This paper places respectable femininity at the very centre of career enactment. In the accounts of 24 Sri Lankan women, notions of being a 'respectable' woman recurred as respondents described how important it was to adhere to the powerful behavioural norms for women in their organizations and society. However while such respectability was vital for women's career progression, it ultimately restricted their agency and conflicted with other requirements for advancement. Based on our empirical findings, we propose that being a respectable woman was experienced as paradox, where at times it was seen as impossible to be both a good woman and a successful careerist. We highlight the implications of our findings for women's careers in South Asia and more widely.

We draw on Bourdieu's theory of practice to examine a group of Indian academics' accounts of their careers in a research-intensive university. Using the concepts of habitus and capital, we argue that international staff are very well placed to craft a career in the increasingly market driven UK academic context, challenging the discourse of disadvantage associated with the careers of international academics as well as other highly skilled migrants. Central in our analysis is the transferability of capitals between different fields and the importance of understanding capital as part of the multiple fields that agents belong to. However, drawing attention to the changing rules of the research-intensive university system, we also suggest that these academics' career trajectory may not continue to yield positive results.

Exploring the interplay between Buddhism and career development: a study of highly skilled women workers in Sri LankaThis 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. Based on our findings, we argue that being perceived as a good Buddhist woman worked as a powerful form of career capital for the respondents in our sample, who used their faith to combat gender disadvantage in their work settings.

In this paper, we report on a qualitative study of highly skilled Sri Lankan women. Based on in-depth interviews with early, mid-and late career respondents working for public and private sector organizations in Colombo, we explore the organizational constraints that women perceive to impact their home-work harmonization, while considering what they choose to do about prevailing obstacles. The findings provide insights into the different experiences of home-work harmonization between women from the two sectors and across various career stages. The diverse strategies respondents used to manage organizational constraints are discussed and their implications are noted. Finally, the contributions these findings make to existing understandings of women's home-work dynamics in the South Asia context and more widely are highlighted.

Drawing on a rhetorical approach, this article examines how early career professional workers challenge ‘ideal worker expectations’ through informal voice. Informal ‘voice’ is shown as a powerful way of advancing workers' interests, leading to incremental changes that improve their conditions of work. Striking are the power dynamics underpinning informal voice. Highlighting how ideal worker expectations are continuously legitimised and de‐legitimised as employees and their managers rhetorically engage with each other, ideal worker expectations are theorised as a process while illuminating a pluralistic, contextualised view of organisational culture shaped by the past, present and anticipated future.

A note on versions:The version presented here may differ from the published version or, version of record, if you wish to cite this item you are advised to consult the publisher's version. Please see the 'permanent WRAP URL' above for details on accessing the published version and note that access may require a subscription. (Reid, 2015). In doing so we build on and extend the prevailing 'individualistic' assumptions in collectivistic settings. Second, we show how ideal worker expectations enabled individuals to fulfill and refine demands associated with their non-western national identity, contesting assumptions that non-western national identities are challenging or constraining in global organizations. These findings lead us to propose a reciprocal influence between ideal worker expectations in global organizations, and expectations associated with national identities.

A note on versions:The version presented here may differ from the published version or, version of record, if you wish to cite this item you are advised to consult the publisher's version. Please see the 'permanent WRAP url' above for details on accessing the published version and note that access may require a subscription.

PurposeThis paper aims to explore how highly skilled women workers in Sri Lanka navigate organizational contexts via different modes of engagement in pursuit of hierarchical advancement. The purpose is to contribute new insights into existing understandings of women's careers in diverse socio‐cultural contexts.Design/methodology/approachThis paper is based on one‐to‐one in‐depth interviews conducted with 24 Sri Lankan women in early, mid and late career.FindingsThe findings reveal how the women in this sample actively used eight modes of engagement to manage themselves in organizations and vertically advance in their careers. The implications of these modes for organizational contexts and women's careers are highlighted.Originality/valueThis paper contributes to the limited literature on women's careers in South Asia and develops existing understandings of modes of engagement individuals use to develop their careers.