Background, Personal, and Environmental Influences on the Career Planning of Adolescent Girls

an article by Alexandra Novakovic (DePaul University, Chicago, USA) and Nadya A. Fouad (University of Wisconsin–Milwaukee, Milwaukee, USA) published in Journal of Career Development Volume 40 Number 3 (June 2013)

Abstract

This study investigated the influence of background variables (age, race/ethnicity, mother’s work status outside of the home, and socioeconomic status), personal variables (anticipatory role conflict and academic self-efficacy), and environmental variables (parental attachment and parental support) on aspects of adolescent girls’ career planning.

Four hierarchical regression analyses were performed with a sample of 217 adolescent females in an urban high school. The dependent variables representing aspects of future career planning were

1. plans for the integration of work and family;
2. gender-traditionality of career choice;
3. career commitment; and
4. aspired education level.

Personal variables made the greatest contribution to adolescent girls’ plans for the integration of work and family and career commitment.

Background variables contributed most to gender-traditionality of career choice and aspired education level. Environmental variables did not make significant contributions to any of the dependent variables.

Results and implications for counsellors and educators are discussed.

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Reinventing retirement: New pathways, new arrangements, new meanings

an article by Leisa D Sargent (University of Melbourne, Australia), Mary Dean Lee and Mary Dean Lee (McGill University, Canada), Bill Martin (The University of Queensland, Australia) and Jelena Zikic (York University, Canada) published in Human Relations Volume 66 Number 1 (January 2013)

Abstract

Retirement involves a set of institutional arrangements combined with socio-cultural meanings to sustain a distinct retirement phase in life course and career pathways.

In this Introduction to the Special Issue: ‘Reinventing Retirement: New Pathways, New Arrangements, New Meanings,’ we outline the historical development of retirement.

We identify the dramatic broad-based changes that recently have shaken this established construct to its core. We describe the main organisational responses to these changes, and how they have been associated with shifting, multiple meanings of retirement.

Finally, we present a model that frames two general forms of reinvention of retirement.

The first involves continuation of the idea of a distinct and well-defined period of life occurring at the end of a career trajectory, but with changes in the timing, the kinds of post-retirement activities pursued, and meanings associated with this period of life.

The second represents a more fundamental reinvention in which the overall concept of retirement as a distinct period in an individual’s life is challenged or rejected, whether because it is not appealing or no longer realistic.

We provide examples of how both types of reinvention may manifest in individuals’ careers and lives, and suggest future research directions that follow from our model.

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The effect of work arrangements on perception of work-family balance

an article by Karen A. Duncan and Rachael N. Pettigrew (University of Manitoba, Canada) published in Community, Work & Family Volume 15 Issue 4 (November 2012)

Abstract

This research used a nationally representative sample of women and men in dual-earner families with children from the 1998 and 2005 time-use cycles of Statistics Canada’s General Social Survey.

The work extends knowledge on the effect of the use of three work arrangements: flexible schedules, shift work and self-employment, on respondents’ reported satisfaction with their work-family balance.

Results of regression analysis indicated that work arrangements strongly affected work-family balance and did so differently for women and men. For women, some control over the work schedule significantly improved the perception of balance. For men, both self-employment and shift work were negatively related to reported work-family balance.

The results support a flexible approach by policy-makers and employers in formulating workplace policies that assist employees in achieving satisfaction with the balance between their family and work responsibilities. 

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Opting Back In: The Influence of Time at Home on Professional Women's Career Redirection after Opting Out

an article by Meg Lovejoy and Pamela Stone (Brandeis University, Waltham, USA)  published in Gender, Work & Organization Volume 19 Issue 6 (November 2012)

Abstract

Limited research on professional women’s labour force re-entry after a career break (so-called ‘opting out’) finds that women redirect away from former careers. Little is known about why this occurs.

Our study, based on in-depth interviews with 54 at-home mothers, extends prior research to address this question.

We find that among women who intended to return to work (who constitute the majority), most planned to pursue alternative careers, typically in traditionally female-dominated professions or were uncertain about their career direction; few planned to return to their former employers.

The reasons for this redirection were women’s negative experiences in family inflexible occupations, skill depreciation and perceived age discrimination.

Equally or more important, however, was their adaptation to new constraints and opportunities at home (such as increased involvement in mothering and community work), which engendered an aspirational shift towards new, care-oriented professions that were lower paid and had lower status.

We discuss the policy implications of these findings.

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Self-employment, work-family time and the gender division of labour

an article by Lyn Craig, Abigail Powell and Natasha Cortis (University of New South Wales, Australia) published in Work Employment & Society Volume 26 Number 5 (October 2012)

Abstract

Does being self-employed, as opposed to being an employee, make a difference to how parents with young children can balance work and family demands?

Does self-employment facilitate more equal gender divisions of labour?

This article uses the Australian Time Use Survey to identify associations between self-employment and mothers’ and fathers’ time in paid work, domestic labour and childcare and when during the day they perform these activities.

The time self-employed mothers devote to each activity differs substantially from that of employee mothers, while fathers’ time is relatively constant across employment types. Working from home is highly correlated with self-employment for mothers, implying the opportunity to be home-based is a pull factor in mothers becoming self-employed.

Results suggest mothers use self-employment to combine earning and childcare whereas fathers prioritize paid work regardless of employment type.

Self-employment is not associated with gender redistribution of paid and unpaid work, although it facilitates some rescheduling.

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