Women’s Academic and Professional Services Careers

In this chapter we examine women’s career values, attitudes, mobility, attempts to manage their careers and career outcomes. We assess the implications for individual women and for HE managers. The women in this study generally sought job moves for career reasons, not for domestic reasons. Those with family responsibilities were more successful and satisfied than others, even though the experience of work interfering with home life undermined satisfaction. Academics made more attempts to self-manage careers than professional services participants did. This was a factor in securing desired job moves, which in turn led to significant increases in career satisfaction. Line manager support and a consultative and developmental work culture fostered career development and a desire to stay with the current employer. Career satisfaction was moderately high and increased slightly over time, but paradoxically, it decreased substantially with increasing age. Implications for women include not being shy about applying for desired job moves, being active career managers (especially professional services) and ensuring that taking on additional responsibilities is rewarded. HE managers should focus on fostering a consultative and developmental work culture and recognise that having caring responsibilities does not mean a lack of interest in career development.