career barriers

Women in Management ReviewCareer barriers and the older woman managerLeonie Still Wendy Timms

Article information:To cite this document:Leonie Still Wendy Timms, (1998),"Career barriers and the older woman manager", Women in Management Review, Vol. 13Iss 4 pp. 143 - 155Permanent link to this document:http://dx.doi.org/10.1108/09649429810219754

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Users who downloaded this article also downloaded:Maureen Woodd, (2000),"The move towards a different career pattern: are women better prepared than men for a moderncareer?", Career Development International, Vol. 5 Iss 2 pp. 99-105Maureen Woodd, (1999),"The move towards a different career pattern: are women better prepared than men for a moderncareer?", Women in Management Review, Vol. 14 Iss 1 pp. 21-28Sherry E. Sullivan, Lisa Mainiero, (2007),"Women's Kaleidoscope Careers: A New Framework for Examining Women'sStress Across the Lifespan", Research in Occupational Stress and Well-being, Vol. 6 pp. 205-238

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Introduction

The removal of the age retirement barrier inAustralia has led to expectations that moreand more older workers will remain in theworkforce past the usual retirement age of 65.Women make up an increasing proportion ofolder workers, and Patrickson and Hartmann(1996) and Hartmann (1997) have found thatmany Australian women are planning not toretire in order to improve their retirementincome.

An important section of the older workersgroup are the managerial and professionalwomen, aged in their 50s, who are part of thefirst generation of women to have long-termcareers like men, i.e. full-time careersextending over 25 years, with few if any careerinterruptions, and with a record of successfulachievement.

Little research has been directed at thisolder career age group in Australia. Previousinvestigations have been more concerned withthe myths surrounding older workers(Bennington and Tharenou, 1996), theirproductivity (Pickersgill et al., 1996), theimpact of retirement on older women (Onyxand Benton, 1995; Onyx and Watkins, 1996;Patrickson and Hartmann, 1996) or howchanging work availability and other factorsinfluences the extent to which older workerswant to, are able to, and actually do work orretire (Hartmann, 1997). The careers of olderwomen per se have not attracted muchattention, let alone aspects of theirexperiences.

This is not to say that older women havebeen totally ignored. Popular descriptions ofadult life, such as those of Sheehy (1995;1997) and Levinson and Levinson (1996),include women in mid-life, but only up toaround age 50, while career developmentmodels, such as the White et al. (1992)version, or those in related fields (Poole andLangan-Fox, 1997), struggle to incorporatewomens interrupted career patterns and theircurrent-day longevity in employment. It hasbeen left to popular collections of interviewswith high-profile women, such as Bowen(1995) and Mitchell (1994; 1996) to portrayaspects of the ageing career woman. However,few studies have delved in depth into thecareers and lives of women, especially man-agerial and professional women, over 50.

Given the general ageing of the workforce,this group is an important segment of the

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Women in Management ReviewVolume 13 Number 4 1998 pp. 143155 MCB University Press ISSN 0964-9425

Career barriers and theolder woman manager

Leonie Still andWendy Timms

The authorsLeonie Still is a Professorial Fellow in the GraduateSchool of Management, University of Western Australia.Wendy Timms is an Associate Lecturer-PostgraduateTutor, Centre for Aboriginal Studies, Curtin University ofTechnology, Western Australia.

AbstractFollowing the removal of the age retirement barrier inAustralia, it is expected that more older workers willremain in the workforce beyond the age of 65. Animportant segment of this older workforce is the manager-ial and professional woman, aged in her 50s and part ofthe first generation of women to have had a long-termcareer. This paper reports on an investigation into thecareer and life decisions of 33 such women in Perth,Western Australia. The research looked at issues such ascareer histories and future work goals; impact of ageingprocess on career achievement, and retirement plans, andalso examined the implications of barriers facing the oldercareer woman. The research identified five related careerbarriers and goes on to examine the management andorganisational implications of these barriers. The need tofurther develop career development models to include thevarying circumstances and experiences of older womenemployees is also discussed.

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labour market. As their importance willalmost certainly increase, it is important thatresearchers, policymakers and others come toan understanding of the factors that shape thelabour-force decisions and experiences ofthese individuals (Weaver, 1994). At presentthere is no single theoretical perspective toinform researchers about this group. Insteadinsights into some of the issues affecting themhave been drawn from the biological and mid-life experiences of women, feministperspectives on older women, andsociological impressions of the impact of thesewomens social history and socialisation (Stilland Timms, 1997). However, there are twoadditional perspectives which do give sometheoretical substance to this group and theirviews are now examined.

