Bimrose McMahon Watson

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The problem with women?

Challenges posed by gender forcareer 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
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Aim of Symposium

To argue that a more subtly nuanced and

differentiated approach is required for moreeffective support of womens career progression.


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Jenny BimroseUniversity of Warwick, England

Mary McMahonThe University of Queensland, Australia

Mark WatsonNelson Mandela Metropolitan University, South Africa

Massimo TomassiniUniversit Roma 3, Italy

Simone R. Haasler

Universitt Bremen, Germany

Pamela SuzanneUniversidad, San Andrs, Argentina
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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)


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Womens Labour Market Participation

Of all people employed in the world, 40 % are women. Thishas not changed over the last 10 years

48.4 % of the productive potential of the female populationremains 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, therate of female labour participation rate increased from 50.2 to51.7% while the male rate decreased slightly from 82.0 to77.7 % ]

Reference: International Labour Office. (2010). Women in labour markets:Measuring progress and identifying challenges. Geneva: ILO


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Womens Labour Market Participation

Access to paid work

Opportunities for full and productive employment remainparticularly slim for women.

Wide gaps remain in womens access to paid work in at leasthalf of all regions.

Following significant job losses in 2008-2009, the growth inemployment 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
http://www.un.org/milleniumgoals/11-MDG%20Report_EN.pdfhttp://www.un.org/milleniumgoals/11-MDG%20Report_EN.pdfhttp://www.un.org/milleniumgoals/11-MDG%20Report_EN.pdfhttp://www.un.org/milleniumgoals/11-MDG%20Report_EN.pdf


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Objectivity & Subjectivity

ObjectivityQuantitative, statistical; facts and figures; scientific method,

predictability; rationality; linear; generalisable

SubjectivityQualitative, personal experience, affective and emotional

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

context specific


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OBJECTIVITY:Labour Market

Information (LMI)

Career Theory

SUBJECTIVITY:

Stories

Context specific

Objectivity & Subjectivity (Careers)


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Method


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Research Approach

Research AimTo undertake an international, comparative qualitativeinvestigation of the career trajectories of older women (aged45 to 65)

Exploratory questions

What can we learn from the career stories of olderwomen that may inform career guidance theory, policy

and practice?How can older women be effectively supported by

career guidance?


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Research Design

Qualitative paradigm

Grounded theory method

Cross country case study comparison


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The Participants

Introducing the storytellers

Women aged 45 65

45 the benchmark used to describe matureage workers, and an age after which it has

become very difficult for people to re-enter theworkforce once they have left it

65the age at which retirement wascommon at the time of data collection

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

Purposive sample


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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)


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MethodProcedure

Semi-structured interviews of approximately onehour duration

England telephone interviews (digital

recordings)Australia, South Africa, Italy & Germany face to

face interviews time and location suitable forparticipants (digital recordings)

Argentina face-to-face and telephone (digitalrecordings)

Interviews recorded and transcribed


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MethodAreas for Investigation

Interview protocol 5 sections

Background information (age, income, marital status,employment status, highest qualification, dependents)

Present, past and future work and learningexperiences

Previous work and learning transitions

Nature of previous work and learning transitions

Learning from previous transitions and movingforward


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MethodData Analysis

Based on grounded theory method

Two stage, nine phase thematic analysis across threeinitial countries: Australia, England and South Africa

Stage 1: Five phases of code category developmentresulting in 9 master code categories

Stage 2: Four phases of subsequent refinement of

master codes

Stage 3: Application of similar process to codingsubsequent countries


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Method

Trustworthiness of Findings

Credibility: confidence in their 'truth'

Transferability: applicability in other contextsDependability: consistency and replication

Confirmability: neutrality (findings shaped by

respondents, not researchers)

(Lincoln & Guba, 1985)


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Results

Master CodesLearning across the lifespan

Transitions and responses

Intrapersonal influences

Work influences

Financial influences

Social influences

RelocationAdvice to others

Future planning


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Learning across the Lifespan


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Sub codes:

Formal learning

Informal learningResponse to/reflection on learning


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Traditional Learning Pathwaysin those days you had to get a, you know, your score had to

be okay for you had to get a scholarship to teacherscollege and that committed you then to I think it was two

years to work for the government and when I got that Ijust happy as a bird.

