Opting out and opting in: understanding the complexities of women's career transitions

Abstract

Purpose -This study aims to explore the reasons why women are leaving the workplace. Are they opting out of the workforce to stay at home with their children as current media reports suggest, or are the reasons more complex as the Kaleidoscope Career Model (KCM) suggests? A second objective is to examine whether or not women's primary career motives change over time as predicted by the KCM. Lastly, the potential barriers or boundaries faced by women pursuing boundaryless careers will be identified. Design/methodology/approach -A survey was sent to 2,000 randomly selected women graduates of an international business school located in the USA. The response rate was 25 percent, or 497 women. Findings -The results revealed that 47 percent of the women surveyed had stopped working at some point in their career. Numerous reasons were cited for leaving. Only 35 percent of the women who stopped working cited rearing children as their sole reason for opting out. Sixty-two percent of the women reported that their career focus had changed. In line with the KCM predictions, mid-career women were most interested in finding balance in their lives and the desire for authenticity increased across the lifespan. Finally, 70 percent of the women who left eventually returned to work, debunking the myth that women opt out and do not return to the workforce. Our findings show that there are barriers that make it difficult to move across organizations, especially if time is taken off between jobs. Research limitations/implications -All of the respondents in this study have a graduate degree in international business; thus, the results may have limited generalizability to other populations. Nonetheless, this study provides valuable data that helps us to better understand the complexities of women's career paths. Originality/value -This study makes contributions to two different areas of career theory. First, it provides one of the first empirical tests of the KCM. In addition to showing that women are leaving companies for more complex reasons than for family reasons alone, it also shows that women's primary career motives shift over time in the manner predicted by the KCM. Second, the study contributes to the literature on boundaryless careers by showing that there are in fact barriers or boundaries faced by women attempting to pursue careers across organizations.

Career conversations in coaching: the contribution that career theory can make to coaching practice

“…This encompasses the twin ideas of push and pull factors, as individuals are motivated both to leave their current role and to embark on a new path. This combination has been noted elsewhere in the literature, for example by Carless and Arnup (2010) in their study of career changers and by Cabrera (2007) in her exploration of women's career transitions. This dual force is seen in the stories of the participants of these studies too, as participants in all three studies were motivated to make the change by a combination of the awareness of a positive alternative (selfemployment, a scientific career in industry or the careers profession) and the impetus of poor working conditions or a mismatch between the individuals' interests and values and those of their workplace.…”

The expectations and aspirations of a late-career professional woman

“…However, women have a disproportionate responsibility for both child and elder care (Cabrera, 2007). The trends of having children later and elderly relatives living longer, as Flora demonstrates, mean these caring responsibilities may continue into late career (and beyond) and the blurred work/life boundaries of mid-career (Ford and Collinson, 2011) may also persist.…”

“…Growth in female employment in the professional and managerial fields has been substantial (Cabrera, 2007) and women now routinely continue in their careers into their 50s and beyond. Yet little is known about their late-career phase (Armstrong-Stassen and Cameron, 2005;August, 2011).…”

“…Flora experiences these tensions as she seeks to care for her child, step-grandchildren and elderly parents. As she notes, work structures have not adapted sufficiently to allow professional women in this stage to balance these responsibilities (Cabrera, 2007). Jyrkinen and McKie (2012) demonstrate the ongoing gendered ageism and sexism that women encounter.…”

“…Challenge is still important to her (August, 2011) as she grapples with the potential difficulties of 'opting back in' to an organizational career. She notes the lack of female senior role models (Cabrera, 2007;Duberley et al, 2014) and weaves a compelling narrative around the double disadvantage arising from age and gender intersection (Jyrkinen and McKie, 2012). She presents retirement as a messy phase rather than a neat career ending and reflects the inevitable influence of pension provision, particularly within a fragmented career, upon the retirement decision (Duberley et al, 2014).…”