Conceptualising Women<U+0080>́<U+0099>s Working Lives Moving the Boundaries of Discourse

Theoretical work on the career development of women has travelled a journey from critique to creation. Early work responded to and criticised a literature that focused on theorising male roles in a workplace that was conceptualised as providing vertical career paths primarily for middle class males. More recently theorists are creating new constructions and frameworks to enable a more holistic understanding of career, applicable to both women and men. These constructions include broadening the discussion from women ́ s careers to women ́ s working lives. This is the fifth book in the Sense Publishers Career Development Series. It features the vibrant work of contributors from around the world writing in the field of women ́ s working lives. It emphasises the need to explore theoretical connections and understandings in order to facilitate a more holistic and inclusive understanding of women ́ s working lives. The writers in the current volume acknowledge the changing roles of women, in both public and private spheres. Women ́ s roles in paid work are changing both in their nature and type of engagement. In addition, with an ageing population, women ́ s roles in care work are increasingly being extended from child care to aged care. This book provides a history of theorising about women's careers, in addition to presenting a focus on current empirical and theoretical work which contributes to understandings of women's working lives. It ́ s contributions both map the current discourse and challenge future work to extend the boundaries of that discourse Front Matter....Pages i-vi Front Matter....Pages 1-1 Understanding Women’s Working Lives....Pages 3-21 Expanding the Discourse....Pages 23-49 A Relational Cultural Paradigm as a Theoretical Backdrop for Considering Women’s Work....Pages 51-62 Patterns and Paradoxes in Women’s Careers....Pages 63-79 Front Matter....Pages 81-81 Workable Solutions....Pages 83-103 Midlife Career Transitions for Women....Pages 105-117 Women’s Careers....Pages 118-133 Front Matter....Pages 135-135 A Social Constructionist Perspective of Women’s Career Development....Pages 137-155 Australian Women in the Academy....Pages 157-173 Women’s Aspirations Towards “STEM” Careers....Pages 175-191 Changing the Discourse of Women’s Work....Pages 193-202 Back Matter....Pages 203-204