Career resilience of female professionals in the male-dominated IT industry in Sweden: Toward a process perspective

Sweden is known to be one of the most gender-equal societies in the world. Thus, it remains as an enigma why a large discrepancy continues to exist regarding the gender balance in career choice and progression in many professions. Drawing on Hirdman's (1988) theory of gendered systems, in this paper, we explore the role of career resilience in the career progression of women who choose to work in the male-dominated IT sector. We draw attention to how the day-to-day process of practicing career resilience in a gendered workplace tends to evolve as women progress in their careers. Based on an interview study with 50 female IT professionals as well as a discourse analysis of 502 newspaper articles on women in this sector, we develop a process model of career resilience in gendered professions, outlining different coping strategies that allow women to develop and enhance such resilience over time. We conclude the paper by providing some practical recommendations.     

Women Scientists and Engineers in European Companies: Putting Motherhood under the Microscope

Unlike the rise in women's participation in other professional sectors, women still form a minority of professional scientists and engineers, especially in multinational companies. Moreover, embedded gendered cultures in the science, engineering and technology (SET) sectors continue to affect the career progression of professional women, with few women reaching senior management positions and many leaving and failing to return. This article examines the experiences of women SET professionals in three European companies based in France, The Netherlands and Italy and illustrates how the careers of SET professionals in industry are shaped not only by corporate cultures and practices but also by the specific national contexts in which they live and work. In particular, we look at how motherhood rather than gender alone is constructed as problematic and propose a model of strategies that women adopt in doing motherhood and SET, including assimilation, cul‐de‐sac, breaking the mould and lying low.     

Fertility Preferences and Cognition: Religiosity and Experimental Effects of Decision Context on College Women

Better models of culture and cognition may help researchers understand fertility and family formation. The authors examine cognition about fertility using an experimental survey design to investigate how fertility preferences of college women are affected by two prompts that bring to mind fertility‐relevant factors: career aspirations and financial limitations. The authors test the effects of these prompts on fertility preferences and ask how effects vary with respondent religiosity, an aspect of social identity related to fertility preferences. The authors find significant effects of treatment on fertility preferences when accounting for religiosity: Less religious women who considered their career aspirations or financial limitations reported smaller desired family size, but this effect was attenuated for more religious women. This study demonstrates how fertility preferences are shaped by decision contexts for some sociodemographic groups. The authors discuss how the findings support a social–cognitive model of fertility.     

Resilience for gender inclusion: Developing a model for women in male-dominated occupations

What is resilience in the context of work environments where women face barriers as significant as career discrimination and harassment? In such a context, is resilience an individual responsibility? How can organizations contribute to and support employee resilience? And where is gender in this equation? This conceptual paper explores these questions using aviation, the skilled trades (i.e., carpentry, welding, plumbing) and the military as case studies to understand how gender inclusion could be better supported by resilient organizations. The barriers for women in male-dominated industries include social exclusion, marginalization, discrimination, harassment, and other forms of social closure. How these barriers can be overcome is not well understood. We argue that individual resilience plays a part in women thriving and developing enduring careers but can only occur in combination with support from gender inclusion strategies and organizational resilience. We have developed the Resilience for Gender Inclusion (RGI) model combining gender inclusion strategies with organizational resilience strategies. The RGI model demonstrates how employee and organizational resilience intersect and may lead to the transformative potential of inclusive cultures of diversity. This will improve employee wellbeing and self-efficacy and create a much needed sense of belonging and social inclusion for women in male-dominated occupations.     

The domestic basis for the managerial career

Although there are now many studies of managers, there has been little research on how gender relations in the private sphere are lived to accommodate the managerial career. The organisation of domestic life and the household division of labour has largely been neglected. This article examines the domestic basis of the managerial career. The data are drawn from a larger study of women and men senior managers in five multinational companies. The analysis reveals that the domestic arrangements necessary to sustain the life of a senior manager are very different for men and women, giving the lie to the myth that equality has been achieved. My argument is that for all the company initiatives designed to promote equal opportunities, the managerial career is still largely dependent upon the services of a wife at home, or a housewife substitute in the form of paid domestic services.     

Foreign Employers as Relief Routes: Women,Multinational Corporations and Managerial Careers in Japan

This article argues that multinational corporations may provide critical relief routes for women workers' progress in managerial careers in national contexts where their career paths with domestic employers remain blocked by traditional and institutional practices. It illustrates this possibility through a study of two women managers at the local head office of a foreign‐owned multinational retailer in Japan and their career trajectories. The alternative career paths through foreign employers are not without their contingencies and constraints, and the article identifies the limitations of the transformative potential foreign employers could have in the larger realm of women's managerial employment in a restrictive context such as Japan. Noting that globalization incorporates different groups of workers into the global economy with different costs and rewards, the article concludes by calling for a more nuanced understanding of women's employment with multinationals and for further research that remains cognizant of the multiplicity of experiences in different contexts.     

