult to a woman as compared to men. This made them to enter into the workforce in lower-paying jobs; lower status as well as remaining clustered in conventional careers that were limited (Tinklin, Croxford, Ducklin, & Frame, 2005). Traditional female low paying careers reflected the persistent attitudes of the society in regard to occupational roles for men and women. As the career choices for women were restricted, they were lagging behind in regard to earnings when compared to male with equivalent levels of education, experience as well as the number of years employed. Such a discrepancy in income was partially brought by the difference between the traditional occupation for men and women. For instance, women rarely ventured into engineering or science jobs as such occupations were traditionally considered men’s. Such factor that led to such classification of traditional occupations include unwelcoming environment especially when men dominated, lack of awareness about various options that are non-traditional, turn turnover for women are high and less seniority in regard to given occupations. Such factors have greatly contributed to unevenness or gaps in terms of earning between men and women. According to Crompton (2006), the employment relations in United Kingdom have been experiencing a gender revolution but the revolution is still incomplete. Crompton observed that since 1971, the gap in gender concerning employment fell due to divergent trends in employment rates for both men and women. From the National Statistics (2009), for the last decades, the rate of employment for women has been increasing but that of men is still higher. Dyhouse (2006) also discovered that changes in reproductive technologies as well as sexual revolution have led to widening of choice for women beyond childbirth and marriage. Dyhouse observed that women are taking a long-term concerning their future. This is because there are an increasing number of women entering higher education where the proportion of graduate women has moved from a quarter in early 1960s to the over half as by 2007. According to a London report on equalities and human rights EHRC (2008), the presence of women in managerial and professional work has increased in regard to occupying the positions of responsibility and power in both public and private spheres. La Valle and Smith (2009) discovered that such moves have been made possible by institutionalisation of the demands of second wave feminist in equal pay legislation and equal opportunities. Since such legislations, the public body has a responsibility of promoting gender equality as well as other social dimensions that are related to labour market such as age, ethnicity, sexual orientation and disability among others. In addition Lewis and Giullari (2005) note that employment has expanded each year where it has been sustained by economic growth and welfare policies that are focused on ensuring that there is an employment opportunity for all. They note that such as move has changed the social thinking from the male breadwinner model that was adopted after the world war. Rise in earnings as well as employment is a reflection of changing social attitudes in regard to gender equity and gender roles. As a result, women are able to acquire mortgages and access credit with the help of a man as a guarantor with more choice in regard to living arrangements. This mean that there is more gender balanced occupations as compared to four decades ago. However, according to National Statistics (2009), this progress has been uneven and slow. This is because although more women are employed, a great percentage is work part-time with low payments. On the other hand, although the percentage of men working part time has increased, it remains comparatively low and they also face wider pay gap (National Statistics, 2009). Paul (2008) observed that motherhood is a variable key where the full time work usually falls from 90% to around 40% when the first child is born as in mid 200s. In addition, segregation remains which mean that household responsibilities are still unevenly distributed and despite the observed improvements, there exists a gender pay gap. Thus, regardless of increasingly supportive legislations and the above progress, there still remain challenges. This article addresses these challenges in regard to equity in greater labour market; pay, value and segregation as well as cultural understandings in regard to gender responsibilities and roles Modern labour markets are usually shaped by communication technologies, globalisation and new forms of employment, which come up from restructuring of economy. New employment forms have also risen about economic deregulation and include greater flexibility of working times, locations, status ad privatization of the services in public sectors. Such changes have led to expansion in employment but on the other hand, it has simultaneously led to weakening of career structures as well as the collective power of workers (Perrons, 2004). In OECD countries with higher income, such changes coincide rising inequalities in earnings as well as a fall in share out in labour, particularly for the low paid. The earnings dispersion between 1985 and 2005 for women increased by about 11% while that of men increased by 10% for 11 OECD countries. However, when fulltime workers are included, the increase in inequality is less marked. This leads to the decline in