Career Planning for Women

Paper Summary:

In this article, the writer discusses that for the woman who chooses to pursue a career, managing that career means making choices not only about which path to follow at work, but also how to structure one's life and relate to one's goals of family, children, marriage and home. The writer points out that highly talented, ambitious women face enormous hurdles when attempting to achieve success in a traditionally male field of employment. The writer further notes that work as career, and achievement defined as climbing to the top of the corporate pyramid are viewed as attributes of a quintessentially male world. The writer concludes that career development for a woman presents issues that are absent from the same kinds of career choices made by most men. Further, the writer notes that a woman's choices are often determined by powerful social and cultural forces that shape her decisions.

From the Paper:

"Yet it is not only the women at the top end of the career spectrum who are faced with these pressures to conform to traditional stereotypes. Those pursuing career paths that require less education and training are just as much the victims of societal attitudes that may cause them to accept less-than-fulfilling positions, at lesser rates of pay, and with fewer chances for advancement. Married women, or women with living with men, regularly find their own career choices limited by those of the men with whom they live. These limitations are not directly the result of any discriminatory practices, or indicative of a pattern of giving preferential treatment to the husband, rather they are the result of the fact that the man still tends to be the higher earner in the household. It is for this reason that a couple, or a couple with children, will more easily decide to relocate for the sake of the man's career, rather than for the sake of the woman's."

Sample of Sources Used:

• Anderson, Karrin Vasby, et al. "Conversation and Commentary." Women's Studies in Communication 27.1 (2004): 88+.
• Bizzari, Janice C. "An Intergenerational Study of Three Gifted Women: Obstacles and Challenges Confronting Women of High Potential." Roeper Review 21.2 (1998): 110.
• Brown, Duane. "The Role of Work and Cultural Values in Occupational Choice, Satisfaction, and Success: A Theoretical Statement." Journal of Counseling and Development 80.1 (2002): 48+.
• Joan Mendelson, Sue Freeman. Corporate Women and Social Change Corporate Women and Social Change. Amherst : University of Massachusetts Press, 1990.
• Johnson, Monica Kirkpatrick, and Jeylan T. Mortimer. "3 Career Choice and Development from a Sociological Perspective." Career Choice and Development. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass, 2002. 37-69.

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