(Sophia, 63)

Forty million courses and seminars and some of them werereally, really valuable and very good, and some of themwere just rubbish

(Sophia, 63)


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Non-Traditional Learning PathwaysIm not sure I ever made decisions. I think Ive fallen into

them all, seriously. I didnt mean to come up here thatwas a friend, I was just coming along for the ride. I gotcarried away. Same with getting my Senior Certificate, Igot 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 seriouslyexploring how you become a ferry driver. Id love to dothat part time. You know, something a bit different thanhead work.

(Kay, 62)


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Transitions and response


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Transitions and responses

Sub codes:

Unexpected/unanticipated chance events

Responses to circumstances/events Adaptability


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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 acarpenter....

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)


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Transitions and Responses

I started working as an applications programmer, without

any experience, and that was very difficult for me. I haddone 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)


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Intrapersonal Influences


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Sub codes:

Self

Values Personality traits

Age-related

Role satisfaction (past & present)


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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. Evenworking 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)


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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 forautonomy 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 afterthe birth of my daughter.

(Rosa, 47)


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Work Influences


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Work Influences

Sub codes:

Employment description (past & present)

Workplace dynamic (past & present)

Unpaid activities outside the home

Work-life balance/tensions between roles


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Work Influences

I was a bit frustrated by what I would say was a bit ofglass 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 droppingbombs 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)


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Work Influences

Id only recently moved up there with a new job, which Iwas 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 shouldhave - should and could have made a fuss - until its too

late, and then you go with the flow.

(Debbie, 60)


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Financial Influences


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Sub codes:

Current financial situation

Future financial situation

Past financial situation


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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)


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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)


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Social influences


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Social Influences

Sub codes:

Support networks

Role models

Life roles

Administrative/systemic influences


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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 suchstuff I wanted to do something like that but I knowpeople used to say that in our culture it doesnt pay

well.

(Noxolo, 45)


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Social Influences

It is the sense that African men are supposed to remainas head of the household and that can affectrelationships and also their status within the family .

That is why I spent thirteen years because I wascontemplating doing things and I was checking how itwas going to affect our relationship, the status here

(Lungsi, 45)


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,

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 listento your inner voice.

(Noxolo, 45)

Future planningIm not sure I ever made decisions. I think Ive fallen into

them all, seriously.

(Megan, 54)

Discussion


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Discussion

Implications

the value of obtaining both quantitative andqualitative data and the complementarity of sodoing

inviting participants to tell a story of their mostsignificant transition proved a useful technique

approach interviews without prior judgment orexpectation of the participants subjective

transition experiences as either negative orpositive

Di i


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Discussion

a recursive interplay between the older women and thethree levels of

1) a set of circumstances (external)

2) their subjective experiences (internal), and

3) a reflective process (reflexive) (Savickas, 2008)

Career transitions

reflexive

Internal

external

Objective & Subjective Experiences of


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Objective & Subjective Experiences ofOlder 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/linearmodels)



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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)



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What are the implications for practice?

Approaches: narrative, holistic, value subjectiveexperiences

Environment: a safe space

Intervention: systemic (e.g., familial,organisational, policy levels)

Practitioner roles: expanded (e.g., advocacy)


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Women and career guidance

The women in the study did not access careerguidance why not? (e.g., access, lack ofawareness of it, poor quality/reputation?)

Given the evidence indicates that career guidancecould provide positive support, then fundamentalquestions 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


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Possibilities for career guidance andcounselling support

Underpinning philosophies that inform career guidance need

to be considered in relation to the cultural context, beforeconsidering practice implications.

The tension between the need for mass outreach and the needfor individualised focus needs resolution in practice.

A need to find a resolution between imposed theory andgrounded theory. Our research on women in developing anddeveloped countries is definitely framed in a grounded theoryapproach.

Related to the previous two points, career guidance will alsoneed to address the quantitative /qualitative binary in thedeveloping context.

Possibilities for career guidance and


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Possibilities for career guidance andcounselling support

Addressing the previous point raises a further critical issue oftimeframe expectations for developing career guidanceframeworks.

The implementation of career guidance will involve consideringmacro and micro-systemic contextual pressures on it in termsof 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 careerdevelopment practitioners, educationalists and policy makers.


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Thank you

EnkosiBaie dankie

Danke

Gracias

Grazie

[email protected]@uq.edu.au

[email protected]

[email protected]

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Documents

Bimrose McMahon Watson