ABSTRACT
The levels and patterns of women’s participation in the workforce have undergone substantial change over the last forty years, with women now constituting a significant presence in the workforce in most western countries. For example, in the United States (Fitzgerald and Harmon 2001) and in Australia (Australian Bureau of Statistics 2002), women constitute more than one half of the paid workforce. This demographic change represents a situation that is far removed from that when Osipow (1975: 3) proffered his analysis that ‘(T)he . . . basic assumption was that men had careers and women (did) not’. This view is reflected in a comment on the state of vocational psychology made by Tyler (1967: 62) which highlights the inadequacy of much thinking in relation to women’s career development; ‘Much of what we know about the stages through which an individual passes as he prepares to find his place in the world of work might appropriately be labelled the vocational development of white middle class males’ (original italics). While the literature generally remains in conflict on the nature and development of women’s careers, the previous two decades has seen a significant increase in theoretical and empirical work. This chapter will explore current definitions and present a brief background on issues relevant to understanding women’s career behaviour. It will explore theoretical and empirical work which strives to assert a socially just place for women in the career literature and within the world of work. Finally it will discuss implications of the status of our knowledge on career practice.