regard to the gender wage gap (OECD, 2007). According to Brewer, Sibieta, Wren‐Lewis (2008), UK also matches the trends of inequality where men who are paid higher are moving further away from lower paid women as well as men. Such an outcome in such trends represents a fall in gender pay gap. Such a fall is also a reflection of the entry of women in higher managerial and professional jobs that is because of increased amount of time in employment and qualification (Makepeace, Paci, Joshi, & Dolton, 1999). As Krugman (2002) states, the dramatic widening in regard to inequalities in earnings in US are related to social norms. In UK Atkinson (2002) made such arguments referring to social norms as the more tolerant to greater inequality. Based on Social Trends (2008), occupational segregation is mostly understood as women concentration in occupations that house high proportions of female workers. This is still high in UK where more than 50% of women usually find themselves working in only 10 of about 77 occupations. Such occupations include caring, cashiering, cleaning, clerical as well as catering. Men on the other hand are more likely to be senior officials, managers, operators in processes, machines and plants as well as skilled trades. Connolly and Gregory (2008) add that the extent of concentration in occupation is mostly high for part time women with more limited occupations and more confined feminised forms of work. Crompton and Lyonette (2011) found out that medicine is an example of gendered career path where it is segregated internally by sex where women tend towards family friendly specialty but clinically inferior. This is also the case in accountancy. They found out that one of the major factors that underlie such segregation is that women are still retaining their major responsibility for domestic work as well as caring. Such responsibilities have also led to more women working part time and lower pay. Although the share of women in managerial and professional occupations is increasing finer job segregation within these spheres, still lead to continued gender inequality. As a result, different forms of work and qualifications that are feminised are usually valued in a different way in comparison to those subjects as well as occupations that men predominate. For instance, subjects such as social sciences, arts, languages and biology as well as occupations relations to such are dominated by women and are valued less highly (Purcell et al, 2005). According to Rubery, Grimshaw, and Figueiredo (2005), more focus on individual variables tend to put more emphasis on gender deficits inspire of overlooks and context on how the labour market, wider economy and environment are shaped by gendered norms, which operate on the disadvantage of women. Such broader social issues are important since qualifications alone are not enough in order to generate gender equity. If there is no diverse focus, such feminised jobs that are usually low paid will continue to expand. Thus, feminisation is an evidence of partial determination of wages on basis of social norms. According to Manning, and Petrongolo (2008), there are 5V’s, which explains the undervaluation of jobs that are usually done by women. These include visibility; which compress a range of skills to a single group as well as limited opportunities to career progression; valuation; which refer to low value that is to the skills involved; vocation; which involves attributing complex work to natural talents of women instead of skills; value added; comparing low monetary value to the output; and finally, variance; which includes the fact that part time employment over represent women. In UK, such factors are confined into narrower range of occupations as well as sectors with an experience of a wider pay gap and downward occupation mobility. While considering such dimensions in particular, Himmelweit (2007) identifies one employment field such as care work, which is feminised, and where women are over-represented (elder and childcare, nursing and teaching) is a clear indication of the link between “women’s responsibility” and low work pay. Yet, in such fields, those highly qualified in such sectors end up earning considerably less as compared to those that are equivalently qualified but work in sectors that are more masculine. In such cases, women’s work is linked to the idea that exploiting natural talents adopted in their normal responsibilities as women instead of formal skills. Therefore, it is thought that they do not require commensurate monetary reward. This shows that women are overrepresented in occupations that are low paying although the social value of such occupations are equally or even more worthwhile . On the other hand, occupations related to men are mostly related to negative social externalities and most of them are overpaid while care work is the reverse. Thus, occupational segregation has been greatly attributed to assumptions as well as norms about gender roles and responsibility. Part time employment for women has been influenced by their domestic responsibilities. This is because such work calls for lower demands concerning their limited time making part time employment to have very minimal effect to their domestic responsibilities. Their participation in labour market is in addition to their involvement in childcare activities and housework. Although participation in labour force for women in terms of part