With more women of color (WOC) aspiring to study science, technology, engineering, mathematics, and healthcare (STEMH), colleges and universities serve as a critical environment for preparing and supporting successful transitions from earning a STEMH degree through participation in the STEMH workforce. I use a three-article format to examine the…

Professional women with children are inundated with conflicting messages about how to manage their careers and personal lives and whether they should "opt in" or "opt out" of the workforce. Using in-depth interviews with 23 professional women, this study focused on the career choices that women make after having children. The authors found that…

With the rapid changes occurring in the role of work in women's lives, this research project was designed to examine the career planning, career decision making, and work history of women in both female-dominated and gender-neutral careers (U.S. Department of Labor, n.d.-a). A qualitative analysis of structured interviews identified 6 emerging…

Presents Helen Astin's article on women's career choices and work behavior, and includes several responses to her essay. Discusses Astin's need-based work model, involving motivation, expectations, sex-role socialization, and structure of opportunity. Critiques of Astin's work center mainly on the structure of opportunity segment of the model. (BH)

This survey of 104 employed women disclosed that while half of the respondents indicated higher-level career aspirations, only 12 percent could trace their current higher-level career interest back to high school days or earlier. The respondents listed personal achievement as a major reason for pursuing a higher-level career. Higher income was…

This study, using the Vocational Preference Inventory (VPI) and the Self-Directed Search (SDS), explored concurrent validity of Holland's theory for employed non-college-degreed women (N=114). Results revealed three scales of the VPI and five scales of the SDS successfully differentiated occupational groups consistent with Holland's theoretical…

Results support the author's contention that women's primary career decision, i.e., that between working'' and not working,'' is a function of the child-rearing mode of the parents. The field of occupation and the level within it is a secondary career choice, a function of a woman's level of achievement motivation. (Author)

Based on examination of 326 studies, this review covers the issues of career development, reciprocal work/nonwork interactions, and women's labor force participation for 1992 through 1994. It concludes that efforts to link career variables to family systems and personality theories have been instructive. Gender, ethnicity, and career self-efficacy…

The article discusses (1) female career patterns, (2) female self-concepts and aspirations, and (3) women in the work force. Also discussed are occupational distribution and obstacles to the career development of women. Presented at the Annual Conference on Career Development and Vocational Education, Blacksburg, Virginia, March, 1974. (BW)

Reviews the literature related to vocational behavior and career development published during 1983, including 445 articles in 42 journals. The review is organized around issues pertinent to the counseling psychology perspective (career development, vocational choice, assessment, intervention) and the industrial/organizational psychology…

Outlines an expanded framework of the Cognitive Information Processing (CIP) approach to career problem solving and decision making for career counseling with women. Addresses structural and individual barriers in women's career development and provides practical suggestions for applying and evaluating the CIP approach in career counseling.…

Research on women's career development documents that, relative to men, few women obtain high professional status and that those who do are often treated as "deviants" from culturally expected female roles, particularly if their careers are in professions traditionally occupied by men. The relation between various background variables and the…

Women making the transition from home to paid employment often need help identifying their values, setting goals, assessing abilities and interests, and organizing a job search compaign. An overview of a three-day workshop planned to address these issues is presented. (Author/CC)

The British Oxygen Company Limited's Gases Division Study on the female workforce concluded: not enough use is made of female employee's skill and knowledge, the company shouldn't assume all women want careers but should help them realize the demands a career makes on their time, energy, and commitment. (Author/BP)

Statistics from the U.S. Department of Labor and the New Jersey Department of Labor indicate that: (1) in mid-1977, 40 million women were working, meaning that women composed 41% of the nation's labor force; (2) in New Jersey, women composed 30% of the state's labor force; and (3) both nationally and on a state-wide basis, employment for…