Theoretical background

The two theoretical perspectives helping toinform researchers on older career womenconcern the meaning of work in olderwomens lives, and career developmenttheory.

One of the most significant social changesin the postwar period has been the growingcentrality of work in the lives of women(Dinnerstein, 1992; Levinson and Levinson,1996). Research in the 1970s reported thatwomens work not only provided women withincome, associations and relationships, butalso influenced their lifestyles and goals andprovided feelings of accomplishment (Klung-ness and Donovan, 1987). Recent researchconfirms that work is particularly meaningfulfor educated women with careers (Levinsonand Levinson, 1996; Reeves and Darville,1994), although work may have differentmeaning for career women than in does formen with careers (Holahan, 1994). Burke andMcKeen (1994) reported that women whomanaged to develop their careers along con-ventional male paths accrued greater financialrewards and career satisfaction than womenwhose careers were characterised byinterruptions. Levinson and Levinson (1996)went further by describing career women asfollowing a contemporary myth in which thehero was a woman. This corresponds withSinclairs (1994, p. 15) discovery thatexecutive men were on a Ulysses-like journey:full of grand-scale trials of endurance andtests of strength the modern day equivalentof the heroic quest. It is thus now recognised

that work is just as important for women as itis for men.

Berquist et al. (1993) describe the differ-ences in the shifts in the meaning of work formen and women over the age of 50. Althoughthey concede that many people are burnt outand bored by the time they reach this age, theauthors describe a positive scenario for pro-fessional women. They argue that men mayexperience growing dissatisfaction with theircareers as their informal leadership andinfluence at work begins to decline as theygrow older. However, Berquist et al. proposethat older women, who have made a sloweradvance as a result of career interruptions,may be poised to enter a phase of their work-ing life where their influence begins toincrease. Similarly, Patrickson and Hartmann(1996) report that working women over 50have stronger commitment to their work thanmale counterparts who they found to beprimarily motivated by financial factors toremain at work.

London and Greller (1991) describe themeaning of work in mid-life as a dynamicprocess with both positive and negative out-comes. They conclude that the nature of thejob, or personal capacities at work, were notprincipal determinants of attitudes. Ratherthe issue of how employees feel about theirwork is influenced largely by how they feelabout themselves. In turn, employees feelingsabout themselves are influenced by how theircolleagues and co-workers regard them.Hence, negative stereotyping of older workerscan have a big impact on an older workersself-concept (London, 1993).

Although it appears that work brings posi-tive dimensions to the lives of career women,it is equally true that careers can have have anambigous impact (Levinson and Levinson,1996; Still, 1993). For instance, not manysuccessful senior women executives aremarried, while evidence also exists that theysuffer the same stress-related health problemsand difficulties in maintaining relaxing leisurepursuits as their male counterparts (Davidsonand Cooper, 1986). Interestingly, there hasbeen little research into the possible implica-tions of these factors on the lives and attitudesof women who have been in the workforce formost of their adult life.

Career development theory is anotherperspective which informs research into thecareers of older workers. Supers (1957)original classic career stage perspective

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Career barriers and the older woman manager

Leonie Still and Wendy Timms

Women in Management Review

Volume 13 Number 4 1998 143155

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proposed that people experience four differ-ent psychological stages (level of interest,satisfaction, motivation and commitment) asthey progress through their careers. A careerstage was determined by a personsperceptions and circumstances in relation totheir career, with age as a secondary deter-minant (Smart and Allen-Ankins, 1995).Super also proposed four career stages in hismodel: (1) exploration; (2) establishment; (3) maintenance; and (4) disengagement.

Each of these had certain psychological tasks.This model was later expanded by peoplesuch as Hall (1976) who proposed a life-cycletheory, a more dynamic view of the careerstages, which recognised that career stagesreflect and interact with an individuals life,past, present and future (White et al., 1992,p. 12).

However, while these models assistedthinking for some time, their applicability toprofessional women is now being questionedgiven that they were modelled on menscareers and lives and research has found thatcareer development for women is differentfrom, and more complex than, that of men(Ackerman, 1990; Levinson & Levinson,1996; White et al., 1992; Young, 1992). Forinstance, Holahan (1994) found that bothprofessional and non-professional womenhave complex goal systems which shape theirinteraction between work and family, result-ing in women pursuing different career pathsto men. That is, women undertake careerpaths which will more easily accommodateinterruptions and a change in focus. Smith(1994) agrees, stating that there are emergingsigns of post-traditional family tracks devel-oping as both men and women seek an alter-native course of career development whichaccommodates the demands of children anddual-career families.