time basis allows flexibility due to lesser demands on worker’s time, the pay gap is increasing as compared to men. Among the most striking challenges in the patterns of employment for the last four decades, the proportion of mothers has been increasing in paid employment and households are providing more paid labour the previous. The rate of employment for females is high and men are men are still experiencing long working hours in relation to other EU countries. Majority of mothers find themselves working for part time, short hours in order to fit in their domestic work as well as care for children (Himmelweit, & Sigala (2004). Women still do more than 75% of house work within their family in addition to around 38% of paid work while on the other hand, men’s domestic as well as paid work still remain largely unchanged. According to Sigle‐Rushton and Perrons (2006), the extent of adjustment by mothers is largely influenced by ethnicity and qualification. For managerial and professional qualifications, women are capable of retaining labour market and work fulltime as compared to those with low qualification and they are likely to withdraw from the labour market. This is because; most part time work is usually related to downward occupational mobility as well as steep pay penalty. This happens to women because they are also required to handle some household responsibilities. As a result, there is increased gender inequality where it widens on motherhood as well as at household level in their effort to balance domestic and work responsibilities. As Crompton and Lyonette (2008) add, professional families are in a condition to hire private nurses and nannies while families that earn lower much more rely on informal family care. In such cases, women will be involved where they will be required to find some time from working hours. In addition, occupations that are highly paying require total time availability, which is a great challenge for most women who also require domestic time. The current unevenness in regard to gender on domestic labour is that women are left by men to manage work and care. Such uneven division of time is one of the major factors that underlie gender inequalities in regard to labour market. According to Epstein (2006), there are usually no concrete walls in regard to barring of women to get into labour market in western world, but there exists cultural boundaries. In other words, there are cultural practices as well as gendered social norms that are deeply embedded. Such practices uphold and reinforce understanding of roles and existing practices for men and women as well as the value of various activities. Such boundaries of gendered behaviour are deeply embedded and they have become neutralised through repeated practice or at least act as limit to boundary crossings irrespective of the legislation on equality. Based on Research Works (2001), such practices are cumulative given that some identities are usually considered suitable for specific positions and at the same time, they become unsuitable on basis of various factors such as gendered social norms. The gender that hold positions that are require authority and leadership tend to stick or even become equated to men who in turn authority or leadership notion as male. On the other hand, social care work is perceived to be physically challenging rather than intellectually challenging, gruelling as well as low paid. This type of work is usually stuck to women who are usually believed to natural predisposition based on their natural characteristics in regard to performing domestic work. Miller and Hayward (2006) found out that particular social or economic attributes are usually identified with certain social beings. In such a way, a variety of occupations has turned up to be gender stereotyped. In case such boundaries become permeable, they have a certain fixity that shapes expectations. People tend to be reluctant in entering such occupations that do not match with gender. For instance, men find it challenging to take occupations that are “related” to women such as caring. In such a way, Miller and Hayward view domestic responsibilities as one of the greatest influences in regard to career choice which in turn leads to segregation. In addition, reward structures also reflect social understanding in regard to what deserves or undeserving, what is skilful or talent, what is worthy financial reward and what merits less than a living wage. Conclusion Career aspirations for women have been steadily evolving and as a result, there have been an increase about workforce participation rates. There have been substantial changes in regard to composition in workforce especially in social life which has played a great role in gender equity. Various factors have inhibited and influenced career aspirations and development for women for a long period. Most of the career paths that women choose as well as factors, which influence their choices, are very significant factors since most of them continue with low paying jobs as well as traditionally domestic responsibilities oriented jobs. Women are gradually moving into positions associated with power and responsibility. In many ways, current results show that there is greater symmetry in regard to qualifications between men and women. However, this convergence has been one sided where women are being absorbed partially into masculinised working model to a greater extent