Introduction

A report by the Hansard Society[1] describeda “quiet revolution” in women’s labour forceparticipation. In the 1950s women comprisedless than one-third of the labour force, how-ever women now represent almost half of theBritish workforce. Despite the revolution inthe numbers of working women, many areblocked in their attempts to gain access tohigher occupational positions. Women aresaid to encounter a “glass ceiling” over theiraspirations which allows them to see wherethey might go but stops them from gettingthere. A symptom of the glass ceiling is thelow number of women in top jobs.

Prospects for women in the 1990sIn the late 1980s it was widely predicted thateconomic change would force British employ-ers to acknowledge that they could no longerafford not to utilize the skills of womenthroughout their working lives. There wasgrowing apprehension over what wasdescribed as the demographic time bomb.The number of young people entering theworkforce between 1988 and 1995 was pro-jected to drop by 25 per cent[2]. It was alsorecognized that the structure of employmentin Britain was changing. Employment inmanufacturing was on the decline, whileservice sector employment, in which themajority of women were located, was increas-ing. Of the 1.75 million new jobs anticipatedby 1995, one million were expected to be inprofessional and related occupations, bring-ing the proportion of the labour forceemployed in these sectors to just under 25 percent by the middle of the decade[3]. Theevolving structure of the labour market asdepicted by the employment forecasts sug-gested there would be more high level jobsavailable.

Given the large numbers of women enter-ing the labour force and the potential oppor-tunity for women to strive to reach top occu-pational positions, it seemed important tounderstand the career psychology of women.Much of the existing research on career devel-opment remains limited by outdated concep-tualizations of women at work. Theory isbased to a large extent on research whichemployed samples of white middle classmales. The generalizability of these models ofmale careers has been called into question.Scholars such as Betz and Fitzgerald[4] have

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The careerdevelopment ofsuccessful women

Barbara White

The authorBarbara White is a Lecturer in the Department ofPsychology at the University of Liverpool, Liverpool, UK.

Abstract

Reports on an investigation into the life span developmentof women who have achieved eminence within commerce,industry and public life. Presents results based on in-depthinterviews with 48 highly successful women. Investigatesthe internal dynamics of women’s careers. Derives a stagemodel of the career development of successful womenfrom an integration of data on work histories and non-work family issues. Depicts schematically the amount ofidentity invested in each life role over time and the extentof the interaction between these roles over the life span.The majority of successful women display high careercentrality, working continuously and full-time, fittingdomestic responsibilities around their work. Concludesthat women are still expected to conform to a male modelof career success.

Women in Management ReviewVolume 10 · Number 3 · 1995 · pp. 4–15© MCB University Press · ISSN 0964-9425

emphasized that the understanding ofwomen’s careers requires the acknowledg-ment that women have fundamentally differ-ent situations in developing their careers thanmen. Issues such as sex discrimination, thestructure of opportunity and the recentemphasis on equal opportunities may havealtered patterns of women’s career from thoseof men. Larwood and Gatticker[5] havecommented that women’s career developmentdoes not simply lag behind that of men, butmay proceed in a different manner. As yet,however, a clear picture of women’s careerdevelopment has yet to emerge.

Conceptualizing the careers of successfulwomenIn the light of the opportunity for women toreach positions of power and influence, itseemed appropriate to investigate the internaldynamics of women’s careers as they strive fortop jobs in the UK. One of the objectives wasto explore ways in which we might conceptu-alize the careers of successful women as theydevelop over time and life space. To achievethis objective several theoretical frameworkshave been drawn on which make a contribu-tion to our understanding of the developmen-tal tasks which women must face and thedynamics whereby they may differentiallyinvest their identity in life roles.

Much of the career development workwhich has focused on men has discussed theeffects of age and career stage on an individ-ual’s job attitudes and performance. Theassumption behind much of this work is that ifpeople do move through patterns of adjust-ment in their lives then identifying the pat-terns of issues associated with various agesand stages may help in our understanding ofindividuals’ attitudes and behaviours in orga-nizations. The question remains as to whetherthese theories enhance our understanding ofwomen’s careers.

Following a review of the literaturebetween 1989-1991, Swanson[6] suggestedthat the stage theories which had received themost attention were those of Super[7] andLevinson et al.[8]. Levinson proposed a seriesof age-related life stages, which encompassedunique activities and adjustments. He dis-cussed four life eras: childhood (0-20); earlyadulthood (20-24); middle adulthood (40-60); and late adulthood (over 60), with sub-stages in each era. Like Levinson et al., Superproposed four stages in his model of career

development: exploration, establishment,maintenance and decline. In contrast toLevinson, Super posits that these stages arenot determined by age, rather by an individ-ual’s circumstance and perceptions.