Using Supers model, Smart and Allen-Ankins (1995) found that men and womenshare similar patterns and attitudes during thefirst two stages of their working life theexploration and establishment stages. How-ever, womens attitudes towards their workdiminishes during the maintenance and dis-engagement stages, while mens continues toincrease. Single women are significantly moreinvolved with their careers than married

women during the third and fourth stages, butthere are no differences between married andsingle men. The study also found that thekind of job or occupational level has less effecton the attitudes of women than the attitudesof men. Finally, Ornstein and Isabella (1990),also testing Supers model, found thatbecause women do not generally adhere to thetraditional model of career development, theirattitudes, satisfaction and commitment totheir working life are determined by age ratherthan where they happen to be in their givencareer path.

Need for further research

While these findings are interesting, and addto knowledge about the career experiences ofolder workers, it is obvious that much stillneeds to be learnt about this particular agecohort. For instance, not only is there noholistic examination of their life and careerexperiences, but each experience itself eithercareer or life is not fully understood. Toassist in overcoming this deficiency, the studyreported below examined the career and lifedecisions of a group of managerial and profes-sional women in their 50s. The research wasnot concerned with the entire life structure,but only one snapshot of it in particular, themeaning of work in older career womens livesas they approached the retirement phase. Italso examined a number of related issues,such as family situation, financial position andhealth indicators. The purpose was to add toknowledge to assist the development of a lifeperspective of older women, particularly thosewith a career focus. As already mentionedthere are few holistic portrayals of older careerwomen, mainly because the informationregarding experiences in the latter stages ofcareers is still evolving. The results of thisstudy should assist in developing a multi-dimensional view of this group and openpathways for the examination of younger andolder cohorts of women with extendedcareers.

The study

MethodologyA total of 33 managerial and professionalwomen working in the central business andmetropolitan area of Perth, Western Australia,participated in the study by way of either anindividual interview or through a focus group

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discussion. All had responded to a series ofadvertisements which had been placed in TheWest Australian daily newspaper and thenewsletter of the Women in Management Inter-est Group of the Australian Institute of Manage-ment (W.A. Division). Following contact withthe researchers office, the intending partici-pants completed a questionnaire which askedquestions of their background and workexperience. Approximately 20 women werenot selected for interview because they didnot meet the studys criteria of age, worklongevity and relatively uninterrupted careerpatterns. The 33 managerial and professionalwomen who did meet the criteria were eachinterviewed once.

The interview covered a number ofdimensions of older career womens lives: inparticular: their career histories, current motivations

and future work goals; family goals and situation (for instance,

care of dependent children or adults); educational goals; current life patterns; health indicators; financial position and security; partners retirement, if relevant; impact of ageing process on career achieve-

ment and feminine characteristics; ultimate life goals when the career was no

longer possible; and retirement plans.

While the prime emphasis was on the career,and the significance of this to the woman, theother dimensions of a womans life wereincluded not only to provide a holistic view ofthe woman but also to assess the juxtapositionof the career to these other factors.

Because women are now emulating menscareers in their long-term sense, the inclusionof the pre-retirement aspect of womenscareers was a deliberate part of the study.Seeing that many women now have continu-ous career histories of more than 30 years, itwas important to gain a greater understandingof what this phase meant to women (Perkins,1995). An assumption is often made thatbecause women have had career interruptionsfor family purposes, they will be less career-oriented than men and will more easily makethe transition from work to other pursuitsbecause of their home-based duties. Thisstudy also tested this notion because theparticipants were long-term careerists and did

not fit the conventional and stereotypicalmodel of women at work.

For the purposes of this article, however,only the career aspects of the interview areconsidered, and not the other dimensions ofthe womens lives.

Profile of the participantsThe participants were spread evenly through-out the 50 to 59 years age range. The majoritywere married, with children usually morethan one child. Some 22 per cent of the groupwere either single or divorced. Ten per centhad never married.

A quarter were responsible for a depen-dent, either a child (or children) still living athome, or an adult such as a spouse or anelderly parent(s).

All the women worked full-time in either amanagerial or a professional capacity. Theiraverage continuous participation in the work-force was 32.5 years, although 10 per cent hada work history of over 40 years. Some 40 percent had commenced work before the age of17; one-fifth did not comence work until theywere 21.

Only 3 per cent had an uninterrupted workhistory. Of the remainder, 25 per cent had lessthan two years absence. The majority hadabsences of between three to six years. Thelongest career break amongst the participantswas ten years. The career breaks, in order ofpriority, were for raising children, travel, study,and disruptions caused by husbands jobs.

Some 66 per cent had a university educa-tion, while 48 per cent held a post-graduatequalification. Presently 15 per cent wereundertaking further education, includingdoctoral studies.

