Exploring the interplay between Buddhism and career development: a study of highly skilled women workers in Sri Lanka

Abstract

This article adopts a socio-cultural lens to examine the role of Buddhism in highly skilled women workers’ careers in Sri Lanka. While Buddhism enabled women’s career development by giving them strength to cope with difficult situations in work, it also seemed to restrict their agency and constrain their career advancement. The article argues, based on its findings, that being perceived as a good Buddhist woman worked as a powerful form of career capital for the respondents in the sample, who used their faith to combat gender disadvantage in their work settings.

Keywords

Buddhism career gender religion women work organizations

Get full access to this article

View all access options for this article.

References

Ameer

(1992) The quest for cultural identity and material advancement: parallels and contrasts in Muslim minority experience in secular India and Buddhist Sri Lanka. Journal of Muslim Minority Affairs 13(1): 33–58.

Amin

Alam

(2008) Married women’s employment decisions in Malaysia: does religion matter? Journal of Socio-Economics 37(6): 2368–79.

Andersen

(2006) Women and religion. In: Andersen

, Thinking About Women: Sociological Perspectives on Sex and Gender, 7/E. Boston, MA: Pearson Higher Education, 232–59.

Appelbaum

Hughes

(1998) Ingratiation as a political tactic: effects within the organization. Management Decision 36(2): 85–95.

Arthur

Khapova

Wilderom

CPM

(2005) Career success in a boundaryless career world. Journal of Organizational Behaviour 26(2): 177–202.

Bell

Taylor

Driscoll

(2011) Varieties of organizational soul: the ethics of belief in organizations. Organization 19(4): 425–39.

Budhwar

Saini

Jyotsna

(2005) Women in management in the new economic environment: the case of India. Asia Pacific Business Review 11(2): 179–93.

Ceylon Today (2012) Abans staff observes poson poya in unique style. Published on 17 June 2012. Available (consulted 20 January 2013) at: http://www.ceylontoday.lk/22–8109-news-detail-abans-staff-observe-poson-poya-in-unique-style.html

Cohen

El-Sawad

Arnold

(2009) Outsourcing careers: western theories in an Indian context. In: Thite

Russell

(eds) The Next Available Operator: Managing Human Resources in Indian Business Process Outsourcing Industry. New Delhi: Response Books, 182–214.

10.

Constantine

Miville

Warren

Gainor

Lewis-Coles

MEL

(2006) Religion, spirituality, and career development in African American college students: a qualitative inquiry. Career Development Quarterly 54(3): 227–41.

11.

Daniels

(1998) Economic change, the environment and Buddhism in Asia. International Journal of Social Economics 25(6/7/8): 968–1004.

12.

Davie

(1990) Believing without belonging: is this the future of religion in Britain? Social Compass 37(4): 455–69.

13.

Department of Census and Statistics (2009) Labour Force Survey: Annual Report. Colombo: Ministry of Finance and Planning.

14.

De Silva

(1994) The Place of Women in Buddhism. A talk given to the Midlands Buddhist Society (UK) on Sanghamittâ Day. Available (consulted 20 January 2013) at: http://www.bhikkhuni.net/library/desilva-place-of-women-buddhism.html.

15.

De Voss

(2007) Sinhalese Buddhist nationalist ideology: implications for politics and conflict resolution in Sri Lanka. Policy Studies 40. Available (consulted 20 January 2013) at: http://www.eastwestcenterwashington.org/publications

16.

Duffy

Blustein

(2005) The relationship between spirituality, religiousness, and career adaptability. Journal of Vocational Behavior 67(3): 429–40.

17.

Fernando

WDA

Cohen

(2011) Exploring the interplay between gender, organizational context and career: a Sri Lankan perspective. Career Development International 16(6): 553–71.

18.

Gaitskell

(1990) Devout domesticity? A century of African women’s Christianity in South Africa. In: Walker

(ed.) Women and Gender in Southern Africa to 1945. Cape Town: David Philip, 177–87.

19.

Gellner

(2008) The uses of Max Weber: legitimation and amnesia in Buddhology, South Asian history, and anthropological practice theory. In: Clarke

(ed.) The Oxford Handbook of the Sociology of Religion. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 48–62.

20.

Giacalone

Jurkiewicz

(2003) Right from wrong: the influence of spirituality on perceptions of unethical business practices. Journal of Business Ethics 46(1): 85–97.

21.

Giddens

(2009) Sociology. Cambridge: Polity Press.

22.

Gifford

(1998) African Christianity: Its Public Role. London: Hurst.

23.

Griffith

(1997) God’s Daughters: Evangelical Women and the Power of Submission. Berkeley, CA: University of California Press.

24.

Gross

(2004) The dharma of gender. Contemporary Buddhism 5(1): 4–13.

25.

Gunawardana

RALH

(1990) The people of the Lion. In: Spencer

(ed.) Sri Lanka: History and the Roots of Conflict. London: Routledge and Kegan Paul, 45–85.

26.

Hammersley

Atkinson

(1997) Ethnography: Principles in Practice, 2nd Edition. London: Routledge.

27.