Research comparing the career develop-ment models of Levinson et al.[8] andSuper[7] has found some support for bothmodels. The Levinson model is more closelyrelated to individuals’ career decisions, whilethe Super model is more closely related toindividuals’ job attitudes[9]. In an extensionof this work, Orstein and Isabella[10] com-pared the explanatory validity of the Superand Levinson models when applied to profes-sional women. The conclusions of their worksuggested that shifting career attitudes aremore a function of age rather than psychologi-cal stage. Women’s experiences were moreclosely aligned to how old they were thanwhere they were in their career, thus lendinggreater support to the Levinson model.

The relevance of career stagesCareers have traditionally been thought of asa meaningful progression through a series ofrelated jobs. This was expected to occur in arelatively routine manner if only because ofthe hierarchical nature of the organization.Mobility in the hierarchy is rewarded withincreased income and enhanced status. Pahland Pahl[11] noted:

Middle managers in British industry appear tobe willing slaves to the system…For them life isa hierarchy and success means moving upwards.Marking time and staying in the same position isinterpreted as dropping out.

Scase and Goffee[12] in their work on the“reluctant manager” have commented that itwas not surprising that in the past notions ofsuccess tended to be linked to age-relatedstages. If a person arrived at a particular stageearly they would feel rewarded psychological-ly, if they arrived late or got stuck then theywould experience anxiety or frustration[13].Scase and Goffee[12] go on to questionwhether the assumptions which underline thenotion of “orderly, predictable career paths”will be tenable in the 1990s. The mainassumptions which they draw attention to arethe “centrality” of careers and the notion thatprogress can be categorized neatly into age-related stages. Scase and Goffee proceed todocument the changing context of career.The combined effect of organizational decen-tralization, delayering and increased risk of

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redundancy means that individuals can nolonger assume that they will have uninterrupt-ed, life-long career paths[14]. For many,orderly careers within a large scale organiza-tion represents only one of a variety ofoptions[15].

The last decade may have brought signifi-cant changes to men’s careers but, womenhave traditionally had less orderly careersbecause they have followed their husbands’career paths, they have had family and domes-tic responsibilities and they have been subjectto male managers’ prejudice[16]. Womenhave been forced to adapt to limited opportu-nities by becoming job, rather than career-oriented, focusing on the immediate intrinsicrewards of the task rather than the long-termbenefit[16,17]. Scase and Goffee[12] suggestthat the experiences of women may becomemore typical of all workers within present dayorganizational conditions.

Although men’s careers may be changing,Larwood and Gutek[18] believe that two keyissues still divide men and women. First,women are said to feel the tug of alternativepossibilities. For instance they suggest that if awoman finds that her career has plateauedearly she may decide to give up work andbegin a family; such an option is less viable fora man. Second, although women legally haveequal opportunities, they are still discriminat-ed against. As opportunities are fewer,progress is slower which may make otheralternatives more attractive.

Based on these observations, Larwood andGutek[18] suggest that a theory of women’scareer development might be better conceptu-alized as a tree of possible alternatives, eachcombination of which has a potentially differ-ent outcome. They believe that such a con-ceptualization is preferable to an age-linkedstage theory because it overcomes problems ofincorporating timing and age. Using thenetwork idea they suggest that it might bepossible to gain a perspective on the effect oftime lags on career development in differentsituations.

The Larwood and Gutek model does,however have a serious weakness. Althoughthe network model may provide greater flexi-bility in thinking about women’s career devel-opment, it does not provide a clear set ofpredictions. The infinite number of alterna-tive options available to an individual com-bined with the lack of a clear outline of the

dynamics of the career decision-making tree,make the model impossible to test empirically.

An alternative model used to considercareer behaviour is the triple helix modelpresented by Rapoport and Rapoport[19]. Ateach turning point in the developmentalprocess, one confronts tasks that are new andspecific to that phase but simultaneously thereis an interaction with past and present experi-ence. The whole life career is made up oftransitions. In addition, there is a helix forfamily and leisure. The three helical struc-tures carry on through life each with its ownimpetus and characteristics. The triple helixmodel of each life career must be constructedon the basis of that individual’s experience.Adjustments for variables such as age whenmarried, timing of childbirth and change ofjobs must be made for each individual. Atypical helix is shown in Figure 1.

Using these conceptions of career we mayobserve whether there are any unique patternsin the configuration of the helix for successfulwomen. It is feasible that each strand will begiven primacy at different times. This wouldprove useful, particularly in representing thecareers of women, as it acknowledges thepossibility of changing importance of differentlife arenas over the life span.