Approximately 75 per cent of the groupwere employed in the public service. A featureof career opportunities for women in Perth.Over half were employed in traditionalfemale occupations such as health, educationand welfare. The others were distributed inprofessional and corporate services, publicadministration, sales and marketing andinformation services and technology. Only 16per cent had had experience of being a boardmember, but most had had past or presentprofessional involvements such as member-ship of an executive committee.

Definitional issuesFor the purposes of the research a career wasdefined as an ordered sequence of

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development extending over a period of yearsand introducing progessively moreresponsible roles within an occupation (Dex,1987).

Underlying this definition is the assump-tion of linear upward progression that is, acontinuous movement from a position ofrelatively low status, responsibility andremuneration to a higher position. The imageis usually one of climbing a career ladder,an image which assumes the centrality of paidwork. While there have been recent challengesto this rather limited concept of a career(Allred et al., 1996; Arthur and Rousseau,1996; Brousseau et al., 1996; Hall, 1996), itremains the normative standard for judgingcareer progress in most organisations (Onyxand Benton, 1995).

Career development was conceptualised in abroader context, entailing a successive andsystematic sequence of attitudes andbehaviours associated with work-relatedexperiences, which acknowledges theindividuals personal life, over the entire spanof the life cycle (White et al., 1992, p. 13).

Mid-life for this research was defined asbeing between 50 and 60 even though theliterature uses other terminology such asmiddle adulthood.

Results

The meaning of work in mid-lifeThe interviews revealed that managerial andprofessional women presently in their 50sgrew up in a period when motherhood andmarriage were represented as crucial aspectsof a womans social identity (Friedan, 1963).Consequently, the womens career historiesare a reflection of their particular time andsocial conditioning. In fact, career womenfrom this generation could be said to beperched between two worlds (Dinnerstein,1992).

Most of the women in the study followedtheir own interests in terms of theiremployment. In common with many otherolder women whose lives were not totallyunder their control because of marriage andchild-rearing, they tended to have randomcareers (Ellis and Wheeler, 1991; Still, 1990;White et al., 1992). As such their workhistories constituted a series of jobs whichprovided varying levels of fulfilment ratherthan a series of linear or vertical positions withstrategic career objectives. Not one of the

group conformed to Levinson and Levinsons(1996) rather singular description of careerwomen as people in pursuit of the heroicquest of success, fame and achievement.

The interviews also revealed that, unlikeyounger women managers, older careerwomen were rarely motivated to pursue careeradvancement simply for advancement sake.Instead, career advancement and aspirationswere described in terms of taking up opportu-nities to widen interests and scope ofexperiences. The women appeared willing toforgo greater financial rewards andprofessional status in order to maintain aquality of life and satisfaction in their work. Infact, they fitted neatly into the maintenancestage of White et als., (1992) model of thecareers of successful women. This stagedescribes the career aspirations of women intheir 50s as being of continued personalgrowth and expansion, and success andconsolidation.

Following this maintenance theme, anumber of the women saw their career in mid-life as providing a lifestyle or a path topersonal development. However, there wasalso some evidence that the willingness tomake career decisions based on personalfulfilment alone was tempered by age.Interestingly, the older career women who stillharboured particular career ambitions seemeduncomfortable with the notion that theirpersonal identity and their careers werelinked, although this is a feature of males andtheir careers (Still, 1993). However, so centralwas work to the self-esteem of some of thewomen participants that it appeared to theresearchers that they may experiencedifficulty in making the transition from workto retirement.

None of the women had developed oradhered to any concrete career plans. Becausethey had to continually negotiate the linkagesbetween personal and professional lives, theircareer paths had not been confined to conven-tional vertical movements. Moreover, thegroup had only made significant career shiftswhen prompted primarily by changingcircumstances such as divorce or immigra-tion. Most attributed their advancement andsuccess to luck, chance, or accident; in fact,the majority felt they had exceeded their owncareer expectations. Some of the women werealso clearly unsatisfied with their present workand were therefore experiencing a lack ofdirection in their careers. The 50s also

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seemed to be a time for questionning previouschoices.

However, while their careers did not seemto take the form of a heroic quest, it wasobvious that work was important in the lifeand psyche of these women. Although nonehad reached the ultimate in terms of a careerpinnacle, few were considering retirement.Instead, most expected to keep on working, ifonly for financial reasons. What did emergefrom the interviews was that older womenfaced a number of constraints on theircareers. Given that the cohort in this studyhad been working for more than 25 years, thiswas a surprising and unexpected result. Theconstraints impacted the centrality of work tothese women, as well as their careerdevelopment.

