Women’s Job Search Competence: A Question of Motivation, Behavior, or Gender

Abstract

We examined motivation and behaviors in women’s active job search in Spain and the gender gap in this process. The current crisis in Spain and the increase in the number of unemployed people have revealed new inequalities that particularly affect women’s employability, especially the most vulnerable women. This paper addresses two exploratory studies: the first study analyzes gender differences in the active job search using a sample of 236 Spanish participants; the second study explores the heterogeneity and diversity of unemployed women in a sample of 235 Spanish women. To analyze the active job search, the respondents were invited to write open-ended responses to questions about their job search behaviors and complete some questionnaires about their motivation for their active job search. The content analysis and quantitative results showed no significant differences in motivational attributes, but there were significant gender differences in the job search behavior (e.g., geographical mobility). Moreover, the results showed heterogeneity in unemployed women by educational level and family responsibilities. The asynchronies observed in a neoliberal context reveal the reproduction of social roles, social-labor vulnerability, and a gender gap. Thus, women’s behavior is an interface between employment and family work, but not their motivations or aspirations. Our results can have positive implications for labor gender equality by identifying indicators of effectiveness in training programs for women’s job search, and it can contribute to designing intervention empowerment policies for women.

Employability Appraisal Scale (EAS): Development and Validation in a Spanish Sample

“…Although previous research proposed its multidimensionality with specific personal factors (e.g., González-Romá et al, 2018 ), our results also provide empirical evidence about social elements to improve employability. In doing so, our study adds new knowledge to the literature on employability by presenting a model that includes it as a set of both personal resources (“employability capital,” Peeters et al, 2017 ) and contextual factors (“gender gap,” Llinares et al, 2018 ) at the same point in time.…”

Conductas y actitudes que determinan la duración del desempleo: influencia en desempleados mayores de 45 años de la Región de Murcia, España

“…Esto se observa claramente en mujeres en los tramos de edad más avanzados que en muchas ocasiones, aunque quieran trabajar, se ven abocadas a tareas domésticas relacionados con el cuidado de personas (Neumark, Burn & Button, 2015). Se observa con claridad que su permanencia en desempleo es mucho más larga que la de los varones: cuando estos alcanzan el 50% de inserción, el 65% de las mujeres siguen desempleadas, extendiendo en el tiempo su situación de vulnerabilidad (Llinares, González, Córdoba, & Zacarés, 2018) centrado su atención en la población general o en los jóvenes en proceso de transición a la vida activa (Aramburu, 1998;Hodkinson, Sparkes, & Hodkinson, 2013). Al contrario que los jóvenes, los mayores de 45 años son normalmente personas con experiencia que conocen el mercado laboral.…”

Spanish Women Making Risky Decisions in the Social Domain: The Mediating Role of Femininity and Fear of Negative Evaluation

“…Those who hold such traditional beliefs continue to associate women with being primary caregivers and men with being primary family providers (Eagly and Steffen, 1984;Eagly and Wood, 2016). In this way, gender roles maintain the hegemony of patriarchy and justify the subordination of women (Ellemers, 2018), obstructing their personal and professional development (Craig and Mullan, 2011;Llinares-Insa et al, 2018). Hence, women are the main group affected by this patriarchal system in which gender roles limit their behavior and therefore interfere with their full progress and well-being.…”