The dynamics of career commitmentThe process of investment in work or familyroles is poorly understood and most researchhas been descriptive rather than theoreti-cal[20,21]. Therefore, an attempt has beenmade to build on existing theory to develop atentative model of women’s career commit-ment.

Hall[13] has defined career commitment as“the motivation to work in a career role”. Thisdefinition is also reflected in Farmer’s[22]work on career and achievement motivation.Farmer proposed that the construct of careerand achievement motivation could be brokendown into three components. Mastery,defined as the tendency to choose difficulttasks and to persevere in the face of problems;aspirations, defined as the level of educationor occupation to which one aspires and;career centrality, defined as the extent towhich one sees involvement in career as cen-tral to one’s adult life. Farmer has suggestedthat the three motivational factors are interde-pendent but exactly how they interact is notclear. She employed quantitative measures ofthe concepts and attempted to test the rela-

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The career development of successful women

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tionships statistically. The current researchtook a very different qualitative approach.Drawing on theory related to mastery, aspira-tion and career centrality, an attempt has beenmade to speculate on the possible relationshipbetween the components of career andachievement motivation (see Figure 2).

A characteristic of individuals with highmastery motivation is that they are more

active in seeking opportunities to test theircompetence. They will also tend to set morechallenging goals, the achievement of which is important for their self concept. Individualswith high mastery motivation also demon-strate perseverance in the face of difficulties.

To explicate further the concept of careercentrality we have drawn on Hall’s[13] theoryof sub-identities. Hall has proposed that anindividual’s identity can be conceptualized asconsisting of several sub-identities represent-ing various aspects of the individual engagedwhen behaving in different social roles. Thecareer sub-identity is defined as that aspect ofthe person’s identity which is engaged inworking in a given occupation (see Figure 3).

Hall has suggested that as the individualacquires competence relevant to the careerrole through the setting and achievement ofchallenging goals, he/she will experiencepsychological success which leads to sub-identity growth, or in Farmer’s[22] terms, theindividual will develop greater career centrali-ty. Therefore it would seem that the level of

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The career development of successful women

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Women in Management Review

Volume 10 · Number 3 · 1995 · 4–15

Occupational

Family

Leisure

Retirement,takes up voluntary work

Spouse takes new job,children leave home

First child arrives,gives up tennis

Takes job, joins tennis club

Enters secondary school,mother takes job

Spouse dies,joins choral group

Old age

Further promotion,joins golf club

Midlife

Marries,gets promoted

Adulthood

Leaves homegives up music

Youth

Adolescence

Enters school,takes musiclesson

Childhood

Source : [19]

Figure 1 A triple helix model of career development

• Aspirationsdetermine which goals are set

• Masteryset challenging goals

seek opportunities to test competence,persevere in the face of difficulty

Increased competence,career sub-identity growth/

greater career centrality

Figure 2 A tentative model of the relationship betweenthe three components of career and achievement motivation

career centrality is determined partially by thelevel of mastery motivation directed towardsthe career role.

A link with other theoriesThe distinction between short-term and long-term achievement motivation may be used toexplain the process of sub-identity growth.Long-term motivation is usually associatedwith career motivation and short-term moti-vation with the motivation to master atask[23]. Short-term motivation could beequated with mastery motivation. If this isdirected towards a career task it could provideaccomplishment information which wouldenhance the individual’s belief in their abilityto perform in the career role. This belief or

sense of psychological success bears strongresemblance to Bandura’s[24] concept of self-efficacy. Bandura suggests that self-efficacywill determine the behaviour one selects andone’s persistence at a task. Therefore, career-related self-efficacy may be raised through themedium of mastery motivation. This in turnincreases the probability of continued careermotivation and investment in the career role.Whether the individual directs his/her mas-tery motivation towards their career will to acertain extent be dictated by their aspirations.

Harmon and Farmer[23] have suggestedthat one of the critical issues for vocationalpsychologists is whether to begin to fill thevacuum in vocational development theoryrelated to childhood. They propose that thiswould be a worthwhile endeavour if we are toconcern ourselves with optimizing the careerdevelopment of people and to suggest inter-ventions aimed at parents and elementaryschools as well as adolescents and adults. It isnot the aim of this article to suggest interven-tions but to look at the origins of the compo-nents of career motivation and to examine theprocess of career sub-identity growth in suc-cessful women. It is hoped that inferencesmay be drawn from the findings which willhave practical applications.

Methodology

The sample was composed of 48 womenmanagers or entrepreneurs in commerce andindustry or senior members of high statusprofessions such as law and accountancy.Demonstrably successful individuals havebeen selected for investigation in accordancewith Osipow’s claim that much of the researchon the career development of women mayhave been inconclusive because it mixedrespondents of varying levels of success.

