Wednesday 14 September 2011

Opting In Between …

Strategies Used by Professional Women With Children to Balance Work and Family

an article by Elisa J Grant-Vallone (California State University San Marcos) and Ellen A Ensher (Loyola Marymount University, Los Angeles) published in Journal of Career Development Volume 38 Number 4 (August 2011)

Abstract

Professional women with children are inundated with conflicting messages about how to manage their careers and personal lives and whether they should “opt in” or “opt out” of the workforce. Using in-depth interviews with 23 professional women, this study focused on the career choices that women make after having children. The authors found that many mothers neither opt in nor opt out but successfully function in between these two choices, or opt “in between”, by working flexible hours, by working part-time, and/or by being involved with home-based entrepreneurial endeavours. Using the boundaryless career typology of knowing why, knowing how, and knowing whom, the authors summarise the key strategies that mothers use to opt in between. The interviewees were clear about why they were working, managed their careers by finding the right organisational fit, did not focus on guilt or perfectionism, and maintained excellent networks of friends, bosses, colleagues, and day care providers

Hazel’s comment:
The researchers must have found 23 exceptional women!


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