Constraints on the careers of olderwomenThe conflict that exists between the domesticresponsibilities of women and the demands ofa professional career has long been identifiedas a major barrier to womens career develop-ment. A substantive body of literature hasdetailed how child-rearing, child-bearing andthe associated stereotypes of workingmothers have thwarted the advances ofwomen in management and especially tosenior management (Davidson and Burke,1994; Davidson and Cooper, 1984; Gutekand Larwood, 1987; Swiss and Walker, 1993;White et al., 1992). However, most of thisliterature has concerned the younger womanmanager or those endeavouring to break intomanagement. The experiences and attitudesof older career women in relation to thisbarrier have rarely been documented, letalone been the subject of interest.

In the absence of evidence on the lives,attitudes and experiences of older careerwomen, a number of stereotypes have pre-vailed. The traditional stereotypes of olderwomen were centred on the domestic sphere.Now as the present generation of careerwomen pass through mid-life, a new stereo-type is emerging one which portrays oldercareer women as being finally able to enjoy thefruits of their labour in the public sphere.Older career women, now devoid of domesticresponsibilities, are seen as being able topursue their career aspirations andprofessional pursuits unhampered. In fact, thedeparture of children from the household isassumed to coincide with the period in which

older women can both enjoy and achieve apeak in their professional careers (Karp,1987). When juxtaposed with stereotypes ofnon-career women struggling with theempty-nest syndrome, it would appear thatolder career women face a bright and fulfillingfuture.

These emerging depictions of older careerwomen are underpinned by the premise thatthe barriers which thwarted the careeradvance of younger women are no longerrelevant to the career development orprofessional experiences of older women.Numerous personal testimonies of womendescribe an increase in confidence andassurance as they age (Bowen, 1995; Scutt,1993). Accounts of their life-long experiencein the workforce, professional success andgrowing personal confidence suggest or implythat older women are well equipped to dealsuccessfully with the corporate culture andnorms which younger women must stillnegotiate.

However, this study reveals that theexperiences of older career women are morecomplex than those contained in presentaccounts, and suggest that there is consider-able room for further research into the careerdevelopment and satisfaction of older careerwomen. In fact, there is little evidence tosuggest that barriers to the career develop-ment of women diminish as they age. Whilethey may enjoy a higher level of occupationalstatus as a result of their career longevity, theenduring effects of structural and culturalbarriers still impact the careers of olderwomen. Similarly, while their personalcircumstances may change, career women stillhave to continue to negotiate the conflictingdemands of their work and professional lives.This research thus identified five related areasor factors which older career women mustcontend with:

The male culture and gender discrimination atworkIn this era of gender equality and theenormous social change that has occurredover the past 20 years, it seems paradoxical toreflect on male culture and gender discrimina-tion at work in relation to older career women.Yet, the interviews revealed that these issuesstill persist even for them. The approach ofolder career women, however, is different insome respects to younger women who haveyet to experience the issues to any significant

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degree. Older career women have beensuccessful in negotiating the realities of thegender politics of their work environment otherwise they would not be where they aretoday. However, what did become clear in theinterviews is that they are now less motivatedto continue following the rules of the gender-political game that such success requires.There was much talk of opting out andstarting their own businesses to escape thenuances of the working environment. Thewomen also revealed widespread frustrationwith the daily experiences of the male culturein the workforce and the isolation that it canentail for managerial and professional women.The older career women clearly felt the effectsof the male culture on their working lives andtheir continued exclusion from networks andmentoring opportunities. Indeed, theirfrustration of having to put up with itappears to have been compounded over time.

Moreover, because the women were so fewin number, in both their occupational leveland their age group, the notion that they werean aberration within the organisation wasperpetuated. Despite their long experience inthe workforce, the gender barriers had notdiminished for these women and were morelikely to be strengthened with the advent ofseniority. The territorial instincts of malecolleagues were still in play, as was resentmentof male colleagues towards any woman whogained promotion.

Despite their long experience in the work-force, the women were unable to present asolution to the following enduring issues: exclusion through language, networking

and mentoring; not being taken seriously at work or in

meetings; being surpassed by a less qualified male for

promotion despite having acted in theparticular role; and

the clash of values between how womenwish to operate in the work environmentand that of the male-dominated culture.

The fact that they were so few and so isolatedalso made it difficult to alter situations. Themale culture which dominated the organisa-tions in which these women worked appearedto remain undisturbed despite the advent ofwomen into the workforce and in manage-ment and the professions.