The Origin of Major Choice,Academic Commitment,and Career‐Decision Readiness Among Taiwanese College Students

The present study aimed to examine if and how career‐decision readiness relates to the origin of college major choice among Taiwanese college students. A total of 375 junior and senior college students (147 women, 228 men) responded to measures of college major choice, academic commitment, career self‐efficacy, and career‐decision readiness. Results indicated that students' academic commitment to a college major tend to increase when they choose their majors based on personal and career preferences. In sequence, high levels of academic commitment lead to high levels of career self‐efficacy, and increased self‐efficacy augments the extent of career‐decision readiness that students manifest near the end of their college education. These findings have practical implications insofar as many Asian students choose a college major because of parents and other authority figures, and these findings demonstrate that a full understanding of career‐decision readiness may require incorporating the origin of college major choice and its academic effects into future research.     

Looking within the household: a study on gender,food security,and resilience in cocoa-growing communities

Many West African cocoa households experience a ‘lean season’ before the cocoa harvest, leaving them vulnerable to various events and issues which potentially cause stress – most notably food insecurity. This study, relying primarily on qualitative data from Côte d'Ivoire, examines how income allocation and intra-household dynamics affect household resilience during the lean season. Its findings indicate that in contexts in which women and men's income are separate and destined for different purposes in the household, the fact that men's income is often earmarked for individual spending creates particular problems for households in the lean season. Women's empowerment within the household is essential to improving intra-household resource allocation for resilience. In many contexts, this translates into development programmes supporting women to increase their production and ability to control income independently of men. However, a context of individual gendered agricultural production, and gendered spending obligations, such as West Africa, calls for a slightly different approach. Enhancing agricultural productivity is critical, but in addition it is important to encourage co-operation between women and men in households to result in joint decision-making in the interests of the household.     

Let the right one in: A Bourdieusian analysis of gender inequality in universities’ senior management

This article examines the lack of gender diversity in senior management positions in professional staff in universities. These results are analysed via a Bourdieusian analysis of economic, social, cultural and symbolic capital. Through a purposeful sample of senior professional staff working in universities in three countries: Australia, Canada and the UK, six career‐enhancing strategies needed for career success were determined. The article critiques the resource‐based view of career capital and argues that capitals accumulation for career success can be understood by considering the concepts of symbolic violence and habitus as a way of understanding intra‐cohort differences. It proposes that by considering both the subjective and objective cultural constructs via habitus, and by acknowledging the importance of symbolic capital and symbolic violence towards women, this may be one way of increasing female representation in senior management.     

Predicting Career Adaptability From Positive Psychological Traits

This study investigated positive psychological traits as predictors of career adaptability in a group of emerging adults. A total of 415 undergraduate students (185 men, 230 women) from a large state‐funded university in Turkey responded to Turkish versions of the Career Adaptability subscale of the Career Futures Inventory (Rottinghaus et al., 2005 ), the Dispositional Hope Scale (Snyder et al., 1991 ), the Life Orientation Test (Scheier & Carver, 1985 ), and the Ego Resiliency Scale (Block & Kremen, 1996 ). Results indicated moderate to strong correlations among the variables and suggested that students who are more resilient, hopeful, and optimistic are more likely to perceive themselves as more adaptable in their careers. Simultaneous multiple regression analysis indicated that career adaptability was significantly predicted by hope, resilience, and optimism. In light of these results, when designing career interventions to enhance the career adaptability of emerging adults, counselors should integrate various strategies to foster hope, resilience, and optimism.     

Early 20th-Century Career Counseling for Women: Contemporary Practice and Research Implications

The authors critically examine the development of career counseling for women during the early 20th century. The development of career counseling for women lagged behind career counseling for men. Challenges, such as feminization of occupations, restricted occupational opportunities, and societal norms, stunted the development of career counseling for women. Furthermore, career counseling for women varied based on racial groups. Early writings discussed opportunities specifically geared toward White, college-educated, nonimmigrant women. Although these beginning opportunities provided formal guidance to White women, many other women were excluded from formal career counseling and are not represented in these writings. Implications include training practitioners to recognize their own biases when working with women, how gender bias influences career counseling inventories and career theories, and how counselors can challenge these biases and stereotypes to provide the full range of career opportunities to women. Future research should address the impact of career counseling on women of color.     

What We Can Learn of Resilience from Older African-American Women: Interviews with Women Who Worked as Maids in the Deep South

Resilience theory is increasingly informed by an in-depth study of personal narratives and story telling by survivors of personal trauma and cultural hardship. From the perspective of risk and resilience theory, this study examines the personal narratives of three older African-American women who engaged in domestic service from childhood. Collectively, their autobiographical memories describe experiences coping with the forces of an oppressive social and economic system. Our analysis of these personable narratives reveals how these women not only endured the cruelties of segregation and racism but somehow prevailed over them.     

Gendered institutional research cultures in science: the post-doc transition for women scientists

This study examines perceptions of post-doctoral women bench scientists working across fourteen major US research universities, and how both individual and institutional experiences influenced their desired futures. Findings reveal three distinct career paths (research, teaching, and industry). This study provides insight into individual career decision processes involving as to how gender is experienced in male-centric cultures, how experiences of barriers are reframed, and how obstacles influence choices. These women emphasized strong desires to contribute to their respective fields and to collaborate with others, a key relational aspect missing in their current work. All participants indicated aspirations to have both a career and a full life beyond the lab. Findings further suggest a post-doctoral environment laden with gender and family biases including subtle discrimination and challenges specific to women working in male-centric cultures. A strong relationship between experiences of gender and family biases suggests that additional burdens are placed on women's career paths and their evolving identity. This study identifies the postdoctoral journey as a unique transition zone marked by a period of adaptation and selection as they make sense of their experience and decide on how best to achieve success and fulfillment as women and as scientists.     

