A common question within gender and politics (and one that is
worth discussing) is whether or not society and self-perceived familial
obligations influence women to cater their career aspirations to work around a
family. What role does a woman’s expectations of her responsibilities to a
future family have on her working expectations? I believe women greatly weigh
their career aspirations on their household ambitions and the responsibilities
that will come with those. Freedman found that in studying family and career
aspirations of college-aged women, career commitment and career value were two
measures that were found to be more important to “achieved” women (those who
found identity through psychosocial exploration rather than through the status
quo) (FREEDMAN, B. A. (1987). Ego Identity Status And The Family
And Career Priorities Of College Women (Order
No. 8718347). Available from ProQuest Dissertations & Theses Full Text;
ProQuest Dissertations & Theses Global. (303483196). Retrieved from
http://search.proquest.com/docview/303483196?accountid=4488). From this,
we may conclude that women that fall into the tradition role expectations of
women (like perhaps in the LDS culture, where the importance of families in
emphasized) will be less likely to find career commitment and value as
important as other things- like a family, perhaps. I conducted semi-structured interviews with 4
male and 5 female students—all unmarried. These students varied slightly in
religion (7 Mormons, 1 non-religious, 1 non-denomination Christian) and widely
in university studies. The following questions were asked to all participants:
1.
What is your year in school and major?
2.
What are your plans after you graduate?
3.
What is your career aspiration and why?
4.
What is your ideal work/family life balance
for the future? Do you have one?
5.
What compensation do you hope to receive from
your first job (pay, time off, benefits, etc.)?
6.
What obligations at home or in your future
family do you feel you’ll have after graduation?
7.
How do family obligations shape your career
aspiration?
8.
Does society affect your career aspiration?
The results of the one-on-one
interviews somewhat reflected the hypothesis that women take familial responsibilities
into account when determining career goals. A few women, however, indicated
that having a family had little effect on their career choices. This may be
explained by a study done by Nicole Lynn Kangas in which she found young women
usually do not give family and career life balance much thought, and often think
that they can “do it all.” (Kangas, N. L.
(2011). Forming
families and careers: The effects of family size, first birth timing, and early
family aspirations on U.S. women's mental health, labor force participation,
and career choices (Order
No. 3486029). Available from GenderWatch; ProQuest Dissertations & Theses
Full Text; ProQuest Dissertations & Theses Global. (907104817). Retrieved
from http://search.proquest.com.erl.lib.byu.edu/docview/907104817?accountid=4488)
Out of all the women I interviewed, all had post-graduation plans to work
before having children—there were no participants that aspired to stay home. For
each woman, they aspired to work flexible jobs that would allow them to care
for children as well. Only one woman (the non-religious participant) reported
that motherhood, to her, was not a priority in her life, and her career would
chronologically come first. The other women stated that their responsibility within
the home was to raise children, so they had to at least somewhat adapt their
career goals to those responsibilities. The overall message from the female
interviewees was that although working is a goal, that goal will be sacrificed
if needed, in order to fulfill the responsibility of being mother.
All of the male respondents explained
that their perceived primary responsibility in their future families is to
provide. To each of them, this meant making a good amount of money (many
reported they hope to make hundreds of thousands of dollars annually) while
also being able to spend time at home helping their future children and wife. Each
male respondent plans on attending additional schooling after their
undergraduate, while only half of the women reported wanting to do so.
Interestingly, only one woman admitted
to having been influenced by society when it comes to choosing a career. This
respondent explained by saying, “Society makes achieving career aspirations
harder; I hear, ‘You cannot have your career and be a mother.’ After hearing it
so often, it starts to affect you.” Contrastingly, every male respondent told
me they had, in some way, be influenced by society in choosing a career path.
Most felt pressure to have a high-paying, “titled” jobs (lawyer, businessman,
doctor, etc.) in order to provide for their families and follow the promptings
of society. In analyzing the career choices of the women, only two aspired to
high-paying, prestigious careers: an optometrist and a lawyer (compared to the
men’s results of one politician, two lawyers, and two one businessman). It is
very likely that the lack of women’s aspiration to reach high-ranking
professional status has to do with their perceived responsibility to have a
family—raising children leaves far less time to spend in an office reaching the
highest ranks.
The interview results
coincide with what we have discussed in class regarding gender socialization,
at least for the males. Men often feel pressure to achieve high-status
professions and make large amounts of money—no man in the interview expressed
pressure to stay at home and care for kids, and only a couple of the
interviewees expressed interest in sharing parental responsibilities with their
wives. The aspirations of the women who participated in the interview reflect
the unequal representation of women in many, traditionally male-dominated
fields. A big factor for women not participating in demanding professions is
their commitment to their families. Finally, the results of the interviews
align with the information discussed in class about childcare and housework.
While a few women expressed a responsibility to be a homemaker (cooking,
cleaning, and childcare), no men did.
Although the findings of these
interviews suggest a woman and her career may have detrimental effects on the
family, that conclusion may not necessarily prove true. Lackey found that in
comparing self-perceptions of family life between families with working mothers
and families with non-working mothers, there was no difference in the quality
of family life. (LACKEY, B. C. (1981). Perceptions Of The Quality Of
Family Life Of Career Women And Their Families And Non-career Women And Their
Families (Order No. 8127507).
Available from ProQuest Dissertations & Theses Full Text; ProQuest
Dissertations & Theses Global. (303207495). Retrieved from
http://search.proquest.com/docview/303207495?accountid=4488). Maybe it is not
the amount of time mothers spend with their children, but the quality of the
time spent with their children. Other factors, such as communication and family
support could be far more valuable to children than just the mere presence of a
parent. Many factors contribute to women in professional fields (or the lack
thereof), but if we can determine that working women do not have a detrimental
effect on their families, perhaps the fear of being unfair to familial responsibilities
could be diminished and female representation in male-dominated fields will
increase.
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