The nature of their working lives: past and presentAs already mentioned, most of this sample ofolder career women were satisfied with theirlevel of occupational attainment which hadgenerally exceeded their expectations. How-ever, a number considered that they had notreached their full potential and that they werecurrently disadvantaged because their careerpaths had been long, often indirect, and notnecessarily entailing formal qualifications.Few felt that they had it all despite the factthat they would be considered to be success-ful by external observers. Instead, manyfound themselves having to constantly com-promise in order to maintain some semblanceof balance or quality of life, while othersrecognised the price they were paying fortheir careers in terms of being owned bodyand soul and working long hours with littletime for a private or social life.

Those who worked in organisations whichwere either being restructured or downsizedwere naturally fearful or uncertain about theirremaining years in the workforce. While thesame type of fears were being experienced bytheir male counterparts, the older careerwoman felt she suffered from a doubledisadvantage: not only was she now too old(the pressures of the younger generationcoming behind were acutely felt), but theremaining jobs in the changing environmentappeared to be earmarked for men or theyounger generation.

The older career women in this study thusfelt constrained by their past decisions andlives (often governed by social conditions ofthe time), and the dynamics of the currentworking environment which were impactingboth men and women (and also a social andeconomic timing position).

AgeismMany stereotypes and myths surround olderemployees. These include being harder totrain, being less productive and flexible withhigher rates of absenteeism, and not beingseen to be as committed to their profession orcareer as younger workers (Bennington andTharenou, 1996). Perkins (1992) contendsthat ageism is inextricably linked to sexism.The double-standards embedded withinageist stereotypes are well known. Becausewomens social identities are tied to theiryouthful beauty and child bearing roles, theyinevitably suffer more negative stereotypesthan men who are not generally stripped of

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their social power and masculinity until muchlater in life (Friedan, 1993; Wolf, 1990).

Some participants in the study believedthat age posed no barrier to either their careeror their future. The women who expressedthese views were either undertaking doctoralstudies or seeking a new professionaldirection. However, most participants wereconscious of age discrimination or the lessthan favourable feelings of others towardstheir physical and chronological ageing. Asalready mentioned the women felt thepressure of the younger generation. Onewoman had responded to this by lowering herage by ten years when she went for promotioninterviews. The remainder stated that theywere experiencing lack of consultation abouttheir future, being asked by their workcolleagues when they were going to retire orenter a retirement home, and being passedover for jobs and not being granted interviewsfor vacant positions although they met thecriteria. Others found themselves strugglingwith their own preconceptions about age, withsome now finding it difficult to take action orto be decisive (...if I was ten years younger Id befighting tooth and nail to get that directors job,but at the moment I dont know that I really wantto do that).

Being in the 50s age group thus appearedto represent a set of complex decisions andrationalisations for these older career women.In fact the interviews revealed that the 50-agecohort could be generally divided into twogroups. While there is some danger ofsimplifying the issues being worked throughand resolved in pin-pointing a particular age,there was an apparent cleavage between thosepre-55 and those post-55. Those in their early50s were reasonably optimistic about theirfuture (there is still time); those in their late50s were more pessimistic (I have to thinkabout what I am going to do with the rest ofmy life). The older group were more awareof retirement, the pressures upon them fromthe workplace and the general community,and whether or not they could still plan afuture. Some had actively begun to wind-down their professional and businessactivities, while others faced the emergingnew element in a womans life: the seconddouble-burden.

The second double-burdenForty years ago, women who cared for elderlyrelatives rarely participated in the workforce

over an extended period of time. Today,older career women are faced with a seconddouble burden which involves negotiatingthe demands of a career in which they haveinvested many years of their lives with the careof an elderly relative (in some cases, serial careof relatives). To date there has been littleinterest in the manner in which the care-giverrole impacts upon the working lives andcareers of older career women, althoughKing (1994, p. 31) notes that increased lifeexpectancy can mean that mid-life womenhave a range of caring roles spanningtheir grandchildren to their owngrandparents.

A number of women in the study hadalready either experienced the second dou-ble-burden (in some cases, the serial care oftheir own and their spouses relatives), or werecurrently in the phase. Their caretakerresponsibilities were not limited to the home.Often they involved visiting a series ofnursing homes, either early in the morning orlate in the afternoon/evening. Thusalternative arrangements for accommodationand care did not resolve the burden for thewomen.

Most of the women affected by thissituation were containing their career aspira-tions because of the caretaker role. They feltcompelled to make the choice between theircareer and their other responsibilities. Thus,similarly to young working mothers, the oldercareer women were facing dilemmasassociated with these choices. They wereaware that they would have to pass-up careeropportunities during this caring period, andthat it would be difficult to reactivate thecareer again as they would be older when thecaring ceased. Many of the women hadfaced two periods of constraint to theircareers: (1) when they reared their children; and (2) when they undertook the care of elderly

relatives.

