Career Aspirations of Young Aboriginal Women

Abstract

This article focuses on the career aspirations of young female Aboriginal students at high school. Its aim is to contribute to a greater understanding of these clients' needs and concerns in order to be able to not only assist them with appropriate information and contacts but to help develop an awareness of relevant issues for careers advisers. It is the thesis of this article that careers advisers who liaise with both education and vocational institutions are well placed to facilitate the career decision-making process for indigenous clients. However, too little is known about their career aspirations and their concerns with respect to career. The research was based on open-ended interviews with 12 young Aboriginal women.

When higher education is possible but not desirable: Widening participation and the aspirations of Australian Indigenous school students

“…A number of studies have drawn attention to the influence of family and community in relation to the aspirations of Indigenous students (Craven et al, 2005;Gool & Patton, 1999;Parkes, McRae-Williams, & Tedmanson, 2015). However, the importance of recognising heterogeneity within Indigeneity has also been emphasised.…”

“…While there is a small body of research that specifically addresses the aspirations of Indigenous students, it mostly focuses on the secondary school level (Craven et al, 2005;Gool & Patton, 1999;Hossain, Gorman, Williams-Mozely, & Garvey, 2008;Senior & Chenhall, 2012;Sikora & Biddle, 2015). Moreover, although outreach initiatives between universities and schools (Bennett et al, 2015;Kinnane, Wilks, Wilson, Hughes, & Thomas, 2014;Shah & Widin, 2010) and mentoring programs such as the Australian Indigenous Mentoring Experience (Harwood, McMahon, O'Shea, Bodkin-Andrews, & Priestly, 2015;O'Shea, Harwood, Kervin, & Humphry, 2013) are critical mechanisms to inform and solidify aspirations as well as facilitate access to higher education for Indigenous students, a recent review of such initiatives found that these are often focused on students at the later stages of schooling (Bennett et al, 2015).…”

Mothers and sportsmen: The gendered and racialised nature of role model selection for Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander youths

“…This favouring of mothers as role models, consistent with other studies, may be due to the important role mothers have in the lives of their children as carers and supporters (Bricheno & Thornton, 2007). Additionally, women's relatives are recognised amongst Indigenous people as being the “backbone of the family” and necessary figures for girls who require “strong female role models” (Sophia & Patton, 1999). Furthermore, Mothers and women family members generally portray traditional feminine characteristics (i.e., nurturing, caring and giving), which girls tend to be socialised to be drawn to admire and adopt (Biskup & Pfister, 1999; Drury et al., 2011; Sophia & Patton, 1999).…”

“…Additionally, women's relatives are recognised amongst Indigenous people as being the “backbone of the family” and necessary figures for girls who require “strong female role models” (Sophia & Patton, 1999). Furthermore, Mothers and women family members generally portray traditional feminine characteristics (i.e., nurturing, caring and giving), which girls tend to be socialised to be drawn to admire and adopt (Biskup & Pfister, 1999; Drury et al., 2011; Sophia & Patton, 1999).…”