The research design was determined to alarge extent by the phenomena under investi-gation. It has to be recognized that at presentwe have no way of selecting a group of chil-dren who will generate a sample of successfulindividuals. Consequently, it was necessary todraw a sample from the population of womenwho had already achieved career success. Thefocus on women in mid-career, taking a long-term view of work and personal lives is alsoconsistent with recommendations of Levinsonet al.[8] and Valliant[25] who have empha-sized that the examination of careers that arewell under way is essential.

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Wifesub-identity

Mothersub-identity

Careersub-identity

Careerrole

Wiferole

Motherrole

Low career-involved person

Wifesub-identity

Mothersub-identity

Careersub-identity

Careerrole

Wiferole

Motherrole

High career-involved person

Source : [13]

Figure 3 Sample sub-identities of two hypothetical people: one with lowcareer involvement and one with high career involvement

The sample was established via women’sbusiness networks in different regions of thecountry. The chairperson was asked to identi-fy successful women. Owing to the diversity ofoccupations it was not possible to outlineobjective criteria of success such as salary,annual budget one controls, the number ofstaff one is responsible for or the levelachieved in the occupational hierarchy. Thedefinition of success was deliberately left openso as not to limit the sample arbitrarily.Therefore, success was peer defined, that is, acareer was seen to be successful if it was con-sidered to be so by the organizing members ofthe network.

It was decided that an investigation of thecareers of successful women would best beconducted by collecting detailed informationon a small number of women. This approachwas considered to give a greater understand-ing of the dynamics of women’s careers thancould be obtained by sophisticated quantita-tive analysis. The aim was to move beyond theanecdotal state of much of the work on suc-cessful women. A balance must be struckbetween anecdotes and survey questionnaireswhich impose an already structured percep-tion of the world based on male-centrednotions, without attempting to discover thefemale perspective.

An interview was designed to addresscareer issues across the entire life span. Ingeneral the interviews lasted approximatelyone hour although this ranged from 30 min-utes to one-and-a-half hours. The majortopics covered in the interview were as fol-lows:• Childhood. This section focused on the

qualitative nature of the parent-child rela-tions. The role of early socialization inidentity formation and its role in determin-ing career orientation was explored in somedetail. This covered factors such as identifi-cation with mother or father, parentalencouragement and achievement strivingand parental expectations. The interviewalso sought evidence of critical childhoodevents which were perceived as characterbuilding or particularly influential in devel-opmental terms.

• Personality. Need for achievement: infor-mation was sought on the pushes and pullsacting on women embarking on careersand the valence they placed on the differentoutcomes.

• Work history. The women were asked todescribe their career decision-making“story”[26]. This story included the timingof career moves and the decision-makingprocesses underlying each move. In addi-tion, the women were asked for their cur-rent definitions of a job and a career.

• Non-work – family issues. Family responsi-bilities were explored in this section. Pat-terns of occupational behaviour wereinvestigated with particular attention givento the timing of marriage and childbirth.The priority placed on family and workissues was explored and the changes inthese priorities over time.

Results and discussion

The development of an age-linked stagemodel of the careers of successful womenThe analysis of the career decision-makingstory was combined with issues concerningthe integration of work and family life toproduce an age-linked stage model ofwomen’s career development (see Table I).The model of the career development ofsuccessful women is based largely on thecareer paths of the younger women in thesample. Only five of the successful womenhad taken career breaks, the mean length ofwhich was 9.4 years. These women wereamong the older members of the sample, theiraverage age being 56 years. The older womenin the sample were described as having anunconventional career pattern. These womenhad a series of challenging jobs with no logicalpattern. Their employment was interspersedwith periods of child rearing and voluntarywork.

The results suggested that no matter whattheir occupation, the successful womenpassed through specific life stages. Thenature, duration and exact timing of certainlife events differed, but certain developmentaltasks appeared to be predictable. Certainissues did appear to emerge in chronologicalorder and the mean age of women dealingwith this developmental task is given. Duringage-related stages particular developmentalvocational issues were confronted as theindividual dealt with critical concerns aboutthe self, their careers and their relationshipswith others. The ages associated with thestages are best perceived as being very flexi-ble. Further research is required to test thevalidity of this age-linked structure.

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It should be pointed out that the model ofcareer development of successful womenbears strong resemblance to the career stagesdescribed by Levinson et al.[8], althoughLevinson’s model was based on interviewswith 40 men. This was not thought to beentirely surprising, given that these womenhad succeeded in a world of business which isstructured to accommodate male lives. Likethe men interviewed by Levinson, the suc-cessful women experienced periods of stabili-ty followed by periods of questioning andchange. The main points of departure fromthe Levinson model relate to the timing ofrelationship and family events.

