Choosing a career is a crucial and significant milestone in one’s life. It becomes even more critical when a woman makes her career choice decisions. Women have a strong case to be free to choose the career of their choice, and contribute in the economic and social well-being of not only their own but of the society on broader grounds, to the fullest of their capabilities. This article makes an attempt to highlight gender role differentiation in the career choice decisions of women.
The article follows an autobiographical approach to career counseling and aims to highlight the life story of 25 girls who are pursuing their management graduation in the national capital region of India. “Narrative enquiry method” is used to understand how respondents/participants/interviewees build meaning from within their system of belief, attitude, values, and concepts that outline judgment of individuality and self-identity. Gender role differentiation is found as an influence and barrier in the phenomena of selection of a field of study and even specialization. The findings of this article can be used in crafting programs for providing career counseling and guidance to female management graduates.
AbeleA. E.SprukD. (2009). The longitudinal impact of self-efficacy and career goals on objective and subjective career success. Journal of Vocational Behavior, 74, 53–62.
2.
BanduraA. (1986). Social foundations of thought and action: A social cognitive theory. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice Hall.
3.
BarakA. (1981). Vocational interests: A cognitive view. Journal of Vocational Behavior, 19(1), 1–14.
4.
BemL. (1981). Gender schema theory: A cognitive account of sex typing source. Psychological Review, 88(4), 354–364.
5.
BemS. L. (1993). The lenses of gender: Transforming the debate on sexual inequality. New Haven, CT: Yale University Press.
6.
BlochS. (2005). My Profound Gratitude to…. Australian & New Zealand Journal of Psychiatry, 39(4), 212–212. https://doi.org/10.1080/j.1440-1614.2005.01555
7.
BlusteinD. L.EllisM. V.DevenisL. E. (1989). The development and validation of a two-dimensional model of the commitment to career choices process. Journal of Vocational Behavior, 35(3), 342–378.
8.
BordensK. S.AbbottB. B. (2002). Research design and methods: A process approach (5th ed.). New York, NY: McGraw-Hill.
9.
BrownD.BrooksL. (1990). The Jossey-Bass management series and The Jossey-Bass social and behavioral science series. Career choice and development: Applying contemporary theories to practice (2nd ed.). San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass.
10.
BussD. M. (1995). Evolutionary psychology: A new paradigm for psychological science. Psychological Inquiry, 6(1), 1–30.
11.
CanaanG. A. (2010). Anticipatory socialization. In GreenhouseJ. H.CallananG. A. & GodshalkV. M. 2010. Career management (4th ed., pp. 20–21). Los Angeles, CA: SAGE Publications.
12.
CatherineH. T.RobinJ. Ely. (2018). What Most People Get Wrong About Men and Women, Harvard Business Review, May–June 2018 Issue. Retrieved from https://hbr.org/2018/05/what-most-people-get-wrong-about-men-and-women
13.
ChaoG. T. (2012). Organizational socialization: Background, basics, and a blueprint for adjustment at work. In KozlowskiS. W. J. (Ed.), The oxford handbook of organizational psychology (Vol. 1, pp. 579–614). New York, NY: Oxford University Press.
14.
ChodorowN. (1989). What is the relation between the psychoanalytic psychology of women and psychoanalytic feminism? The Annual of Psychoanalysis, 17, 215–242.
15.
ChudzikowskiK. (2012). Career transitions and career success in the ‘new’ career era. Journal of Vocational Behavior, 81(2), 298–306. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jvb.2011.10.005
16.
ClandininD. J.ConnellyF. M. (2000). Narrative inquiry: Experience and story in qualitative research. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.
17.
CohenL.MallonM. (2001). My brilliant career? Using stories as a methodological tool in careers research. International Studies of Management & Organization, 31(3), 48–68.
18.
DeauxK.LewisL. L. (1984). Structure of gender stereotypes: Interrelationships among components and gender label. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 46(5), 991–1004. Retrieved from http://dx.doi.org/10.1037/0022–3514.46.5.991
19.
EaglyA. H.KoenigA. M. (2006). Social Role Theory of Sex Differences and Similarities: Implication for Prosocial Behavior. In DindiaK.CanaryD. J. (Eds.), Sex differences and similarities in communication (pp. 161–177). Mahwah, NJ, US: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates Publishers.
20.
ElyR. J.StoneP.AmmermanC. (December 2014). Rethink what you “know” about high-achieving women. Harvard Business Review, 92(12), 101–109. Retrieved from https://hbr.org/2014/12/rethink-what-you-know-about-high-achieving-women
21.
