Context of Career Decisions: Women Reared in a Rural Community

Abstract

This study investigated the influences on the career decisions of women who grew up in a rural community. Forty women were interviewed who graduated in the upper 10% of their high school classes in the 1950s, '60s, '70s, and '80s. The results are described in three components: gender role beliefs, factors, and contexts. Gender role beliefs were the most pervasive influences found. Other factors were (a) information, (b) meeting others' expectations, (c) barriers, (d) sense of empowerment, (e) conditions of work, and (f) personal values. The participants were also affected by their social and historical contexts and their development stages.Little research has examined the rural community as a context of women's career choice. Most ofthe research on women's career development has studied women from urban areas (), few included the factor of rural upbringing in their analysis. Fitzgerald and Betz (1994) noted the disproportionate focus of career theory and research on White, middle-class, heterosexual individuals and their inattention to the effects of structural and cultural factors on vocational behavior. The rural community provides a different set of structural and cultural factors than does the more commonly studied urban community. Information about rural influences will help clarify the role of context in the career development and choice processes of women. Thus, this study identified influences on Mary E.

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