An outline of the modelEarly career development Analysis of work histories showed that overhalf of the successful women made a latecommitment to their careers or had no coher-

ent direction in their early working lives. Asmall number of women felt that the com-mencement of their careers had been delayedby family issues. This finding provides partialsupport for the proposal put forward byAdams[27] that forging a vocational identitymay be more complex for women owing to theneed to integrate both family and career roles.It would seem that for a large proportion ofsuccessful women the process of occupationalidentity formation is protracted, and womenmay experience an extended period of identitydiffusion.

The integration of multiple roles did notpresent a problem for some of the successfulwomen in the early stages of their careers whohad made an early commitment to their work-ing lives. Of the sample, 31 per cent decidedat an early age that they would always workand entered on the bottom rung of theirchosen occupation. A very small number ofwomen became entrepreneurs at an earlystage.

Early-30s transitionA common pattern among the women was towait until their career was well establishedbefore contemplating a family. A number ofthe women in the sample were going throughthis period of contemplation; the mean age ofthis group was 33 years. This transitionalperiod was followed by a decision to have achild and to take minimum maternity leave,or to remain childless.

Settling down – late-30s transitionFollowing approximately four years of renewedcommitment to their careers, the womenentered another transitional phase. Somewomen who had decided to remain childlessbegan to express regrets about their decision.The women who decided to have children intheir early 30s began to feel the strain of careerand family conflict. The conflict was oftenresolved by a change of organization or bybecoming self-employed. It was often duringthis period of transition that the successfulwomen encountered the “glass ceiling”described in the Hansard Society Report[1].These women made outspiralling moves,changing organization to gain promotion.

Achievement and maintenanceThe resolution of issues in the late-30s transi-tion leads to a period of achievement andrebalancing. During this stage, childlesswomen rationalize their decision not to have

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Table I A stage model of the careers of successful women

Early adult transition: 17-25 years (exploration)Early commitment to an occupationTesting of initial choices about preferences for livingIdentify diffusion caused by role conflictEntering the adult world: mid-20s (crystallization and implementation)Development of sense of personal identity in relation to work and

non-workRejection of the housewife role/separation from partner, resulting in

growth of career sub-identity among late startersHigh career centrality among early starters (go-getters)Seek opportunities to practise chosen occupation/professionEstablishment: 25-33 yearsPeriod of rapid learning and developmentEstablishing a reputation as a high achieverEarly-30s transition: 33-5 yearsRaised awareness of biological clock – decision whether to have childrenSettling down: 35 years (advancement)Decision about motherhood resolvedMinimum maternity leaveStrive towards the achievement of personal goalsLate-30s transition: 38-40 yearsRegret lack of childrenFamily-career conflictMove in response to glass ceilingAchievement: 40-50 years (rebalancing)Resolution of career-family conflictRationalize decision not to have childrenRealization of personal goalsDevelop greater stability and consolidate achievements to dateMaintenance: 50s onwardsContinued growth and successCycle of expansion and consolidation

children, stating that they could not haveachieved their current success if they hadchildren. This change of attitude may beexplained in terms of Festinger’s[28] conceptof cognitive dissonance. Dissonance is createdin the late-30s transition because women startto feel that the sacrifices they have made weretoo great. Dissonance theory suggests thatpeople are motivated to reduce this inconsis-tency in cognitions, therefore, women beginto place greater importance on their careerachievements. These women are convincedthat for them career and family are mutuallyexclusive. The average age of this group was46.8 years.

Having reached the achievement stage, thewomen enter a maintenance stage. No evi-dence of further periods of transition wasobserved. The women nearing retirementwere still involved in their work, althoughsome women mentioned that they workedfewer hours, which might be viewed as thebeginning of a decline stage. Due to the smallnumber of women in this age group, it was notpossible to draw any conclusions on thedynamics of the decline stage.

The development of career and achievement motivation in successfulwomenOne of the key themes which emerged in theinterviews with the successful women wastheir strength of commitment to their careers.This was clearly evident in the definitions ofcareers given by the successful women, inwhich they described career as an integral partof their lives and as part of their identity, asone of the successful women commented:

A job is a way of life for me, it’s the thing which Ispend most of my time doing. I think that jobsare inter-linked with your personality and withpersonal ambitions. I didn’t look at a job as away of making money.

The origins of mastery motivationMastery motivation is reflected in the tenden-cy of an individual to choose difficult, chal-lenging tasks and to keep struggling to masterthis task once started. Howard[29] claims thatmastery motivation may be associated withwhat humanists have described as growthneeds[30]. She believes that such needs aremore likely to be fulfilled through work.Domestic tasks are said to offer some avenuesfor self-expression but the range of possibili-ties is greater among external occupations.

