Communications of the ACM
Do Women Place Less Importance on Their Careers Than Men? Professor Rebuts Misconceptions
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There is a pre-existing assumption that women place less importance on their careers than men. A new study by an Ithaca College professor challenges this assumption by evaluating how much men and women consider their careers a central part of their identity.
"Are Women Less Career Centric Than Men? Structure, Culture and Career Investments," by Stephen Sweet, analyzes data collected from employees in 11 countries to determine if gender differences in career centrality — the importance of one's career to personal identity — exist, and examines how those differences relate to professional demands, gender role beliefs, and cultural expectations. The research is published in the Journal of Community, Work & Family. Co-authors are Natalia Sarkisian, Christina Matz-Costa, and Marcie Pitt-Catsouphes of Boston College.
A recognized expert on the intersections between work, family, and community, Sweet is an associate professor and chair of the Department of Sociology and a visiting scholar at the Sloan Center on Aging and Work at Boston College.
Structural Forces
To determine if the gender gap in career centrality is affected by specific circumstances, the researchers examined structural forces such as job demands, working conditions, hours worked, degree of job security, nature and variety of tasks performed, and access to flexible work options. They also looked into worker's family caregiving responsibilities.
Sweet's team also examined cultural explanations to determine how traditional gender assumptions about the unique skills of women and men might lead to identity differences, including those that relate to the importance of a career to one's identity.
The results revealed more similarities than differences between women and men in respect to career centrality.
The researchers' analysis revealed many findings that rebut the misconception that the importance of one's career differs between men and women. The findings determined:
- For both men and women, the role of a family member or caregiver does not come at a cost to the investment in a work identity;
- Because women are more likely to occupy lower quality jobs, they are more likely to have lower career centrality;
- Traditional gender beliefs lead both men and women to be less career centric, but the impact is stronger for women.
The findings reveal that gender differences in career-centric values are likely related to both structural and cultural factors. Sweet argues that if women had the same opportunities as men to enter high quality jobs, they would likely invest their identities in careers in a comparable manner.
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