that they way men are absorbed feminised world. There has been an asymmetric convergence in addition to continuing segregation of gender as well as a gap in payment in particular, part time workers. This is a disadvantage to women in regard to labour force both in retirement incomes and lifetime earnings. Although gender inequality and disadvantage is different in regard to social class and ethnicity, but the cost of reconciling paid work as well as family life is an issue that will continue to be borne by women. Thus, although there is a great improvement in regard to career path taken by women, they are usually believed to be associated to their domestic responsibilities. This has put most of women on part time work as well as great pay gap in their occupations as compared to men. Continued research in regard to lifelong processes of career aspirations for women and career development is very essential in order to explain their occupational paths. It is equally important to study females at earlier stages in regard to development of their careers. Continued study of career interests as well as developments processes for women is very essential as they have a great impact in the workforce of United Kingdom. References Atkinson, AB 2002, “A Critique of the Transatlantic Consensus on Rising Income Inequality”, World Economy, vol. 24, no. 4, pp. 433‐452 Brewer, M, Sibieta, L, Wren‐Lewis, L 2008, Racing Away? Income Inequality and the Evolution of High Incomes. IFS Briefing note 76, London: Institute of Fiscal Studies www.ifs.org.uk/bns/bn76.pdf Connolly, S & Gregory, M 2008, “Moving Down: Women’s Part‐time Work and Occupational Change in Britain 1991–2001”, The Economic Journal, vol. 118, pp. 52–76. Crompton, R & Lyonette, C 2008, Family, Class and Gender Strategies in Mother’s Employment and Childcare, Paper presented at GENET conference Gender, Class, Employment and Family/ City University, London, 27‐28 March Crompton, R, & Lyonette, C 2011, “Women's Career Success and Work-life Adaptations in the Accountancy and Medical Professions in Britain”, Gender, Work and Organization, Vol. 18, No. 2, pp. 231-254 Dyhouse, C (2006) Students: A Gendered History London: Routledge EHRC 2008, Sex and Power, Fifth report London Equalities and Human Rights Commission,http://www.equalityhumanrights.com/Documents/EHRC/SexandPo wer/Sex_and_Power_2008.pdf Epstein, C 2006, “Border Crossings: The Constraints of Time Norms in Transgressions of Gender and Professional Roles”, in Cynthia. Epstein and Arne Kalleberg (eds), Fighting for Time (New York: Russell Sage Foundation) 317‐340 Graham, JW, & Smith, SA 2005, “Gender differences in employment and earnings in science and engineering in the U.S.”, Economics of Education Review, vol. 24, pp. 341-354. Himmelweit, S 2007, “The Prospects for Caring: Economic Theory and Policy Analysis”, Cambridge Journal of Economics, vol. 31, no. 4, pp. 581‐599 Himmelweit, S, & Sigala, M 2004, “Choice and the Relationship Between Identities and Behaviour for Mothers with Pre‐School Children: Some Implications for Policy from a UK Study”, Journal of Social Policy vol. 33, no. 3, pp.455‐478. Krugman, P 2002, “For Richer, New York Times”, www.pkarchive.org/economy/ForRicher.html (accessed January 2013) La Valle, I and Smith, R 2009, “Good Quality Childcare for All? Progress towards Universal Provision”, National Institute Economic Review, vol. 207, no. 1, pp. 75‐82 Lewis, J and Giullari, S 2005, “The Adult Worker Model Family, Gender Equality and Care: The Search for New Policy Principles and the Possibilities and Problems of a Capabilities Approach”, Economy and Society, vol. 34, no. 1, pp. 76‐104 Manning, A, & Petrongolo, B 2008, “The Part‐Time Pay Penalty for Women in Britain”, The Economic Journal, vol. 118, pp. 28–51. Miller, I & Hayward R 2006, “New Jobs, Old Occupational Stereotypes: Gender and Jobs in the New Economy”, Journal of Education and Work vol. 19, no. 1, pp. 67‐94 National Statistics (2009) Employment Database www.statistics.gov.uk/STATBASE/expodata/files/8555368652.csv (accessed January, 2013) OECD 2007, OECD Family Database www.oecd.org/els/social/family/database (accessed January 2013) Paull, G 2008, “Children and Women’s Work Hours”, Economic Journal vol.118, vol. 526, pp. 8‐27 Perrons, D 2004, Equity and Representation in the New Economy, in J. Kelly and P. Willman (eds) Union Organization and Activity, London: Routledge Purcell, K, Elias, P, Davies, R, & Wilton, N 2005, The Class of ʹ99: A Study of the Early Labour Market Experience of Recent Graduates, DfES Research Report, Sheffield. Research Works 2001, Perceptions of Social Work and Social Care. Report of findings. Prepared for Central Office of Information for the Department of Health, London: Research Works Rubery, J, Grimshaw, D, & Figueiredo, H 2005, “How to Close the Gender Pay Gap in Europe: Towards the Gender Mainstreaming of Pay Policy”, Industrial Relations Journal vol. 36, no. 3, pp. 184‐213 Sigle‐Rushton, W, & Perrons, D 2006, Employment Transitions over the Life Cycle: A Statistical Analysis. Equal Opportunities Commission Working Paper No. 64. Manchester: EOC. Social Trends 2008, “Social Trends: London Statistical Office” (on line data www.statistics.gov.uk/StatBase/Product.asp?vlnk=13675 Tinklin, T, Croxford, L, Ducklin, A, & Frame, B 2005, “Gender attitudes to work and family roles: The views of young people at the millennium”, Gender & Education, vol. 17, pp. 129-142. Read More