Farmer[22] has suggested that masterymotivation is established during childhood.The findings on the childhood experiences ofhigh flyers would suggest that childhood doesplay an important role in the development ofmastery motivation. When asked about thequality of the parent-child relationship 30 percent of the women in the sample said that theyhad a stable and close relationship with theirparents. They said that their parents promot-ed autonomy and achievement. This patternof parenting has been linked with achieve-ment striving and independence in femalechildren in earlier research[31]. What wasmore surprising was that 23 per cent, of thewomen described their relationship with theparents as remote and another 21 per centsaid that they had a particularly poor relation-ship with their mother. This pattern of hostilemother-daughter relationships has beenobserved in other studies of successfulwomen[32,33].

This experience of early trauma or dissoci-ation of self from parents is hypothesized toplay a role in identity development[34]. Bothsexes begin life dependent on themother[35,36]. Therefore, the primary iden-tification is with the mother. A boy mustseparate his identity from the mother andidentify with a more remote father. As a resulta sense of separateness is developed. Identityis said to be derived by differentiating selffrom others in terms of abilities and attribut-es. Self-assessment is in terms of achieve-ments and mastery over the environment.This provides a clear link with mastery moti-vation.

A girl’s identity remains connected to themother. Identity is said to be defined in termsof relationships with others. Self-assessment isin terms of connection to others, e.g. helpingand supporting others. This form of identity isless likely to engender high mastery motiva-tion, rather it is associated more logically withneed for affiliation. The poor mother-daugh-ter relationship among the successful womenmay have facilitated the separation of self.The development of a separate sense of selfenables the individual to differentiate self interms of abilities and attributes. This separateform of identity is likely to generate a highmastery motivation.

Origins of career centralityCareer centrality, defined as the extent towhich the individual sees involvement in a

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career as central to their adult life, has beenlinked with the concept of sub-identities.Hall[13] has proposed that as the individualacquires information about competencerelevant to career role through setting andachieving challenging goals will experiencegrowth of their career sub-identity or inFarmer’s[22] terminology they will havegreater career centrality. The successfulwomen described several sources of compe-tence information:

Early challengeAlmost all of the successful women were ableto identify a significant event or turning pointwhich they felt had made an impact on theircareers. Thirty per cent said that they hadbeen given a challenge early in their careerswhich had given them the opportunity toprove their abilities. These women describedthis experience as being thrown in at the deepend and managing to stay afloat. Copingsuccessfully with this challenge was claimed tohave raised self-confidence which lead thewomen to seek further challenge.

Male high flyers also recounted memoriesof make-or-break experiences where theywere given little outside support. All of theMDs in the high flyers study coped success-fully but, what happens to those who do notremains unknown[37].

Other key events in the careers of success-ful women included achieving senior corpo-rate positions at a very young age, or in situa-tions where the level of seniority was previous-ly unknown for a woman. Nine of the womenin the sample said that they had been respon-sible for the success of a new venture ofexpanding an existing business. They hadbeen in charge of the developmental processwhich had laid the foundations for futureexpansion. As women acquire evidence oftheir competence they experience psychologi-cal success which leads to growth of the careersub-identity.

MentorsSeveral of the women credited open-mindedbosses for giving them the opportunity todemonstrate their abilities and for having faithin their competence regardless of gender. Thisfinding coincides with an earlier well knownstudy of female managers by Hennig andJardim[17] which showed that the femalemanagers had mentors who helped them todevelop confidence to take on extra responsi-bilities and to test new competences. Only

12.5 per cent of the current sample said thatthey had not had a mentor. The large majorityfelt that their success could in part be attrib-uted to another person.

Previous research has shown that the bene-fits of mentoring fall into two categories,psychosocial and career (Arnold and Davidson[38]). Both classes of benefits werementioned by the successful women. Thirty-eight per cent said that their confidence hadbeen raised because their mentor had faith intheir ability and they had reinforced this faithby encouragement and support. Arnold andDavidson[38] found similar numbers ofwomen in their sample believed the mainbenefit of mentoring was building self-confi-dence. This was less important to the males intheir sample, only 20 per cent of whom feltthat this was the main benefit of mentoring.Therefore, the results of the current studylend support to Arnold and Davidson’s con-clusion that women have greater need forpsychological affirmation from mentors thanmen.