GonzálezA.VergésN. (2013). International mobility of women in S&T careers: Shaping plans for personal and professional purposes. Gender, Place and Culture, 20(5), 613–629.
22.
GoreP. A.LeuwerkeW. C. (2000). Predicting Occupational Considerations: A Comparison of Self-Efficacy Beliefs, Outcome Expectations, and Person-Environment Congruence. Journal of Career Assessment, 8(3), 237–250.
23.
GreenhausJ. H.KossekEllen Ernst. (2014). The Contemporary Career: A Work–Home Perspective. Annual Review of Organizational Psychology and Organizational Behavior, 1(1), 361–388.
24.
GreenhausJ. H.PowellG. N. (2012). The family-relatedness of work decisions: a framework and agenda for theory and research. Journal of Vocational Behavior, 80(2), 246–55.
25.
HertzR.ImberJ. B. (1995). Studying elites using qualitative methods. London: SAGE Publications.
26.
India skills report. (2016). Retrieved from https://wheebox.com/logo/ISR-2016-small.pdf
27.
JonesL. K.GormanS.SchroederC. G. (1989). A comparison between the SDS and the Career Key among career undecided college students. The Career Development Quarterly, 37(4), 334–344.
28.
LämsäA.-M.HiillosM. (2008). Career counseling for women managers at mid-career: Developing an autobiographical approach. Gender in Management, 23(6), 395–408.
29.
LentR. W.BrownS. D. (1996). A social cognitive approach to career development: An overview. Career Development Quarterly, 44, 310–321.
30.
LentR. W.BrownS. D.HackettG. (1994). Toward a unifying social cognitive theory of career and academic interest, choice, and performance. (Monograph)Journal of Vocational Behaviour, 45, 79–122.
31.
LentR. W.BrownS. D.HackettG.. (2002). Social Cognitive Career Theory. In BrownD. & Associates, Career choice and development (4th ed., pp. 255–311), San Francisco: Jossey-Bass. 29.
32.
Ministry of Human Resource Development. (2016). All India Survey on Higher Education (AISHE) 2014–2015. New Delhi: Department of Higher Education.
33.
OrndorffR. M.HerrE. L. (1996). A comparative study of declared and undeclared college students on career uncertainty and involvement in career development activities. Journal of Counselling and Development, 74, 632–639.
34.
OsipowS. H.FitzGeraldL. F. (1996). Theories of career development. Boston, MA: Allyn & Bacon.
35.
PattonM. Q. (2002). Qualitative Research and Evaluation Methods. Thousand Oaks, CA: SAGE Publications.
36.
PolkinghorneD. E. (1988). Narrative knowing and the human sciences. Albany, NY: State University of New York Press.
37.
RubinH. J.RubinI. S. (2005). Qualitative interviewing: The art of hearing data (2nd ed.) (pp. 173–200). Thousand Oaks, CA: SAGE Publications.
38.
SavickasM.NotaL.RossierJ.DauwalderJ. P.DuarteM. E.GuichardJ. (2009). Life designing: A paradigm for career construction in the 21st century. Journal of Vocational Behaviour, 75(3), 239–250. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.jvb.2009.04.004
39.
SchiebingerL. (2010). Gender, Science and Technology. Paris. UNESCO.
40.
ShieldsS. A.DiciccoE. C. (2011). The Social Psychology of Sex and Gender: From Gender Differences to Doing Gender. Psychology of Women Quarterly, 35(3), 491–499.
41.
ShyamsunderA.CarterN. M. (2014). High potentials under high pressure in India’s technology sector. New York, NY: Catalyst
42.
SuperD. (1990). A life-span, life-space approach to career development. In BrownD. (Ed.), Career choice and development, (n.p.). San Francisco: Jossey-Bass Publishers
43.
SuperD. E. (1957). The psychology of careers; an introduction to vocational development. Oxford, England: Harper & Bros.
44.
ValachL.YoungR. A.LynamM. J. (2002). Action theory. A primer for applied research in the social sciences. Westport, CT: Praeger.
45.
ValenducG. (2011) Not a Job for Life? Women’s Progression, Conversion, and Dropout in ICT Professions. International Journal of Gender, Science, and Technology, 3(2).
WiseA. L.MillwardJ. (2005). The experiences of voluntary career change in 30-somethings and implications for guidance. Career Development International, 10(5), 400–417.