The study also revealed some new forms ofcare. With changing economic and socialconditions, some participants were facedwith the return of adult children to thehome (most expecting to be looked aftersimilarly to when they were young), whilestill others were facing the worries associat-ed with dependent unemployed children orstep-children. Contrary to the expectationthat older career women could pursue their

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own interests and aspirations now that they were in their 50s, most participantswere facing a renewed demand for theirnurturing abilities thus negating previousassumptions of researchers such as Karp(1987).

The study thus found the older careerwoman to be caught up in a new socialrevolution just as she was facing her owndilemmas regarding the mid-life process,her future career prospects and herresponses to the ageing process andretirement.

Negotiating the personal and professional:careers and relationships in conflictRetirement of a spouse can provide greaterflexibility in the womans attempts to jugglethe double burden, and the interviewsrevealed that many retired husbands hadassumed greater responsibility for house-hold chores for the women in the study.

However, the picture of domestic harmo-ny was not always so accommodating anduncomplicated. Participants married tomen who were either younger or older thanthem revealed traces of potential conflict oruncertainty in relation to the compatibilitybetween their retirement aspirations/inten-tions and those of their spouse. It was alsoapparent that the choices, experiences andconcerns of husbands impacted on thecircumstances under which the womenwere assessing their own careers and aspira-tions. Other married participants wereaffected by the mid-life experiences of theirhusbands, while unmarried older careerwomen also experienced conflict betweentheir professional aspirations and theirpersonal relationships.

The study revealed, then, that this groupof older career women still endured the fullgamut of personal and professional rela-tionships, many of which were also faced inearlier stages of their careers. Because oftheir societal role, the constant re-negotiat-ing of many of these relationships andconstraints placed the women under con-siderable stress just at a time when theywere having to negotiate their own life and career transitions.

It seems, then, from these experiencesthat older career women may face enduringevents, thus placing them in a position tostill be considered as pioneers and rolemodels to the younger generation.

Management and organisationalimplications

The findings of this study hold a number of management and organisational implica-tions for managers and professionals in thefield.

First, and despite the myths surroundingolder workers, the career still has an impor-tant part to play in the identity of the oldercareer woman. While this study only looked atolder women in their 50s, it is reasonable toassume that the same holds for their malecounterparts. Although some older womenwere considering winding-down theircareer activities, much of this decision-making was influenced by other events in theirlives (such as a husbands retirement or caringresponsibilities) rather than a desire of theirown. Few of the women exhibited any of thetraits usually associated with older workers,such as being harder to train and being lessproductive (Bennington and Tharenou,1996). Neither did any woman in the studydisplay a sense of what Levinson and Levin-son (1996) call psychological retirementwhere job performance is minimallyadequate, employees do most of what isrequired, but they are not engaged in thework. The 33 managerial and professionalwomen also shattered the myth that womenwere only in the workforce to earn pin-money or to service their other interests. Acareer was a concept firmly embedded in theirself-identity even if their careers had notnecessarily been as conventional as those ofmen. Some of the study participants weregoing to have the same transition difficultiesas men when they retired, while others wouldbe left with a thwarted sense of what mighthave been given different circumstances.The study thus indicates that careers, as aconcept and as a measure of self-worth, arejust as important to women as to men andhold the same social and psychologicalramifications as they near retirement. Thisfinding holds implications for organisationsespecially in terms of career and retirementcouselling.

Second, the study found only one woman(who was in self-employment) who intendedto work past 65. Since the removal of the agediscrimination barrier, Australian organisa-tions have been concerned that older workerswill remain in their jobs thus impeding thepromotion and career opportunities for

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younger employees. Instead, the women inthis study were planning to retire by age 62.Although the career was important to them,they wanted to have the freedom to investigateother activities and interests before it wastoo late. However, their decisions couldalter as they approached the 60s given thatfew had made appropriate superannuationarrangements. While this was not their fault,given the previous superannuationconstraints on women, the impact was onlybeginning to be realised as governmentbegan to change the criteria for eligibility forthe old age pension. Hence, more womenmay ultimately decide to remain in the work-force to improve their longer-term financialsituation. This holds implications for organi-sations, but suggests that part-time work orjob-sharing arrangements for older workersmay be appropriate remedies to benefit bothindividual and organisation. Organisationsalso need to re-consider remuneration andsuperannuation arrangements iffinancial security is going to be the mainmotivator for older people continuing in theworkforce.

Third, as employees grow older the issueof ageism will become just as important anissue as equal opportunity and racism haveover the past few decades. This study hasshown that ageism is alive and well inAustralian workplaces. Organisations willneed to implement workplace proceduresand practices to counterbalance this devel-oping trend. If action is not taken, then thereare likely to be large numbers of discrimina-tion cases with resulting penalties againstoffending employers.