Homemaking commitmentFarmer[22] reports that homemaking com-mitment has the biggest effect on careercentrality. Low homemaking commitment issaid to be related to high career centrality.This appeared to be the case among success-ful women. Of the successful women in thesample 50 per cent claimed that work tookpriority in their lives. The centrality of work intheir lives was also reflected in their defini-tions of career. A large proportion of thewomen felt that work was an integral part oftheir lives from which they derived their iden-tity. As reflected in the late-30s transition asmall proportion made the reservation thatalthough work had always taken priority intheir lives, they were now beginning to regretit. They felt that they had missed their oppor-tunity to have children or to enjoy their chil-dren while they were young. This regret is asymptom of the work involvement escalationcycle as proof of competence leads to greaterinvestment. As Howard[29] suggests, leftunchecked, the more-work, less-family cyclecan lead to diminishing life returns. Of oursuccessful women 30 per cent said that theytried to achieve a balance, although theywould put their family first in the event of acrisis. Only 20 per cent of the successfulwomen felt that their family took priority overtheir working lives.

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Balancing multiple rolesOf the successful women 50 per cent hadchildren. These women did not perceive workand family to be mutually exclusive. Some feltthat career and family were mutually enrich-ing and they felt that a stable base was impor-tant when pursuing a career. These womendid find that they did not have a lot of time tospend with their families but they suggestedthe time they did have was “quality time”.These statements suggest that work andfamily need not conflict but that the multipleroles may offer unique psychological benefits.These benefits will fulfil different needs (e.g.growth needs, security needs, the need tobelong). What appears to be important is thequality of role involvement rather then roleoccupancy per se.

The timing of career commitmentAs described in the stage model 35 per cent ofthe women were dedicated to a career from anearly age. The development of career centrali-ty was found to be delayed among otherwomen until they rejected the role of house-wife or were separated from a partner. Thecommitment to career following divorce orseparation may raise women’s awareness oftheir own needs. They may then undergo aperiod under which they redefine their identi-ty. They are forced to question their identityin relation to others i.e. their partner andfamily. It is feasible that at this point thesewomen will begin to define themselves interms of their abilities and attributes. In Gilligan’s[34] terms, separation from a part-ner may stimulate the convergence of perspec-tives of connected and separate selves.

The origins of aspirationsThe role of aspirations in the development ofcareer commitment is not clear. Farmer[22]claims that social economic status and abilitywill determine aspirations. In additionencouragement from others is said to promotehigher aspirations. The current argumentwould suggest that aspirations may be raisedas a result of the enhancement cycle wherebycompetence generates psychological successand, hence, desire for greater challenge.

Modelling the careers of successfulwomen

Rapoport and Rapoport[19] have suggestedthat an appropriate model for considering

career behaviour is a triple helix. Each strandin the helix has its own impetus and character-istics. The three structures are said to interactwith each other in two distinct ways:(1) during steady states between transitions

(the issue is balancing); and(2) at transition points (the issue is the criti-

cal impact of events).

We may conceptualize Hall’s[13] model ofsub-identities as a cross-section through thetriple helix. Although there is not a directcorrespondence in the diagrammatical repre-sentation, the thickness of the stands in thehelix may be related to the size of the sub-identity. It has been mentioned throughoutthis discussion that successful women havehigh career centrality. The timing of thegrowth of the career sub-identity variesamong the women, but the majority haveresolved the conflict and crystallized theircareer aspirations by their mid-20s. Thepoints of crossover in the helix equate to theoverlap between the sub-identities. Thesepoints of crossover correspond closely to theperiods of transition in the lives of successfulwomen.

The data derived from the current studyprovide information on only the career andfamily strands in the helical structure. Thesedata appear to confirm Rapoport andRapoport’s[19] description of the interactionbetween the two strands. The successfulwomen experienced periods of stability dur-ing which they maintained a satisfactorybalance between their work and family lives.These periods of stability are followed byperiods of questioning and change. Duringthese periods the women have a heightenedawareness of the reciprocal impact of careerand family on each other. These periods oftransition represent the main points of depar-ture from the careers of men as described byLevinson et al.[8]. The schematic representa-tion of the careers of successful women isshown in Figure 4.

Conclusion

The model of successful women’s life spandevelopment showed that the majority ofsuccessful women displayed high career cen-trality. These women worked continuouslyand full-time, fitting their domestic responsi-bilities around work or choosing to remainchildless. Continuous full-time employment

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appears to be a prerequisite for career success.These findings suggest that if we are toachieve “genuine equality in all aspects of life”then change is required in the prevailingstereotype of a successful career. We wouldagree with Hirsh and Jackson[39] who havesuggested that careers should be accommo-dated around the reality of women’s livesallowing them to make a meaningful investment in both occupational and familyroles.

References

1 Hansard Society, The Report of the Hansard SocietyCommission on Women at the Top, Hansard Society,London, 1990.

2 Metcalf, H., Employers Response to the Decline inSchool Leavers into the 1990s, IME Report No. 172,Institute of Manpower Studies, University of Sussex,1988.

