Please use this identifier to cite or link to this item: http://hdl.handle.net/1959.3/34890

Title

Factors affecting the development of career and family orientations in girls : a review

Author(s)

Poole, Millicent E.;  Langan-Fox, Janice;  Ciavarella, Michelle

Abstract

One of the major 'silences' in the general literature on education and work for many decades has related to young girls and women. It was only in the mid 1970s that major studies began to address the differing educational retention rates for girls in Australia (e.g. Schools Commission 1975) and later to focus on segmentation in the labour market (e.g. Game & Pringle 1983). There has also been the recognition that 'work' for women can involve both paid and unpaid work (e.g. Mitchell 1971; Navarra 1980) and, more recently, that women in the workforce have a dual role (career and family) and a double work burden in the home and work contexts (Alpert & Culbertson 1987). In this chapter, we focus on an underresearched area in the link between the worlds of school and work. We attempt to clarify 'career' and 'family' orientations, and to bring together the scattered literature in the field. Specifically, we discuss: Australian education policy during the 1980s, with reference to girls' schooling and their career orientations; various environmental factors that influence career and/or family orientations in adolescent girls; sociocontextual influences that have set the foundations for a trend for women's entry into careers; and the development of these orientations as they affect attirudes to schooling and career paths. The conclusion draws together broad demographic, cultural and economic changes with social-psychological and environmental factors influencing women's decision-making, in a discussion of the direction and importance of women's future work, and the role of education in that process.

Publication type

Book chapter

Source

Education and work / Millicent E. Poole (ed.), p. 150-161

Publication year

1992

Keyword(s)

Australia;  Career planning;  Economics;  Educational policy;  Employment patterns;  Family life;  Gender differences;  Government policy;  Occupational aspiration;  Occupational training;  Sex roles;  Vocational education;  Women;  Work

Publisher

Australian Council for Educational Research

ISBN

086431096X

Copyright

Copyright © 1992 Australian Council for Educational Research.