Fourth, and related to ageism, the studyhas shown that gender issues still pertain toolder career women just as they do toyounger women. Despite more than twodecades of equal opportunity and affirmativeaction, systemic discrimination is stillembedded in the workplace (Still, 1997),and is also directed towards older careerwomen. The study provided evidence that anumber of women had suffered from thisform of discrimination. It also revealed thatolder career women had less tolerance forcoping with the male managerial culture andwere looking for options, such as self-employment, that would provide escapefrom its enduring effects. These findingshold implications for organisations as theycould be faced with newer types of

discrimination cases as career women age.Moreover, if they wish to avoid losing well-trained women employees at a time whenthey are at their most productive (a featurealready recognised in many Australianorganisations (Still, 1997)), then they shouldconsider introducing education programmesto either moderate or limit the all-pervadingeffects of the male managerial culture ontheir women employees.

Fifth, and again related to ageism, careneeds to be taken in selection and promotiondecisions, given that the working populationas a whole is generally growing older. Thefact that a number of older career women areapparently being passed over for opportuni-ties needs to be monitored, especially if theemployee is working satisfactorily and canstill make a contribution. Not only areorganisations being indifferent to the talentsand skills of their older employees, but theyare also not capitalising on the loyalty andcommitment provided by these employees.While it is recognised that younger employ-ees must be considered, and that organisa-tions have generally been undergoing mas-sive restructuring and downsizing, olderemployees are still a part of the workforceand need just as careful consideration astheir younger counterparts.

Finally, the matter of elder care is loomingas a major organisational and humanresource issue in the future. While womenemployees will bear the brunt of this emerg-ing social condition, male employees willalso be affected given the numbers of womenwho contract Alheizmers and other suchdiseases. It cannot be assumed, then, thatwomen will always be the carers. Organisa-tions will need to become more flexible intheir employment arrangements to enableemployees, both male and female, to managetheir work and other responsibilities. Whilepart-time work will assist in this phase,organisations should consider the introduc-tion of other innovative programmes andworking arrangements. Although the tradi-tional form of hierarchical organisation isunder threat (Allred et al., 1996; Arthur andRousseau, 1996), and part-time work is onthe rise, sufficient core businesses willremain to make such a suggestion a viableproposition. The advent of the older worker,and their growing number, thus heraldssignificant social, cultural and organisationalchanges for organisations.

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Implications for career developmenttheory

Apart from the above, the study also holdsimplications for career development theories.As already mentioned, many models arebased on mens life and work experiences,with only a few attempting to incorporatewomens varying life experiences (White et al.,1992). This study reveals that older careerwomen can inject further differentiation intosuch models. Not only are some womenwanting to work, but others wish to retireearly or enter another phase of employment(such as self-employment), while still othershave their careers truncated by elder-care.Where models do recognise the differentiationcaused by womens varying life experiences,they usually concentrate on the youngercareer woman and her career breaks forchildbearing and childrearing. Thereafter,they tend to assume that womens careerdevelopment follows a similar path to that ofmen. This study has assisted to dissolve thisassumption by highlighting the need for suchmodels to incorporate the varying lifeexperiences of both men and womenemployees at various stages of the career life-cycle. Without such inclusion, the modelswill remain unidimensional and unrepresenta-tive of the intermeshing of career and lifeexperiences of employees and be oflimited value to researchers and practionersalike.

Conclusion

The results of this rather limited study ofolder managerial and professional women hasprovided sufficient evidence to cast doubt onsome of the myths and stereotypes surround-ing older employees. Not only has it revealedthat work is still a central feature of the oldercareer womans life, but it has also illustratedthat older women still face significant careerbarriers despite being more than 25 years inthe workforce. These barriers hold import fororganisations and management given thegeneral ageing of the population and theworkforce.

In addition, the study reveals that olderworkers may not necessarily work past theonce normal retirement age of 65, as theyrealise that there are other activities andinterests to pursue. This finding also holdsimport for those organisations and

managements who have been concernedabout an ageing workforce and the lack ofcareer opportunities for younger employees.

However, what is perhaps the most signifi-cant finding of this study is the realisation thata holistic examination of employees lives andcareers can add significant new knowledge(such as career barriers) to an understandingof the career life cycle and career developmentof employees. Further studies should adopt asimilar holistic examination of other agecohorts in order to further enhance an under-standing of the attitudes and motivations ofthe workforce generally, thereby leading toimproved employee relations and workplaceconditions for all employees.

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