3 Institute for Employment Research, Review of theEconomy and Employment Occupational Update1988, University of Warwick, 1988.

4 Betz, N.E. and Fitzgerald, L.F., The Career Psychologyof Women, Academic Press, New York, NY, 1987.

5 Larwood, L. and Gatticker, U.E., “A comparison of thecareer paths used by successful men and women”, inGutek, B.A. and Larwood, L., Women’s Career Devel-opment, Sage, Newbury Park, CA, 1987.

6 Swanson, J.L., “Vocational behaviour, 1989-1991:life-span career development and reciprocal interac-

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7 Super, D.E., The Psychology of Careers, Harper, NewYork, NY, 1957.

8 Levinson, D., Darrow, C.N., Klein, E.B., Levinson, M.H.and Mckee, B., The Seasons in a Man’s Life, Knopf,New York, NY, 1978.

9 Orstein, S., Cron, W.L. and Slocum, J.W., “Life stageversus career stage: a comparative test of the theo-ries of Levinson and Super“, Journal of OrganizationsBehaviour, Vol. 10, 1989, pp. 117-33.

10 Orstein, S. and Isabella, L., “Age vs stage models ofcareer attitudes of women: a partial replication andextension”, Journal of Vocational Behaviour, Vol. 36,1990, pp. 1-19.

11 Pahl, J.M. and Pahl, R.E., Managers and Their Wives,Penguin, Harmondsworth, 1971.

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19 Rapoport, R. and Rapoport, R.N., “Balancing work,family and leisure: a triple helix model”, in Derr, C.B.(Ed.), Work, Family and the Career, Praeger Publish-ing, New York, NY, 1980.

20 Kingston, P.W., “Studying the work and family con-nection: a theoretical progress, ideological bias andshaky foundations for policy”, in Goldsmith, E. (Ed.),Work and Family, Sage, Newbury Park, CA, 1989.

21 Lambert, S.J., “Processing linking work and family: acritical review and research agenda”, Human Rela-tions, Vol. 43, 1990, pp. 239-57.

22 Farmer, H.S., “Model of career and achievementmotivation for women and men”, Journal of Coun-selling Psychology, Vol. 32 No. 3, 1985, pp. 363-90.

23 Harmon, L.W. and Farmer, H.S., “Current theoreticalissues in vocational psychology”, in Walsh, W.B. andOsipow, S.H. (Eds), Handbook of Vocational Psycholo-gy: Volume One, Erlbaum, Hillsdale, NJ, 1987.

24 Bandura, A., Social Learning Theory, Prentice-Hall,Englewood Cliffs, NJ, 1977.

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Careersub-identity

Familysub-identity

Careerhelical strand

Familyhelical strand

Maintenance (50+)

Late-30s transition(38-40)

Achievement (40-50)

Settling down (35)

Early-30s transition(33-35)

Establishment (25-33)

Entering adult world(mid-20s)

Early adult transition(17-25)

Exploration"finding the thread"

Figure 4 A double helix model illustrating the lifespan development ofsuccessful women

27 Adams, J.M., “When working women becomepregnant”, New England Business, February 1984,pp. 18-21.

28 Festinger, L., A Theory of Cognitive Dissonance, 111Row Peterson, Evanston, 1957.

29 Howard, A., “Work and family crossroads spanningthe career”, in Zedeck, S. (Ed.), Work Families andOrganizations, Jossey Bass, San Francisco, CA, 1992.

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31 Stein, A.H. and Bailey, M.M., “The socialisation ofachievement orientation in females”, PsychologicalBulletin, Vol. 80, 1973, pp. 345-66.

32 Barwick, J.M., The Psychology of Women: A Study ofBisocial Conflict, Harper Row, New York, NY, 1971.

33 Tangri, S.S., “Determinant of occupational roleinnovation among college women”, Journal of SocialIssues, Vol. 38, 1972, pp. 177-99.

34 Gilligan, C., In a Different Voice, Harvard UniversityPress, Cambridge, MA, 1982.

35 Parsons, T., “Family structure and socialisation of thechild”, in Parsons, T. and Bales, R.F. (Eds), FamilySocialisation and Interaction Process, Free Press,Glencoe, IL, 1965.

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37 Cooper, C.L. and Cox, C., The High Flyers, BasilBlackwell, Oxford, 1988.

38 Arnold, V. and Davidson, M.J., “Adopt a mentor – theway ahead for women managers?”, Women inManagement Review and Abstracts, Vol. 5 No. 3,1990, pp. 123-30.

39 Hirsh, W. and Jackson, C., “Women into management:issues influencing the entry of women in managerialjobs”, IMS Paper, No. 158, 1990.

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