Career Pathways into Retirement in the UK: Linking Older Women's Pasts to the Present

Understanding of how women's experiences in retirement are shaped by their pre‐retirement lives is limited. In this paper we utilize an innovative mix of measures to examine the link between career histories and expectations and experiences of retirement. Analysis of timeline data capturing the long working lives of a sample of older women identifies five different pathways into retirement. We explore these trajectories in detail to determine how they are shaped and their links to different outcomes in later life. The analysis shows how different career histories unfold and how they shape expectations and experiences of retirement. Long, professional career pathways leave women feeling enabled in retirement, women following more fragmented pathways are more constrained, and some trajectories, including pathways involving transitions into professional careers in later life, can leave older women financially and emotionally vulnerable in older age.     

Women rebuilding lives post-disaster: innovative community practices for building resilience and promoting sustainable development

Disasters result in devastating human, economic, and environmental effects. The paper highlights women's active participation in community-based disaster recovery efforts drawing from the results of the ‘Rebuilding Lives Post-disaster: Innovative Community Practices for Sustainable Development’ by an international research partnership. Two case studies are presented from Pakistan and the USA to demonstrate how women contribute to building resilience and promoting sustainable development in diverse post-disaster contexts. The policy and practice implications are relevant for discussions regarding the post-2015 Sustainable Development Goals and framework.     

Context of Career Decisions: Women Reared in a Rural Community

This study investigated the influences on the career decisions of women who grew up in a rural community. Forty women were interviewed who graduated in the upper 10% of their high school classes in the 1950s, ‘60s, ‘70s, and ‘80s. The results are described in three components: gender role beliefs, factors, and contexts. Gender role beliefs were the most pervasive influences found. Other factors were (a) information, (b) meeting others' expectations, (c) barriers, (d) sense of empowerment, (e) conditions of work, and (f) personal values. The participants were also affected by their social and historical contexts and their development stages.     

Appraising Cultural Identity in Career-Development Assessment and Counseling

Career-Development Assessment and Counseling (C-DAC) systematically bridges career theory and practice. Integrating differential, developmental, and phenomenological methods, the C-DAC model uses a comprehensive career assessment battery to help clients explore their roles, developmental stages and tasks, career attitudes and knowledge, values, and interests within their unique life contexts. The authors recommend elaborating the C-DAC model to formally appraise cultural identity in step one of the model and to consider cultural identity concerns throughout the C-DAC process. This should help counselors more clearly understand how cultural factors influence people's career development and vocational behavior.     

‘It's not acceptable for the husband to stay at home': Taking a discourse analytical approach to capture the gendering of work

This article illustrates some of the ways in which the notion of (paid) work is actively being gendered, and how these gendering processes take place not only through organizational practices but also in discourses that circulate outside an organization in the private domain. Drawing on 15 in‐depth interviews with women who opted out of their own professional career in order to accompany their husbands on their overseas work assignment to Hong Kong, we demonstrate some of the benefits of using a discourse analytical approach to capturing and identifying the processes through which these women actively (although not necessarily consciously) gender the notion of work, thereby reinforcing the gender order and its male bias. We argue that identifying and making visible these gendered and gendering practices is an important component of, and a potential trigger for, change both in organizations as well as private contexts.     

Giving Meaning to Sport Involvement in Managerial Work

I use a discursive analytical approach to explore ways in which senior managerial men working in nonprofit organizations understand the contribution, if any, of their own sport history to their work skills, how this may vary by organizational contexts and how the subtexts of these discourses may strengthen the dominance of managerial men in a specific context. I used semi‐structured interviews to ask 67 senior managerial men about the role they perceive their sport history plays in their managerial skills. Two overlapping topics emerged from the data: team and leadership skills and perseverance and toughness. I explore the meaning these topics had for the managers and the possible gendered subtexts of these meanings. The findings are situated in the critical feminist management and sport literature.     

Career Adaptability,Resilience, and Life Satisfaction Among Italian and Belgian Middle School Students

Youth need help with planning their future, developing positive life trajectories, and coping with socioeconomic conditions. Using a life design approach, we analyzed the relationship between career adaptability, resilience, and life satisfaction among Belgian (N = 158) and Italian (N = 158) middle school students. We hypothesized that career adaptability, directly and indirectly via resilience, would predict life satisfaction. Furthermore, we predicted that the conceptual model would be comparable between countries. Each participant completed self-report measures to assess career adaptability, resilience, and life satisfaction. The results obtained using a two-step approach to structural equation modeling suggest that career adaptability is directly and indirectly, through resilience, related to students' life satisfaction in both Italian and Belgian students. These results have important implications for supporting middle school students in their life design process.