James

(2008) United by gender or divided by class? Women’s work orientations and labour market behaviour. Gender, Work and Organization 15(4): 394–412.

28.

Kamoche

Pinnington

(2012) Managing people ‘spiritually’: a Bourdieusian critique. Work, Employment and Society 26(3): 497–513.

29.

King

(2004) Using templates in the thematic analysis of text. In: Cassell

Symon

(eds) Essential Guide to Qualitative Methods in Organizational Research. London: Sage, 256–70.

30.

Lapour

Heppner

(2008) Social class privilege and adolescent women’s perceived career options. Journal of Counselling Psychology 56(4): 477–494.

31.

Lirio

Lituchy

Monserrat

Olivas-Lujan

Duffy

Fox

. (2007) Exploring career-life success and family social support of successful women in Canada, Argentina, and Mexico. Career Development International 12(1): 28–50.

32.

Lynch

(1999) Good girls or juki girls. Anthropology of Work Review, 19(3): 18–22.

33.

Malhotra

DeGraff

(1997) Entry versus success in the labour force: young women’s employment in Sri Lanka. World Development 25(3): 379–94.

34.

Mayrhofer

Iellatchitch

Meyer

Steyrer

Schiffinger

Strunk

(2004) Going beyond the individual: some potential contributions from a career field and habitus perspective for global career research and practice. Journal of Management Development 23(9): 870–84.

35.

Niles

(1999) Toward a cross-cultural understanding of work-related beliefs. Human Relations 52(7): 855–67.

36.

Noy

(2008) Sampling knowledge: the hermeneutics of snowball sampling in qualitative research. International Journal of Social Research Methodology 11(4): 327–44.

37.

Nyanatiloka (2000) The Buddha’s Path to Deliverance. Lower Fulbrook: Angulimala: The Buddhist Prison Chaplaincy Organisation UK.

38.

Obeyesekere

(1963) The Great Tradition and the Little in the perspective of Sinhalese Buddhism. Journal of Asian Studies 29(2): 139–53.

39.

Payutto

(1995) Buddhadhamma. Translated by Olson

. Albany, NY: SUNY Press.

40.

Perera

(1991) The impact of macro-events on social structure in Sri Lanka. In: Masino

Stratigos

(eds) Women, households and change. Tokyo: United Nations University, United Nations Press, 80–150.

41.

Perera

(1997) The social and cultural construction of female sexuality and gender roles in Sinhala society. In: Perera

. (eds) Changing Gender Roles and Relations: Women in Traditional, Colonial and Contemporary Times. Colombo: CENWOR, 1–17.

42.

Powell

Bagilhole

Dainty

(2009) How women engineers do and undo gender: consequences for gender equality. Gender, Work and Organization 16(4): 411–28.

43.

Radhakrishnan

(2009) Professional women, good families: respectable femininity and the cultural politics of a ‘New’ India. Qualitative Sociology 32(2): 195–212.

44.

Read

(2002) Challenging myths of Muslim women: the influence of Islam on Arab-American women’s labor force participation. Muslim World 92(1/2): 19–37.

45.

Read

(2004) Family, religion, and work among Arab American women. Journal of Marriage and Family 66(4): 1042–50.

46.

Schak

(2008) Gender and Buddhism in Taiwan. Hsuan Chuang Journal of Buddhist Studies 9: 145–74.

47.

Schumann

(2007) Economics in religions: what do original sources say? Unpublished paper presented at the CSI Symposium ‘Religion, Ideology and Global Development’, Innsbruck.

48.

Silverman

(2009) Doing Qualitative Research, 3rd Edition. London: Sage.

49.

Spinks

(2002) Pentecostal Christianity and Young Africans. In: De Waal

Argenti

(eds), Young Africa: Realizing the Rights of Children. Trenton, NJ: Africa World Press, 193–206.

50.

Sponberg

(1985) Attitudes toward women and the feminine in early Buddhism. In Cabezón

(ed.) Buddhism, Sexuality and Gender. Albany, NY: Suny Press, 37–61.

51.

Sri Lanka Airforce (2012) News. Available (consulted 20 January 2012) at: http://www.airforce.lk/news.php?news=1120

52.

Sturges

(1999) What it means to succeed: personal conceptions of career success held by male and female managers of different ages. British Journal of Management 10(3): 239–52.

53.

Turner

(2011) Religion and Modern Society: Citizenship, Secularization and the State. New York, NY: Cambridge University Press.

54.

Weber

(1916–1917) Die Wirtschaftsethik der Weltreligionen (Dritter Artikel): Hinduismus und Buddhismus’ Archiv für Sozialwissenschaft und Sozialpolitik 41(3) 313–744, 42(2):345–461, 42(3): 687–814.

55.

Weber

Gerth

Martindale

(2000) Religions of India: The Sociology of Hinduism and Buddhism. New Delhi: Munshirm Manoharlal Publishing.

56.

Woodhead

(2007) Gender differences in religious practice and significance. In: The Sage Handbook of the Sociology of Religion. London: Sage, 550–570. Available (consulted 20 January 2012) at: http://eprints.lancs.ac.uk/793/